Rebar: Reinforcing Steel Bar Specifications

Reinforcing bars are hot-rolled using different steel materials. Most rebars are rolled from
new steel billets, but others are rolled from steel debris or railroad rails. Rebars are
required to contain some sort of identification that can be used to identify the mill that
produced the reinforcing steel bar.

The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) has created a standard
identification ruling that all rebars must comply with:

The number must identify the bar size.

The type of steel symbol must be noted. For example, "N" means the bar was rolled from
a new billet, "W" stands for weldable steel, and "A" designates rolled axle steel.

The rebar grade identification must be cited: This is either 60 or 75, or metric 420 or 520.
The grade indicates the rebar yield strength.

A symbol identifying the manufacturer that rolled the bar must be included: This is
usually a single letter or a plain symbol.

Lower-strength reinforcing steel bars have only three marks that identify the mill that
produced the bar, the rebar size, and the type of steel used. High-strength reinforcing
steel uses a continuous line system to show steel grade. If the rebar contains two lines, it
indicates that the rebar was rolled into the 75,000-psi bars. When a single line is present,
it represents a 60,000-psi bar.