Does ArcelorMittal produce galvanized steel fibres and what are the benefits of such coated fibres?
ArcelorMittal also produces galvanized steel fibres. Please ask your local sales office for more information about which fibre types are available in galvanized finish. Galvanized fibres are generally about 50% more expensive then the same fibres without zinc coating. Zinc coating is normally not required for steel fibres. In fact, even after carbonisation, concrete cover of about 2 mm is sufficient to protect fibres from corroding. In heavy chloride environments the required cover can increase up to 7 mm. Non-galvanized fibres which are exposed on the surface will of course corrode, leaving some rust stains. However this is purely aesthetic and has no influence on the bearing capacity of SFRC. For this reason plain steel fibres should not be used for architectural or exposed to view concrete. Furthermore, due to their reduced diameter, rusting steel fibres do not have the power to spalling off the concrete surface as rebars typically do when corroding.
