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A new standard on wire or welded wire reinforcement (WWR) has been published by ASTM International, combining the previous four standards into one.

ASTM International has published a sole standard covering use of wire or welded wire reinforcement (WWR), combining the previous four into one.

The work was performed by Committee A01 on Steel, Stainless Steel, and Related Alloys. According to Ted Mize, PE, senior engineer for Ivy Steel & Wire, and a committee member, the primary benefit of ASTM A1064/A1064M, Specification for Steel Wire and Welded Wire Reinforcement, Plain, and Deformed, for Concrete, has been the unification of old standards for wire and WWR requirements.

"There were no technical changes made to the content when the four standards were combined into this new standard, so the familiarity with the old standards has been preserved," he told Construction Canada Online. "This new combined standard will be simpler to maintain and update as technology advances."

Mize said ASTM A1064/A1064M will be used in several ways by design/construction professionals in Canada and the United States.

"The applications range from reinforcement for concrete pipe and various other concrete drainage products to slabs on ground, bridges, walls, and high-rise buildings," he said.

The new standard was developed at the urging of ASTM to reduce the number of standards in publication wherever possible.

There is a similar standard for stainless steel wire and WWR—A1022/A1022M-07, Standard Specification for Deformed and Plain Stainless Steel Wire and Welded Wire for Concrete Reinforcement—that was used as the model for the new standard.

Specifying requirements for welded wire reinforcement used in concrete should be more streamlined thanks to an overhaul of standards.