More specifically steel wire (around 1/8 diameter). I'm doing a science fair project where I'm testing if concrete encased in steel has more fire resistance than steel by itself. However, I have no idea what the dimensions of concrete encased steel is so I can't scale down. And if I did have the dimensions I wouldn't know how to encase it around the steel wire (do I just poor concrete over it (heck I've never even used concrete)? Thanks for any help.
If you're designing this structure, I recommend not filling it with concrete. It will do very little for stiffness (steel is 7-8 times stiffer than concrete), almost nothing for strength (unless buckling of the steel cylinder is an issue), and will add lots of unnecessary weight.
OK, here is my take on it Take equal lengths of steel wire, one is going to bare, one is going to be encased You will need a tension rig, simply this will be one fixed end and one end you can hang a weight down. For the test you will affix one end and string it between to supports with one end hanging off, which is where you will put the weight. The put a ruler where the weight is, so as the weight pulls the wire down (after it is hot) you can time the stretching. lastly you need a place to put a controlled fire under the wire, I'd reccommend something tame like a camping stove OK, got a test rig and two pieces and a way to test. You'll have to play with different fires and weights to see what works best Putting the concrete on the wire is a tricky one since you don't want the concrete to take the load. Get a tub or dish of approriate size and put some wet concrete in it, partway up. Take one of the wires and coat it with wax or something like it that is soft. Place the wire, with the ends sticking out, in the concrete tub and pour more on to cover it. Let this whole thing harden. You might want to have a specific shape to the tub so it comes out a certain size Now, you have an uncoated wire and an coated one. Be careful you don't pull the wire out of the concrete Another way to do this would be to use joing compound, which is a type of mortor (cement). You can buy it a home depot or such. Mix it up as thick as possible and just cake it on the wire and let harden. You can shape the coating using saran wrap or something maybe. I my world we call this stuff monster mud, its used to shape things for Halloween props like robes into figures. Its quite sturdy when done When you are ready to test just hook each part up with the same fire and weight and take readings of stretch vs. time
Yeah, just pour the concrete over it, but make sure the steel is in the middle of the concrete (I'm sure you can figure out a way to do this). What you're thinking of is called steel rebar.
