The main image shows Roman Stone's prefabricated channel banks made for data centers. In the bottom left corner is Rock Fiber's MiniBars product. The prefabricated channel banks consist of more than 350,000 individual MiniBars pieces. Source | Rock Fiber Inc.
Precast concrete company Roman Stone (Bay Shore, NY, USA) is now collaborating with Rock Fiber Inc. to introduce MiniBars, a basalt fiber-reinforced macrofiber reinforcement product, to the U.S. precast concrete industry.
“Adding MiniBars to our precast portfolio will provide the industry with a smarter, faster and more durable way to build,” said Daniel Murray, president and CEO of Roman Stone. “The addition of this novel reinforcement gives us the opportunity to streamline our manufacturing processes and allows us to offer our customers a more sustainable and durable product that goes far beyond a traditional precast product.”
Through his own extensive development and testing work, Roman Stone has proven that the performance of the MiniBars allows the company to develop, engineer and bring to market new products in less time than traditional product development. In addition, the product is significantly stronger, more durable and, most importantly, more environmentally friendly.
MiniBars are designed to replace or reduce traditional steel reinforcement. They are designed to mix evenly in the concrete, providing uniform reinforcement and providing optimal post-crack resistance, impact resistance and fatigue resistance, without the disadvantages of other macrofibers.
Composite Basalt Fiber MiniBars provide four times the strength of traditional rebar at just 30% of the rebar weight and flow through the concrete matrix, providing consistent strength and ductility while being immune to corrosion, ensuring longer life in harsh environments such as marine, wastewater and de-icing salt exposure. Additionally, by using fibers made directly from volcanic rock, MiniBars have a significantly lower carbon footprint than steel without corrosion and support longer life cycle infrastructure.
MiniBars also eliminate the need for rebar cages, saving labor and fabrication time while allowing for thinner, lighter precast units.