( WITH ANSWERS )

FOCUS - IINDIVIDUAL HOUSE BUILDERS (OWNERS, PROMOTERS, DESIGNERS)

Prepared by
PA G C O N S T R U C T I O N S
(TECH. GROUPLONG PRODUCTS)

Bombay House, 24, Homi Mody Street, Mumbai 400 001

Tel 91 22 6665 8282

WWW.TATATISCON.CO.IN

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CONTENTS
Page Number

1. Raw Materials of Construction and their Features and Quality... 03 TO 10

2. General Question on Construction Practices....... 11 TO 20
3. Design related Questions ... 21 TO 30

Bombay House, 24, Homi Mody Street, Mumbai 400 001

Tel 91 22 6665 8282

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Raw Materials of Construction and

their Features and Quality
QUESTION 1: What is the grade of rebar that Tata Steel produces?
ANSWER: Tata Steel produces Fe 500D grade of rebars.

QUESTION 2: What does Fe 500 D mean?

ANSWER: Fe is chemical symbol of iron; 500 is the yield strength of steel (500 N/mm2) and D represents the
ductility of rebars.

QUESTION 3: What is the difference between Fe 415 and Fe 500D grade rebar?

Fe 415

Fe 500D

1 Lower Yield strength (415 MPa)

Higher Yield strength (500 MPa)

2 More impurities like Sulphur & Phosphorous

Lesser impurities like Sulphur & Phosphorous

3 Not very ductile

Very ductile

ANSWER: The difference between the two grades of steel are as follows:

QUESTION 4: What do you mean by yield strength of steel is 500 MPa? Explain in simple terms.
ANSWER: When a rebar is subjected to pull (tension) as shown in the figure below, it sustains a tensile stress
upto 500 MPa till the yield point (where the initial necking starts). After this the steel starts elongating in tension
till, its failure.

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QUESTION 5: How to identify the good quality raw materials in constructing a building?
ANSWER: The raw materials in constructing a building are majorly steel, cement, sand, water, stone chips, admixtures, scaffolding/ shuttering, foundation bricks, hollow bricks for wall. A general idea of all of them can be
made by doing little bit of study about them online or from a consultant. An extensive documentation is available
in Tata Steels publication TISCON - Guide to Building Materials.

QUESTION 6: My neighbor has also used local rebar in his house but there is no problem at his home?
ANSWER: It is very important to have rebars with good ductility so that structure suffers minimum damage in an
event like earthquake. Earthquakes are unpredictable and till the time they dont occur, your neighbor's house
might also remain safe. But when they do strike, a house built with a rebar of good ductility and having consistent properties will have lesser probability of collapsing and will sustain seismic shocks better lesser damage
to the structure.

QUESTION 7: Why is steel required at all? Earlier only bricks were used o construct houses. Now that is
just replaced by concrete. Isnt it?
ANSWER: Steel in a building has the same function that our skeleton has in our body. To give a frame and bear
all types of loading. When brick was used to construct houses, the foundation and ground floor load carrying
walls were made very think, around 50 to 60 cm thick. Brick was replaced by reinforced concrete, which is
stronger than brick, and did not require bricks to carry loads. The beams and columns carry load in a reinforced
concrete RC structure.
Now like bricks, concrete can also take only compression loads and hence cannot bend and shall crack or creak
in tension and bending. It is the steel which when used in concrete, carries the tension and bending loads.
Hence, steel is required to make tall RC buildings.

QUESTION 8: What are the harmful effects of Sulphur and phosphorus (S/P)?
ANSWER: a. Impurities like S/P may introduce brittle behavior under certain conditions during rebar service life
b. High S, enhances rebar corrosion
c. High S/P levels badly effects fatigue and impact strength of rebar

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QUESTION 9: How to judge whether the rebar I am using is of good quality?

ANSWER: Following are critical parameters to judge any rebar
a.

Consistency of physical properties across the rebar length.

b.

Better ductility

c.

Lower impurities

d.

Easy to work with (during fabrication)

e.

Bond with concrete

QUESTION 10: What is the role of rebar during earthquake shaking?

ANSWER: To know this, let us first understand the difference between brittle and ductile materials. Take two
bars of same length and cross-sectional area one made of a ductile material and another of a brittle material.
Now, pull these two bars until they break. You will notice that the ductile bar elongates by a large amount before
it breaks, while the brittle bar breaks suddenly on reaching its maximum strength at a relatively small elongation
(Figure 1). Amongst the materials used in building construction, steel is ductile, while masonry and concrete are
brittle.

Figure 1: Tension Test on Materials

During an earthquake, very high amount of force/energy is generated on a structure. To absorb this energy, a
good ductile material is needed. The area under the force-elongation graph (Figure 1) is a measure of the
amount of energy absorbed by the material. So one can easily deduce that because of their higher elongation,
ductile materials absorb higher amount of energy before failure.

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QUESTION 11: What is the effect of temperature on the strength of steel?

ANSWER: There is no effect on the strength of steel at atmospheric temperature conditions. Only at very high
and low temperatures the rebar strength gets impacted. Such kind of temperatures are generally not experienced during the normal service life of a structure.

QUESTION 12: What is the importance of carbon in steel?

ANSWER: Carbon is an element whose presence is imperative in all steel. It is the principle hardening element
of steel and determines the level of hardness or strength that can be attained by quenching. Carbon is also responsible for increase in tensile strength, hardness, resistance to wear and abrasion. However, when present in
high quantities it affects the ductility, toughness and the machinability of steel.

QUESTION 13: What is the temperature of rebar after quenching?

ANSWER: Between 200C - 300C

QUESTION 14: What is the role of tungsten carbide in rolling?

ANSWER: The different rolls used during the rolling process of rebars are made out of tungsten carbide because
of its following advantages:
a.

High wear resistance

b.

Long lifespan

c.

High efficiency in high speed rolling

QUESTION 15: How is TMT process of secondary different from primary producers?
ANSWER: The basic difference lies right at the start of the steel making process i.e. the raw materials. The steel
manufactured by primary producers is made out of virgin iron ore extracted from captive mines, but the one manufactured by secondary producers is made out of scrap steel. Consequently, the rebars of primary producers are
having:
a.

Less impurities like Sulphur and phosphorus (S/P)

b.

Uniform rim pattern with hard shell and a soft core

QUESTION 16: How is extra elongation achieved in Fe 500SD over Fe 500D?

ANSWER: By varying the temperature during the rolling process.

QUESTION 17: How is Fe 415 different from Fe 500D?

ANSWER:

Parameters

1 Minimum Yield strength (MPa)

Fe 415

Fe 500D

415

500

2 Minimum % Elongation
However it is to be kept in mind that using Fe 500D over Fe 415 results in 10-12% savings in steel.

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QUESTION 18: What is the difference between rusting and corrosion?

ANSWER: Rust is the oxide that is formed by open air oxidation of iron. Rusting is caused by the reaction of air
and moisture, generally a slow process and is a very common phenomenon for most steel products and has
practically no effect on the functional quality.
Corrosion on the other hand is the electrochemical reaction between a metal and its environment. The reaction
causes formation of not only oxides but other compounds as well. Corrosion usually results in accelerated and
uneven erosion of metal surface and is detrimental to its intended service performance.

QUESTION 19: Will elongation of rebar reduce with passage of time?

ANSWER: No, elongation of rebar will not reduce with passage of time.

QUESTION 20: Why is gypsum added in cement?

ANSWER: Gypsum is added to control the setting of cement. If not added, the cement will set immediately after
mixing of water leaving no time for concrete placing.

QUESTION 21: Why is gypsum added in cement?

ANSWER: Gypsum is added to control the setting of cement. If not added, the cement will set immediately after
mixing of water leaving no time for concrete placing.

Bombay House, 24, Homi Mody Street, Mumbai 400 001

Tel 91 22 6665 8282

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General Questions on Construction

Practices
QUESTION 1: What should one be aware of before going for constructing a new house or building?
ANSWER: When one start your plan to build his/ her house/ building one should keep in mind the following:
a.

How deep the foundation of your building will be depends the type of soil of the site. Hence, once should get
the soil testing done by a certified soil testing agency. Even the type of foundation is decided after knowing
the nature of the soil.

b.

One should always go for Fe 500 D TMT steel as reinforcement, while selecting the brand. Strength of the
building and its capability to resist natural calamities depend also on the quality of steel reinforcement used.
Hence, one should not compromise on the strength of the building against, architecture and beauty.

c.

Apart from buying a good quality of ingredients, the maintenance of the ingredients at site is also very important; including moisture tight storage of cement and admixtures, clean batches of stone chips and sand.

d.

The water used for mixing and curing should be clean and free from injurious quantities of alkalis, acid, oils,
salt, sugar, organic materials, vegetable growth and other substances that may be deleterious to bricks,
stone, concrete or steel. Potable water is generally considered satisfactory for mixing. The pH value of water
should be not less than 6. Hence one should test the water o be used for construction from time to time before use.

e.

One should get all the designs and drawings approved by the local government/ municipality body before
construction starts.

f.

Although all the elements of a building are important. One should adopt special care and practice during the
construction of foundation: steel used, excavation of site, concrete mixing and laying and also curing of concrete. It is the foundation which bears all load from the building above it and transfers all load to the soil.

g.

Ready-mix concrete is a good option as it has a better quality control.

h.

Several admixtures are available to make concrete quick setting, corrosion resistant etc. One should always
using such admixtures, but only after gather all information about the use of it.

i.

One should also refer to TISCON - Good Construction Practices as well as TISCON - Guide to Building
Materials.

QUESTION 2: What is pH of water?

ANSWER: pH is a method of expressing differences in the acidity or alkalinity of a solution. A figure of 7 is regarded as neutral; figure below this indicate the decree of acidity and above alkalinity.

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QUESTION 3: Why is brick layer added before casting the foundation?

ANSWER: The purpose of brick layer is:
a.

To provide firm and flat level for laying of concrete

b.

To hold the moisture content of footing concrete without the soil soaking it

Bombay House, 24, Homi Mody Street, Mumbai 400 001

Tel 91 22 6665 8282

WWW.TATATISCON.CO.IN

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Design Related Questions

QUESTION 1: What should one be aware of before going for constructing a new house or building?
ANSWER: When one start your plan to build his/ her house/ building one should keep in mind the following

Bombay House, 24, Homi Mody Street, Mumbai 400 001

Tel 91 22 6665 8282

WWW.TATATISCON.CO.IN

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