This specification covers stainless steel wire and welded wire reinforcements from hot-rolled stainless steel rod to be used as concrete reinforcement with corrosion resistant and magnetic permeability properties. The material shall be cold-worked, drawn or rolled, and plain or deformed. Materials shall adhere to deformation requirements. Tensile, yield, and weld shear strengths shall be measured. Bend tests shall also be performed. Dimensional requirements and permissible variations in width, length, weight, density, cross-sectional area, diameter, and average spacings of wires are specified. Guidelines for sampling, inspection, rejection, retest, certification, and packaging are given.

1.1 This specification covers stainless steel wire and welded wire reinforcement produced from hot-rolled stainless steel rod. The stainless steel wire is cold-worked, drawn or rolled, plain (non-deformed) or deformed or a combination of deformed and plain. It is used as concrete reinforcement for applications requiring resistance to corrosion and/or controlled magnetic permeability. Common wire sizes and dimensions are found in this specification. Actual wire sizes are not restricted to those shown in the tables.

1.2 Supplement S1 describes high strength wire, which shall be furnished when specifically ordered. It shall be permissible to furnish high strength wire in place of regular wire if mutually agreed to by the purchaser and supplier.

1.2.1 A supplementary requirement (S2) of an optional nature is provided. It shall apply only when specified by the purchaser. In order to obtain a corrosion tested or controlled magnetic permeability product, steel conforming to Supplementary Requirement S2 should be ordered.

1.3 The chemical composition of the steel (stainless grade) shall be selected for suitability to the application involved by agreement between the manufacturer and the purchaser. Use Specification A 276 for chemical requirements. The UNS designations are to be included with the type number and noted in brackets, i.e. austenitic stainless steels as Type 304 [S30400], 304L [S30403], 316 [S31600], 316L [S31603], 316N [S31651], 316LN [S31653] and duplex stainless steels, Types 2205 [S32205] and 329 [S32900].

Only austenitic and duplex stainless steels are usually recommended for use as reinforcement in concrete because of their high corrosion resistance. Austenitic stainless steels have good general corrosion resistance, strength characteristics which can be improved by cold working, good toughness and ductility properties at low temperatures, and low magnetic permeability. Duplex stainless steels have generally a corrosion resistance greater than that of most austenitic steels and are magnetic. Other stainless steels with different chemical compositions than the series and types mentioned above, may be used for less restrictive applications.

1.4 Wire for welded wire reinforcement is generally manufactured at 520 MPa [75 ksi] yield strength level. Other strength levels shall be by agreement between the purchaser and manufacturer.

The term used to refer to yield strength levels are the same as those in ASTM Standards for welded wire reinforcement.

1.5 The values stated in SI units or inch-pound units are to be regarded separately as standard. The values stated in each system may not be exact equivalents; therefore, each system shall be used independently of the other. Combining values from the two systems may result in non-conformance with the standard.