Sources: ASTM International, West Conshohocken, Pa.; CP staff
ASTM Committee A01 on Steel, Stainless Steel and Related Alloys (A01) is eyeing a standard aimed at improving durability of strand used in (PT) post tension or bridge stay cable applications, principally through galvanized-product test methods. The proposed document would help gauge corrosion potential and a structure’s durability throughout its life cycle.
Read MoreSources: Associated General Contractors of America, Washington, D.C.; CP staff
Responding to President Donald Trump’s March 8 order applying respective 25 percent and 10 percent tariffs to steel and aluminum imports from countries outside the NAFTA region, AGC CEO Stephen Sandherr noted: “These tariffs will cause significant harm to the nation’s construction industry, put tens of thousands of high-paying construction jobs at risk, undermine the President’s proposed infrastructure initiative and potentially dampen demand for new construction.
Read MoreA traditional infrastructure plan that invests in roads and bridges could increase employment in the short term, but the Trump administration and new Congress should also focus on the building blocks of innovation, such as research & development and technology-enabled “smart” public works because they can support a more robust economy long term, contends the Information and Technology Innovation Foundation (ITIF), Washington, D.C.
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“Release” is a general-purpose concrete form agent of mineral oil and petroleum product composition. Its dual action formulation is lightly reactive with improved barrier characteristics.
Read MoreTwo symbolic developments this past month spotlight heavy building materials’ wide-ranging contributions: to urbanization across the world as well as the portfolio of an operator in the business for the long haul.
Read MoreSources: CP staff; Bill Gates’ gatesnotes blog
In “Have You Hugged a Concrete Pillar Today?,” Microsoft founder Bill Gates takes stock of Making the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization, the latest work from his favorite author: “[Vaclav Smil] argues that the most important man-made material is concrete, both in terms of the amount we produce each year and the total mass we’ve laid down.”
Read MoreSource: Associated Builders & Contractors, Washington, D.C.
Through April, concrete products and iron & steel prices were up 3.4 percent and 3.2 percent year over year, while overall construction materials prices rose 1.5 percent against the first four months of 2013, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s mid-May Producer Price Index.
Read MoreSource: Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute, Schaumburg, Ill.
At a meeting on November 9, the CRSI Board of Directors urged all producer members to revert to an inch-pound bar marking system for all sizes and grades of deformed reinforcing steel products. CRSI members produce more than 90 percent of domestic reinforcing steel.
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