Tata Steel: a saga of continuous innovation and nation building

Tata TISCON Fe600 rebars with their unique strength and ductility combination offer unique potential for engineers and designers to give shape to economical, sleek and future ready structures using reinforced concrete
Traditionally, the per capita consumption of steel in India has always been low. Added to this, low consumer involvement and a plethora of players in the market resulted in a highly commoditised market with price being the primary consideration for purchase.
Tata Steel broke through the clutter in the construction sector with its rebar flagship brand – Tata Tiscon, a product of state-of-the-art technology. With a rich steelmaking and nation-building legacy of over 100 years, Tata Steel has always been a pioneer and change leader. The company has worked continuously to strengthen its processes, product offerings and services in its quest for innovation and value-creation. Tata Steel is the first steel company outside Japan to have won the coveted Deming Prize for Excellence in Total Quality Management.
How product innovation in rebars has played a role in the success of Tata Steel There was a time when construction steel was just plain ‘saria’ (steel). In its quest to build a brand, the Tata Steel team envisaged its role as delivering construction solutions for stakeholders and placing the ‘saria’ in its rightful position, instead of just selling products.
Tata Tiscon has been proactive in bringing innovation to the market and giving the right solution to customers. It was the first to tap into the latent needs of customers – be it through the establishment of a retail channel to reach individual house builders in every nook and corner of the country to developing new products like 7 mm rebar, corrosion resistant steel and Fe600 Rebar for institutional players like L&T and Gammon India.
Super strength has a new name – TISCON Fe600 Reinforced concrete, these days, is synonymous with construction globally. Be it the world’s highest building, biggest metro viaduct or longest bridge – they are all built using reinforced concrete. Constrained by land availability and enabled by enhancement in design capabilities engineers are opting for leaner structures with higher load carrying capabilities.
Improvements in concrete technology have been coherent with this requirement however with high strength carbon alloyed steel reinforcing bars the biggest challenge has been managing the compatible ductility together with enhanced strength. Tata Tiscon Fe600 rebars are envisaged to provide the best of both worlds. These reinforcement bars are suitably micro-alloyed to achieve better ductility along with higher strength. Tata Tiscon Fe600 can be used in buildings, bridges, and marine facilities etc. to create leaner structures with lesser steel congestion improving construction quality and saving cost.
TISCON Fe600: 45% more strength than conventional rebarsFe600 rebar offers 45 per cent higher strength than conventional steel (415 MPavs 600 MPa).
This results into:• Reduction of steel consumption: Re-designing the structure using Fe600 rebar, reduces the steel requirement for a project by up to 25 per cent• Reduction in labour cost: Less steel to handle and hence labour costs are lower by up to 15 per cent• Reduction in congestion: Higher Strength requires lesser bars (section-area) to carry similar loads resulting into lesser congestion, and hence improving the quality of construction.• Better ductility: Tata Tiscon Fe600 reabrs offer characteristic elongation of (min) 16 per cent• Faster progress: Lesser steel handling and no congestion enables faster project completion• Handling (cutting & bending): Can be fabricated using conventional equipment• More flexibility and efficiency in design.TISCON Fe600: mechanical & chemical propertiesTata Tiscon’s unique method of manufacturing creates a combination of strength and ductility that far exceeds the minimum limit specified in IS:1786. Tiscon Fe600 offers 20 per cent higher Yield Strength (YS) than Fe500 grade rebar with similar ductility as TISCON Fe500D grade. While YS denotes ‘design’ strength of rebar, UTS/YS ratio and percent elongation are important properties in a rebar that reflect its ductility characteristics. Tata Tiscon Fe600 rebars are suitably micro-alloyed resulting into excellent ductility along with superior strength. The other undesirable impurities (like Sulphur and Phosphorus) that impair the overall longevity of rebars when used inside structures are also maintained at lower level than specified limits.
ApplicationsTata Tiscon Fe600 rebars, with their dual advantages of enhanced strength and superior ductility, are suitable to be used as reinforcement for commercial, housing, industrial, utilities, infra, MRTS and other reinforced concrete applications, including:
• Buildings (piles, pile caps, foundations, columns, beams)• Bridges (piers, girders, decks)• UG walls in MRTS stations• Retaining walls, marine facilities (docks, piers)• Grade separators and viaducts (piers, box-girders)• Precast reinforced concrete members.
AvailabilityTata TISCON Fe600 rebars with their unique strength and ductility combination offer unique potential for engineers and designers to give shape to economical, sleek and future ready structures using reinforced concrete. It is available in the following sizes: 16 mm, 20 mm, 25 mm, 28 mm, 32 mm, 36 mm and 40 mm.

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