Lowes Sells Fiberglass Rebar

[XR250]

Damn!

About the same price as the steel stuff.

 

[MHobbs]

Same price by volume or my strength? I think it's pretty interesting stuff.

 

[XR250]

Same price by volume

 

[BridgeSmith]

Cool! Do they have bent ones, too, or just straight? What tensile strength is their stuff?

Rod Smith, P.E., The artist formerly known as HotRod10

 

[XR250]

Just saw straight stuff. Did not check anything else.

 

[MHobbs]

This is obviously data for a specific brand, Schöck Combar®, but this is their advertised values for their GFRP (Glass fiber reinforced polymer)

 

[Brad805]

I am not sure this is a good thing. I bet a large percentage of the Big Box customers are building concrete parts where shear might be important. I think many laypeople will automatically think it is better. I have had contractors try to tell me I can swap one for one FRP vs. steel.

 

[JoelTXCive]

The stuff is awesome, BUT it has some properties that are not highlighted in the marketing literature.......

The modulus of elasticity is significantly less than steel. 60GPA versus steel's 200GPA, which means you get a lot of deflection.

Also, the ultimate strengths can be off the charts, but it's not a ductile failure mode. That means you get hit with a phi factor of .65.

The end result is that you will most likely need MORE fiber rebars than you would have needed if you were using steel.

It's cool stuff; and definitely has a market in corrosive environments, but it's not a magic elixir that will replace traditional steel.