On Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Concretes with Rubber as Partial Replacement to Well-Graded Conventional Aggregates

Abstract

The disposal of used automobiles tyres is a major environmental concern of the day. Annually, there are 1.2 billion tyres seeking disposal issues globally. Concrete as a major construction material can potentially adopt processed rubber waste—derived from tyres as a partial replacement for aggregates. The present study is focused on mechanical and thermal properties of concretes with rubber as partial replacement to well-graded conventional aggregates. The study includes replacement of 10, 20, 30 and 100% of coarse aggregate with waste tyre aggregates and was compared with conventional M30 grade concrete. Concretes were subjected a thermal cyclic heating of 50 °C for a period of 7 days. The results showed that the weight of the rubber concrete is reduced by 12% compared to the conventional concrete and the strength of the concrete reduces with the increase in rubber content. At ambient temperatures, the rubber concrete was found thermally stable. The compressive strengths were found increasing after cyclic heating of 50 °C for a period of 7 days. This effect may be due the effect of Portland pozzolana cement which has 30% of fly ash in it. From this study, it can be concluded that rubber waste concretes can be a potential candidate for structural and non-load bearing structures at ambient temperatures.