MMFX is five times more corrosion resistant than regular steel

Tag : wire mesh
Arabian Business reported that Madar, a subsidiary of Al FozanGroup, WHICH was established 3 years ago as a result of thedisparity between supply and demand in the Middle East steelindustry has since expanded its operations to cover the UAE, Qatar,Bahrain, Jordan, Syria and Sudan. The firm's Dubai rebar processingplant which opened for business last May has seen Madar become oneof the biggest suppliers in the region.

Mr Sameh Hassan CEO of Madar Holding said that "We have now reached80% to 85% of our capacity at our Dubai factory and we are lookingat expansion in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi. He added that we work intwo ten hour shifts so the factory is productive 20 hours a day. Wehave 100 workers which increase to 120 at busier times of the year.

The factory has an output capacity of 300,000 tonnes a year withplans to expand. Such plans are indicative of an industryexperiencing an unprecedented boom. It is estimated that demand forsteel bars in the UAE alone exceeds 4.5 million tons a year.

Mr Hassan hopes that some of this demand can be met through aninnovative new type of steel known as MMFX. Madar is to import MMFXfrom the US with the first shipment due to hit UAE shores at theend of August. Plans are also being developed to manufacture MMFXin the region following the initial period of importing.

Mr Hassan said that "The type of soil that we have here in theregion is corrosive. He added that MMFX is five times morecorrosion resistant than regular steel. It is therefore suitablefor structures that require a lot of resistance to soil corrosion,such as waterfront buildings, high rises, bridges, tunnels and inparticular foundations of high rises."

The factory has a cut and bend and a wire mesh production facility.Mr Mahmoud Fouda engineer said that "With cut and bend, the steelis sheared to the required size. If it requires bending, it goesinto a side pocket. Some bending shapes can be complicated, such asthose we supply to the Dubai Metro."

The Metro is Madar's single biggest contract and has helped propelproduction within the factory to near capacity. The wire meshfacility has been operational since last June. For the uninitiated,wire mesh is used for concrete reinforcement. Fouda, trusty loudhailer in hand, takes over.

Mr Fouda said that "We import wire rod which goes to the groovingmachine. The machine grooves the wire into a particular size andchanges its flexibility. This makes it more suitable for wire meshproduction, and puts the ribs on the rod which improves the grip ofthe concrete against the steel. The coil is then put onto the wiremesh machine. It gets welded at 180 shots a minute. We can dodifferent sizes of mesh depending on the clients requirement."