THERMO

MECHANICALLY
TREATED (TMT) BARS
DEEPAKRAJ S.B.

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

ADICHUNCHANAGIRI INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
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 CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 EMERGENCE OF STEEL

2. STEEL AS REINFORCEMENT
2.1 INTRODUCTION
2.2 STEEL BARS/ RODS FOR REINFORCEMENT
2.3 TYPES OF REINFORCING BARS

3. THERMO-MECHANICALLY TREATED BARS

3.1 GENERAL
3.2 PROPERTIES
3.3 INDIAN STANDARD SPECIFICATIONS FOR TMT BARS
3.4 THERMOMECHANICAL TREATMENT PROCESS
3.5 COMPARISON AND MERITS OVER OTHER PROCESSES
3.5.1 PROCESSES
3.5.1.1 HOT ROLLING
3.5.1.2 COLD MECHNICAL WORKING
3.5.1.3 THERMO PROCESSING
3.5.2 COST SAVING
3.6 TEST TO IDENTIFY A GENUINE TMT BARS
3.7 ADVANTAGES
3.8 APPLICATIONS

4. PRODUCTIONS
4.1 QUALITY
4.2 AVAILABILITY
4.3 MARKETING
4.4 NEW DEVELOPMENTS

5. DISCUSSIONS

6. REFERENCE

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IMPORTANCE OF STEEL AS REINFORCEMNT
•Tensile strength of concrete is very low, so reinforcement
is required to resist tensile forces

•Reinforces the tension capacity of the concrete

•Resists not only tensile forces but also the compressive

force as in the case of struts and columns

•It minimize the micro-cracking due to secondary effects

such as shrinkage, creep, moisture and thermal variations

•More reinforcement doesn’t mean more strength hence

proper designed quantity of steel based on analysis is must

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TYPES OF REINFORCING BARS
PLAIN BARS

CTD BARS
TORKARI BARS

SQUARE TWISTED BARS

HOT ROLLED BARS

CORROSION RESISTANT BARS 4

TMT BARS

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PROPERTIES
•FIRE RESISTANCE
Withstand high temperature of the range 500ºC-600ºC -
Ensures fire safety
•DUCTILITY
Due to high elongation and ductility TMT bars are highly
seismic resistant - Hence preferred in earthquake zones
4&5 - Guarantee elongation well above 15%
•CORROSION RESISTANCE
Chemical composition along with TMT process avoids
torsional residual stresses in the bar

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•BENDING
Exhibit very high bendability and rebendabilty due to lower
carbon content and higher elongation - Easier to work with
TMT Bars due to easy bendability

•WELDABILITY
TMT bars do not suffer from loss of strength due excellent
weldability - can be easily welded with CTD bars - No pre-
heating or post-heating is necessary during welding
•OTHERS
Toughness – Hardness - Excellent straightness –
High strength - High fatigue resistance on dynamic loading

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 INDIAN STANDARD SPECIFICATIONS
FOR TMT BARS IS-1786 (1985)
CONSTITUENT MAXIMUM PERCENT TMT(FE
415/FE 500/
FE 550)
TMT FE TMT FE TMT FE
415 415 500 500 550 550
CARBON 0.25 0.3 0.25 0.3 0.25 0.3 0.2
SULPHUR 0.05 0.06 0.05 0.055 0.05 0.055 0.045
PHOSPHORUS 0.050 0.06 0.05 0.055 0.05 0.05 0.045
SULPHUR AND 0.1 0.11 0.1 0.105 0.1 0.1 0.09
PHOSPHORUS
CORROSION - - - - - - 0.75 MIN
RESISTANT
ELEMENTS
CARBON - - - - - - 0.53 MAX
EQUIVALENT
TABLE-1

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 PROPERTY GRADE
FE 415 TMT FE TMT FE TMT
415 500 500 550 550
0.2 percent proof 415 415 500 500 550 550
stress/yield stress
Min N/mm.sq.
Elongation.percent 14.5 22 12 20 8 18(Upto 25 mm dia)
Minimum,on (Up to (Up to 16(Above 28 mm dia)
gauge length 28mm dia) 28mm dia)
5.65.Square Root 20 18
(A) where A is the (Above 28 (Above 26
cross-sectional mm dia) mm dia)
area of the test
piece
Tensile 10% 10% more 8% more 8% more 6% more than 6% more than the actual
Strength,Min more than the than than actual the actual 0.2% proof
than the actual 0.2% actual 0.2% proof 0.2% proof stress but not less than 630
actual proof stress 0.2% stress but stress but not N/mm.sq.
0.2% but not less proof not less less than 585 (Upto 28mm dia)
proof than 500 stress but than 580 N/mm.sq. & 610 N/mm.sq.
stress but N/mm.sq not less N/mm.sq (Upto 28mm (above 28 mm dia)
not less than 545 (Upto dia) & 560
than 485 N/mm.sq 28mm dia) N/mm.sq.) Upto 28mm dia) & 560
N/mm.sq 560 (above 28 N/mm.sq.)
N/mm.sq.) mm dia) (above 28 mm dia)
(above 28
mm dia)
TABLE-2 9
TMT PROCESS
Advanced heat treatment technique - Red hot rebars with
controlled water quenching – TMT process helps to
produce reinforcement bars of high strength, superior
ductility, weldability, bendability and thermal resistance

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Outer surface of bars becomes colder while the core
remains hot – Development of temperature gradient in
the bars – After being taken out the heat flows from the
core to the outer surface - Causes further tempering of
steel bars – Steel attains higher yield strength
OUTER PERIPHERY

CORE

Soft core of ferrite-pearlite with

strong and tough case of martensite

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 •Cold twisting and drawing
•Ductility greatly reduces
due to cold working
•Weldability is inconsistent
•High strength is affected at
high temperature at welding

CTD vs TMT

•Controlled quenching
and tempering
•Ductility is excellent
•Weldability is consistent
•Strength bound to increase
due to TMT process
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COST SAVING IN STEEL – A MERIT OF TMT
Area of steel No. & dia. of %
(mm2) bars saving
Dimension of the section Mu Fck Grade with
Ast Asc Tension Comp
(mm) (kN-m) steel respect
to
Fe415
4-20# +
Fe415 2063 960 9-12# ---
4-6#
4-20# +
15 Fe500 1710 788 7-12# 17.3%
3-6#
Mu = 300
4-20# +
Mu / bd2 = 4 Fe550 1545 728 7-12# 24.8%
2-6#
4-20# +
Fe415 2130 555 5-12# ---
5-6#
4-20# +
20 Fe500 1763 465 5-12# 17.0%
3-6#
4-20# +
Fe550 1613 420 4-12# 24.2%
3-6#

Use of TMT bars leads to higher strength that leads to

saving in material, reduction in cost and so lower dead load
on structures 13
TEST TO IDENTIFY A GENUINE TMT BAR
-Helps to understand the characteristics of TMT bars

-Necessary to differentiate standard and fake TMT

bars which are elusive

-Involves
•Cutting a TMT bar

•Smoothening of the cross section to a fine polished state by

grinder and emery paper

•Pickling smooth end of sample in nitrol solution (10% nitric

acid with 90% ethyl alcohol)

•Resulting in uniform tempered martensite periphery with a

softer core (an yardstick in testing originality of TMT )
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TEST RESULTS
-Uniform and concentric hardened periphery
and the softer core
-Possess tensile strength coupled with high
elongation as required in seismic zone.

Improper quenching all round the periphery-

Should be avoided-

-Uniform tempered martensite periphery

-Hardened periphery will be about 30% of
the bar cross sectional area
-Ideal rebar for civil construction
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 Over quenching-
Exhibit high yield strength and very poor ductility -
Should never be used in civil construction-

-Uniform cross section of hardened periphery

with a soft core
-Excellent for civil construction.

Possess bad quenching and tempering -

quenching is not uniform -
Not good for civil construction -
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ADVANTAGES
-Better ductility and weldability
-Better yield strength, tensile strength and percent elongation
-Easy bendability and thus require less energy for bending and
rebending
-Ability to resist loss of strength at higher temperatures
-Saving of more than 15 percent in steel consumption
-Better corrosion resistance
-Superior product with consistent properties
-Easy manufacture of different strengths of rebars
-Fatigue resistance
-Ideal choice for seismic zones due to excellent ductility properties
-Possible to dispatch customers almost immediately after rolling is
complete
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APPLICATIONS
•By virtue of various engineering properties TMT bars can be
used for Residential Buildings, Bridges, and Industrial
Establishment

•In Steel-concrete composite construction which involves one

or more of steel concrete composite elements i.e. composite
beam, composite slab and composite columns

•Because of corrosion resistance TMT bars are employed in

construction exposed to coastal, marine or underground
environment

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QUALITY
FACTORS CONSIDERED TO ENSURE QUALITY
1. Minimum yield strength 415 N/mm2
2. Minimum tensile strength 10% more than yield strength subject to
minimum 560 N/mm2
3. Minimum elongation 16 (generally 18 to 22).
4. Stress ratio (Ts / Ys) 1.10(generally 1.15 to 1.25)
5. Weldability
6. Bar temperature of 850-900 ± (30-40) degrees in the cooling tube
7. Required technology in plants

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AVAILABILITY
-Obtainable in strengths of 415, 500 and 550 MPa
-Renowned manufactures are SAIL, TISCO, IISCO,RINL and,
VIZAG STEEL PLANT etc
-Available brands of TMT bars are SAIL TMT, SAIL TMT HCR,
VIZAG TMT
-THERMEX, TEMPCORE are available as international brands
-Available in bar diameter ranging from 8mm - 40mm
-Available in standard lengths & specific lengths
up to a length of 20m

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 PRODUCTION
-Requires huge investments, expertise and stringent process
-Production of about 1.5 million tones each year by major plants
-By 2010 TMT bars constitute 80 to 85% of the rebars made in the
country against the present 50 to 55%
-The Q&T rebars will become the preferred choice
-Production of untreated re-bars being offered as
TMT bars in market

NEW DEVELOPMENTS
-Emergence of CRS in a view to increase corrosion resistance
-Production of sophisticated silicon steel
-Introduction of Fe 600 TMT bars
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INFERENCE
•With its versatility TMT bars overtook CTD bars

•Vital factors are raw materials, rolling mill and treatment process

•Fulfilling above factors guarantee quality TMT bars

•Great concern on non-availability of quality TMT bars

•Thorough examination for requisite properties and

verification of source to test originality

•Encourage clients and users to go for TMT bars

•Make use of stupendous qualities of TMT bars

should be the order of the day

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 REFERENCE
1 Dr.C.S.Vishwanatha, “History in prospective- A journey through Indian
reinforcing bars”, The Indian concrete journal, Jan 2004, vol.78, pp14-18
2 Dr.S.R.Mediratta, “Steel reinforcement-Demand, quality and new
application in India”, The Indian concrete journal, Jan 2004, vol.78, pp.9-13.
3 Dr.P.Dayaratnam, “Guest editorial comments”, The Indian concrete
journal, Jan 2004, vol.78, pp.3-4.
4 Dr.C.S.Vishwanatha, “The ABC of TMT bars”, The Master builder,
Oct-Nov 2004, vol.6, pp.41
5 HY-TUF STEELS PVT LTD, www.hytuf.com
6 Jagvir Gaoyal, “Latest Developments on steel front”,
www.tribuneindia.com
7 Kaushik.S.K. and Singh.B. “Influence of steel-making processes on
the quality of reinforcement”, The Indian concrete journal, July 2002, vol.76,
pp.407-412.
8 Prabir C, Basu, Shylamoni P and Roshan A.D, “Characterization of
steel reinforcement for RC structures, An overview and related issues”, The
Indian concrete journal, Jan 2004, vol.78, pp.22
9 Mary Land Metrics, http.mdmetric.com
10 SAIL, www.sail.co.in

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THANK YOU ALL

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