>There is also reinforced concrete, which the Romans didn't have. While concrete by itself can in principle be moulded into any shape, this can sometimes fall apart, even after hardening. Reinforcement refers to putting a concrete around metal wiring, providing more versatility.
Not a correction per se, but some further explanation.
The reason for reinforcement is because concrete is strong in compression and weak in tension - in fact for design purposes we disregard its tensile capacity entirely. What reinforcement does is handle the tensile stresses in a structural member. When a beam, column, or slab bends it often (based on the load placed and structural design) creates tension on one side and compression on the other, so we put the rebar in the structural member close to the tension side, or on both sides if there may be tension on both sides.
In slabs reinforcing may also be used in some capacity just to limit cracking in an otherwise non structural capacity. In certain kinds of designs it may also provide confinement to the concrete which can be important for structural analysis reasons that are too technical to get into here (plastic hinging especially in earthquake design, etc).
We have different kinds of reinforcement, depending on the need of the project, but for the most part we use steel because its reasonably durable, has similar temperature expansion properties to concrete (imagine if your concrete got cold and shrunk more than things embedded in it, or grew so much the things embedded in it weren't attached anymore), its behaviour is well understood, and it is reasonably priced.
The design of steel reinforcing in concrete is also done in a way that reduces the likelihood of sudden failures, so that if something does happen, it happens slowly and with plenty of warning.
There are alternative reinforcing materials that may be appropriate in some very specific situations, but civil engineering moves very slowly and adoption is slow because risk is high. Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) and Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) are examples of these. They may have much higher tensile stress capacity per unit of area, and also are less susceptible to corrosion, but they cost a lot, their failure modes are sudden, greater deflections under load, and each may have other tradeoffs like worse compressive behaviour, or worse fire resistance, etc.
There's a small trend towards stainless steel rebar. It's expensive, but is now used for concrete structures near salt water.
Epoxy coated rebar turned out to be a mistake. One scrape in the epoxy and it starts rusting. Exposure to UV prior to installation can damage the epoxy coating. Currently banned in Quebec.[1]
epoxy coated rebar has not been banned in quebec, rather the transportation agency has decided not to allow it in their projects. You are free to use it if you'd like on your own projects. Other provinces still allow it in bridge decks, and you will find the requirements for the materials and material handling/repair in their standard specifications.
Not a correction per se, but some further explanation.
The reason for reinforcement is because concrete is strong in compression and weak in tension - in fact for design purposes we disregard its tensile capacity entirely. What reinforcement does is handle the tensile stresses in a structural member. When a beam, column, or slab bends it often (based on the load placed and structural design) creates tension on one side and compression on the other, so we put the rebar in the structural member close to the tension side, or on both sides if there may be tension on both sides.
In slabs reinforcing may also be used in some capacity just to limit cracking in an otherwise non structural capacity. In certain kinds of designs it may also provide confinement to the concrete which can be important for structural analysis reasons that are too technical to get into here (plastic hinging especially in earthquake design, etc).
We have different kinds of reinforcement, depending on the need of the project, but for the most part we use steel because its reasonably durable, has similar temperature expansion properties to concrete (imagine if your concrete got cold and shrunk more than things embedded in it, or grew so much the things embedded in it weren't attached anymore), its behaviour is well understood, and it is reasonably priced.
The design of steel reinforcing in concrete is also done in a way that reduces the likelihood of sudden failures, so that if something does happen, it happens slowly and with plenty of warning.
There are alternative reinforcing materials that may be appropriate in some very specific situations, but civil engineering moves very slowly and adoption is slow because risk is high. Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) and Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) are examples of these. They may have much higher tensile stress capacity per unit of area, and also are less susceptible to corrosion, but they cost a lot, their failure modes are sudden, greater deflections under load, and each may have other tradeoffs like worse compressive behaviour, or worse fire resistance, etc.