Technical developments and trends of earthquake resisting high-strength reinforcing steel bars

Since reconstruction of old town in Korea requires high-rise and seismic design construction, many attentions have been paid to high strength seismic reinforced steel bar. In the present paper, technical developments and trends are summarized for developing next-generation seismic reinforced steel bar of grade 700 MPa. Steelmaking process requires high energy efficiency and refining ability. Effects of alloying elements are explained, and alloy design based on computational thermodynamics is introduced. On the other hand, it is considered that grain size refinement by the controlled rolling and low temperature transformation structures formed by the accelerated cooling are effective to obtain acceptable mechanical properties with high strength. Finite element simulation analysis is also useful to understand plastic deformation by rolling, internal and external heat transfer, and corresponding phase transformation of austenite phase to various lowtemperature transformation structures.