About SAPTA

Reinforced Concrete
Concrete has been used as a constructional material for centuries because most of those parts of the world where early civilisations were established had natural cement deposits. In Mediterranean countries there were many remains of Roman concrete construction. Early in the 19th century, the artificial cement, Portland Cement, consisting chiefly of clay and limestone chalk, was invented. This allowed for a more uniform and economic cement to be manufactured almost anywhere in the world. Relying on the great strength of concrete in compression, numerous splendid concrete structures were build.

It was only in the latter half of the 19th century that the weakness of concrete in tension was overcome. The tension areas were reinforced by imbedding steel in the concrete to carry the tensile stresses. The development of this technology has resulted in the construction of all the wonderful sophisticated concrete structures, all over the globe, that we take for granted today.

Prestressed Concrete
A more recent developement is that of compressing the tensile section of concrete members so that when a member is loaded no tensile stresses result. With the developement of high tensile steels great strides were made in the practical use of prestressing. Generally lighter and more economical structural members are possible and in certain circumstances prestressed concrete has no commercial competition.
"Encyclopedia Britannica"

SAPTA
The South African Post Tensioning Association was formed in 1987 as an employer body..."to promote the interests of its members, to encourage fair and equitable trading conditions and to establish optimum standards of workmanship and service in order to preserve the good name of highly technical and sophisticated post tensioning industry." Today SAPTA continues to promote these objectives for the benifit of its members, their clients as well as all who are employed in the industry.

Membership is open to all employers engaged in the Post Tensioning Concrete Industry who have the technical ability and use a recognised system supported by design calculations and professional expertise.

SAPTA holds regular meetings in order to achieve their objectives. Through affiliation to SEIFSA and The Concrete Society, SAPTA is able to keep abreast the latest technological innovations. This also applies to Training and Industrial Relation matters where the SAPTA office keeps members fully informed of the latest developements as well as any new legislation promulgated.

Relying on their particular skills, SAPTA members are able to assure clients of a quality product.

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