Chemical Anchoring: What Is It and Why Use It?

When working with concrete in high-load structural applications, your choice of fastening products matters. Not just from an engineering and compliance point of view, but also for structural safety and integrity. For this, your choice should be a chemical anchor.

What Are Chemical Anchors?

Chemical anchors are used to fasten threaded rod and rebar in high-load and critical fixings. They provide a more flexible adhesive to the fixture than their mechanical anchor counterparts. Allfasteners own range of chemical injection epoxy anchors cover all applications when dealing with high-load structural projects. 

With chemical anchoring, an epoxy is injected into the hole prior to insertion of the stud. The chemical will naturally fill all gaps left in the hole, therefore making the hole airtight. This leads to extra adhesion, which creates extra strength for the stud to hold in place.

Preparation and Installation

Concrete anchoring, on any jobsite, is an important task. Anything other than a perfect job will surely lead to disaster on your jobsite. To avoid those disasters, look to these simple guidelines to help understand how to prep for and install chemical anchors.

Hole Preparation – Make sure to drill hole to correct depth. For more information on diameter and drill bit size refer to the adhesive specifications. Once the hole is drilled it must be cleaned. All dirt, oil, debris, wax, grease or dust must be removed. This can be done by using a two-step method of blowing out the hole followed by the use of a wire brush to ensure the hole is cleared of all debris.

Dispensing – Once the hole has been properly prepared, insert the epoxy into the proper dispensing tool and waste the first 50mL to ensure the chemical is mixed correctly. Begin filling the hole from the bottom with the epoxy until it is about 2/3 of the way full. Begin to slowly insert your threaded rod or rebar into the hole, making sure to turn it to embed it into the epoxy. This will help the insertion process and make sure the epoxy is distributed evenly around the rod. Make sure to allow the epoxy time to cure once the rod is fully inserted. Clean up any extra epoxy that may have come out of the hole and the process is complete.

For information regarding the chemical properties of our chemical anchors, refer to the TDS and MSDS.

Need Help Choosing the Right Epoxy

Any questions about which AF epoxy anchors product to use for your application? At Allfasteners, we stock a range of epoxy anchors that American contractors, building companies and engineers trust every day. Ask Allfasteners now – the experts For All Things Fastening…and chemical anchoring.