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Products
We produce continuous systems of masonry wall reinforcing including
truss and ladder designs. Variations are available to these standard
designs to meet specific wall conditions and are illustrated in
this catalog.
WIRE-BOND® offers unit ties designed to tie masonry walls
to steel, concrete, and masonry. They are manufactured in various
finishes and sizes to meet specific conditions as shown.
Special Material
Our manufacturing capabilities allow us to make a wide variety
of products, some of which are not shown here. Please contact
us for specific advice and availability of any item you may require
for masonry walls.
Why Hot-Dip Galvanize?
In a perfect environment steel corrodes very slowly and offers
strength and durability for a variety of structural applications.
The environment most masonry reinforcing is exposed to, however,
is usually less than perfect, and the premature corrosion of steel
reinforcement may ultimately lead to failure of the structure.
The corrosion products which form on steel have much greater volume
than metal from which they form. This increase in volume produces
a build up of internal “bursting” pressure between
the reinforcement and the surrounding mortar or concrete. When
the pressure increases beyond the tensile strength of the masonry,
the walls crack. As corrosion proceeds, longitudinal and transverse
cracks widen, and may cause spalling of the joints.
The presence of hairline cracks may not indicate evidence of impending
structural distress. However, their presence may be considered
a “failure” by the general public, and costly maintenance
may be necessary to keep up public confidence in the structure
and to prevent further corrosion.
Carefully controlled tests, and decades of experience in the field,
have shown that hot dip galvanizing of the steel reinforcement
will materially increase the life of reinforced structures. Hot
dip galvanizing is the process of coating a prepared steel surface
by immersion of the work in molten zinc. The hot dip galvanized
coating consists of a series of distinct zinc-iron alloy layers.
The coating is unique in that it is metallurgically bonded to
the steel substrate. The strength of the bond is measured in the
range of several thousand psi, which insures that the coating
will not be damaged during normal handling. The zinc-iron alloys
of a galvanized coating have hardness values which equal or exceed
those of most structural steels, offering excellent abrasion resistance
for applications such as masonry wire reinforcing. The pure zinc
layer and the zinc-iron layers are anodic to steel, providing
sacrificial or “cathodic” protection in the event
the coating is scratched or damaged.
Zinc metal has a number of characteristics that make it well suited
for use as a coating for protecting steel wire products. Its excellent
corrosion resistance and its ability to form dense, adherent,
corrosion product films, and a rate of corrosion some 10 to 100
times below that of ferrous materials, depending upon the atmosphere,
accounts for its successful use as a protective coating in a variety
of products and exposure conditions.
All hot dipped WIRE-BOND products are galvanized in accordance
with ASTM A153 Standards to insure the longest life possible for
our products. The marginal increase in cost for galvanizing is
more than offset by the extra service life added to our product
by the galvanizing process.
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