Concrete always benefits from having steel reinforcement but it does not always need steel reinforcement. Concrete is very strong on its own and can be used for a lot of purposes without having any steel in it. Much of the ornamental and decorative concrete do not have any steel in it and have withstood the test of time. Anything structural should have steel reinforcement in it.

Steel does add a lot of strength to concrete. Tensile strength. Concrete already has a lot of compressive strength, meaning that it can have a lot of weight on it before it is crushed. But it lacks tensile strength, meaning that concrete spanning a gap will crack and / or break under a lot of weight. Steel gives concrete tensile strength so it can bear much more weight when spanning a gap than without any steel reinforcement. But it does not STOP the concrete from cracking. It stops the concrete from moving where it cracked and breaking completely.

Many smaller projects, especially DIY and crafting projects, do not use steel. When making a smaller project that needs strength but not steel just make the concrete thicker and this should add the strength you are looking for. If there is a way to use steel reinforcement in your project, you should. Concrete with steel in it is better than concrete without steel.

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