page_title: Rebar
section_title: Reuse and recycling
hierarchical_section_title: Rebar / Reuse and recycling
caption_attribution_description: English: Workers extracting rebar and other metal from concrete rubble at building demolition site, Haikou City, Hainan Province, China.
context_page_description: Rebar, known when massed as reinforcing steel or reinforcement steel, is a steel bar or mesh of steel wires used as a tension device in reinforced concrete and reinforced masonry structures to strengthen and aid the concrete under tension. Concrete is strong under compression, but has weak tensile strength. Rebar significantly increases the tensile strength of the structure. Rebar's surface is often "deformed" with ribs, lugs or indentations to promote a better bond with the concrete and reduce the risk of slippage.
  The most common type of rebar is carbon steel, typically consisting of hot-rolled round bars with deformation patterns. Other readily available types include stainless steel, and composite bars made of glass fiber, carbon fiber, or basalt fiber. The steel reinforcing bars may also be coated in an epoxy resin designed to resist the effects of corrosion mostly in saltwater environments, but also land based constructions. Bamboo has been shown to be a viable alternative to reinforcing steel in concrete construction.
context_section_description: In many countries, after the demolition of a concrete structure, workers are called in to remove the rebar. They scour the site, extracting the metal using bolt cutters, welding equipment, sledgehammers, and other tools. The metal is partially straightened, bundled and sold.
  Rebar, like almost all metal products, can be recycled as scrap. It is usually combined with other steel products, melted down, and re-formed.
caption: Workers extracting rebar from demolition rubble
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