Quality check of steel bars on site –

 When the steel is received at site, firstly the manufacturer test (or manufacturer mill) certificate is
check for its actual properties. With each lot of steel, manufacturer should send a test certificate of
same lot for test done at their laboratory.
 Check the grade of steel as per specified in the certificate.
 Steel bars are closely examined to know whether there is rusting or not on basis of which it is
decided whether to accept the steel lot or not.
 Steel received must be free from any type of contaminations like mud, oil and dust.
 Steel bars should not have any splits and deformation on it.
Check for grade, diameter and brand of steel –
 Cut the samples of 1m of length and minimum 5 number of samples from different lots.
 Measure the length of cut bars by measuring it on at-least 4 sides and average out the length of
bar.

 Weight the bar on weight scale and record it in register. Calculate the actual average weight per
meter of bar for at-least 3 samples.

 Compare the result of it with theoretical weight given in IS 1786

 Check the variation in weight is within limit or not as per IS specification.

 After finding the results for nominal mass as satisfactory proceed further to do bend test.

 Bend test should be carried out as specified in IS 1599 and using mandrels of size specified in IS
1786.
 Rebar sample should be bent at 180 degree as per procedure stated in IS 1599 and after this
further process it to bend till 180 degree.
  At site we can bend it on bar bending machine using appropriate size mandrel.

 After bending the bar check the surface of bar opposite to bend side (which got tension,
elongated due to bending) for cracks and rupture visible to a person with normal or corrected
vision.

 If there is no sign of rupture and cracks, rebar meets the requirement of bend test.

For Rebend Test-

 First bend the bar to including angle of 135 degree.

 Keep it in boiling water at 100 degree for 30 minutes.
 Then cool it down for some time.
 After cooling bent it back to including angle of 157.5 degree
 The rebar should not show any rupture or cracks to a person with normal or corrected vision.
 Mandrel to use for Rebend test as specified in IS 1786.
 (Deshmukh, 2017)

Source - (Deshmukh, 2017)

After getting satisfactory results, you can approve the steel for further usage in actual construction.

On site following must be adapted so that wastage of steel can be reduced as per IS 1786 -

 Count the number of bars received.

 Record the average length of bar by doing random measurements.
 Calculate the actual weight of steel received as per theoretical weight and compare it with
actual total weight.
 Make comparative statement showing the variation in steel weight as per brand of steel.
Show it to your management which brands are supplying overweight steel.

Overweight steel though it is as per tolerance provided in IS 1786 will cause a loss of money to your
company, by understanding the which steel brand manufacture to optimum level and produce less
overweight steel you can reduce the indirect loss to your company.
If steel bar of 25mm is received with 3% over weight, technically there is nothing wrong. Steel meets the
requirement of IS 1786 but the Site will suffer for 3% wastage without actually wasting steel and waste
count will always add this unaccounted 3% loss as wasted by site engineer unless it is recorded.