Bond of ribbed galvanized reinforcing steel in concrete

The ASTM beam end test (ASTM A944) has been used to compare the bond and slip behaviour of deformed (i.e. ribbed) galvanized, epoxy-coated and black steel bars in concrete. The objective was to determine whether galvanizing adversely affects bond strength. From a series of thirty specimens, the average bond strength of black steel and galvanized steel reinforcement used in these tests has been determined and bond stress has been shown to act uniformly over the embedded bar area. A slip value of approximately 0.4 mm has been confirmed to be associated with bond failure by concrete splitting. The results indicated that while epoxy coating resulted in a significant loss in bond strength of the order of 20% compared to black steel, there is no adverse effect on bond with the use of galvanized steel. Chromate treatment of galvanized bars is deemed unnecessary since there was no evidence of long term reduction in bond due to the possible effects of hydrogen gas evolution resulting from the reaction between zinc and wet concrete.