Plasticon International, Inc. (fka PLNIQ)

[blind squirrel]

nanopatent, excellent response. I accept and acknowledge that a form of "plastic rebar" exists and may have value in special situations.

That said, the article referenced by the first link you provided clearly points out two very important limitations of FRP rebar.

1) It takes more and larger bar to accomplish the same result as steel and therefore results in larger concrete shapes to house the reinforcing. The added concrete creates heavier designs resulting in more reinforcing and more concrete etc. I doubt that the economics work in the favor of FRP bar.

2) (very important) FRP bar cannot be bent. The vast majority of rebar installations involve bent hooks, stirrups, hairpins etc. I doubt you will see any wide spread use of FRP bar until and unless it can be detailed to work for whole installations. The obvious exceptions would be large flat slab/mats in environmentally unfriendly situations.

While I acknowledge that FRP rebar exists, I still contend (based on 30 years of experience in the construction industry) that plastic rebar will not be a major revenue source in the foreseeable future.

Again I could be wrong about this. Has Plasticon every claimed that they will be making “plastic rebar” and that they consider it an important money making product?


blind squirrel