Reinforcing

The termination for a reinforcing bar, the termination having a body extending in a longitudinal direction between opposite first and second ends, and a lateral engagement face formed on the body, in use the first end is joined to an end of a reinforcing bar, and the engagement face incorporates locking formations thereon arranged to interfit with a complementary shaped termination to form an interlock arranged to accommodate loading applied in the longitudinal direction,

• wherein the locking formations comprise one or more upstands extending transversely across the engagement face and at least one recess disposed adjacent to at least one of the upstands, wherein, in use, the at least one upstand and the at least one recess interfit with at least one upstand and at least one recess disposed on the complementary shaped termination,
• wherein each upstand has a side wall extending between a bridging portion of the upstand, and abase portion of an adjacent recess,
• wherein each side wall incorporates a bearing surface which is arranged to engage the complementary shaped termination in the interlock,
• wherein each side wall includes a first transition region formed above the bearing surface and forms the intersection between the bearing surface and the bridging portion;
• and a second transition region extends from the bearing surface to the base portion, the side walls are configured so that the bearing surfaces of the upstands form the regions of contact in the interlock to accommodate loading applied in the longitudinal direction with no points of contact formed at the transition regions.

Reinforcing comprising:

• a reinforcing bar extending along a portion of the length of the reinforcing;
• and a termination extending along an end portion of the reinforcing, the termination having a body extending in a longitudinal direction between opposite first and second ends, and a lateral engagement face formed on the body, the engagement face incorporates locking formations thereon arranged to interfit with a complementary shaped termination to form an interlock arranged to accommodate loading applied in the longitudinal direction, and wherein the termination is permanently bonded to the reinforcing bar,
• wherein the locking formations comprise one or more upstands extending a the upstands,
• wherein, in use, the at least one upstand and the at least one recess interfit with at least one upstand and at least one recess disposed on the complementary shaped termination,
• wherein each upstand has a side wall extending between a bridging portion of the upstand, and a base portion of an adjacent recess and wherein each side wall incorporates a bearing surface which is arranged to engage the complementary shaped termination in the interlock and wherein each side wall includes a first transition region formed above the bearing surface and forms the intersection between the bearing surface and the bridging portion;
• and a second transition region extends from the bearing surface to the base portion, the side walls are configured so that the bearing surfaces of the upstands form the regions of contact in the interlock to accommodate loading applied in the longitudinal direction with no points of contact formed at the transition regions.

A coupling for interconnecting first and second reinforcing bars, the coupling comprising:

• first and second reinforcing bars, each reinforcing bar comprising a shaft extending along a portion of the length of the bar and a termination extending along an end portion of the bar, the termination incorporating an engagement face incorporating locking formations thereon arranged to interfit with a complementary shaped termination to form an interlock arranged to accommodate axial loading, the locking formations comprising a plurality of spaced apart upstands extending transversely across the engagement face, and a plurality of recesses disposed between adjacent ones of the upstands, wherein, in use, the upstands and recesses interfit with upstands and recesses disposed on the complementary shaped termination, wherein to facilitate proper mating of the terminations in forming an interlock an end upstand adjacent a terminal end of the bar is wider than the other upstands and an innermost recess is wider than the other recess to receive an upstand of the shape of the end upstand,
• the engagement faces of the terminations of the first and second reinforcing bars being in opposing abutting relation with the locking formations of those terminations interfitting to form an interlock, and
• a retaining device disposed around the interlock to retain the engagement faces in the opposing abutting relation to one another.