Durability characteristics of lightweight rubberized concrete
Introduction
Concrete is made in many different forms based on varying mix design proportions, additives, and methodologies of preparation. With the continual development of concrete technology, more opportunities are made for the incorporation of innovative and environmentally beneficial solutions to be applied to both concrete designs and applications. Recently, used car tyre rubber particles are being utilised to replace normal aggregates to make a green and light-weight concrete, which is called rubberized concrete. This relatively new concrete concept has attracted a lot of attention from researchers and engineers to carry out research on its mechanical properties [3], [4], [5]. There have been many studies focusing on the mechanical properties of rubberized concrete [6], [7], [8].
Meanwhile, the number of studies on the effects of rubber particles on the durability characteristics of concrete is limited. Durability characteristics including electrical resistivity, abrasion, water absorption, corrosion potential, chloride penetration and etc. There is a consensus that the durability of concrete may also be identified by its resistance to penetration of aggressive substances and media [9]. Various types of tests can be adopted to investigate the effects of the rubber aggregate particles on the durability characteristics of rubberized concrete. For example, the transport properties of concrete indicate how materials such as water or salt can move throughout the microstructure and their effects on the degradation of the concrete. The main processes that determine the measurement and classification of transport properties are diffusion, pressure driven flow and electromigration [10]. Throughout both the early stage and hardened conditions, the transport properties were investigated by Guo et al. [11] and Hilsdorf and Kropp [12]. These studies used a resistivity meter to carry out tests on cylinder specimens at 1, 3, 7, 14 and 28-day intervals. The test results suggested that adding rubber particles to the concrete’s mix increased the electrical resistivity which is an indication of the transport connection being lower and overall a greater durability [11]. In addition, there have been more advanced methods which were adopted to investigate the durability of construction materials [13], [14], [15], [16]. Xavier et al. [16] used X-ray fluorescence chemical analysis, differential thermal analysis, and X-ray diffraction analysis to examine the durability characteristic of red ceramic with ornamental stone waste inclusion. Meanwhile, pre-treatment of the rubber surface was also observed to enhance this effect on electrical resistivity, in which the cement coated rubber aggregates marginally outperformed the NaOH pre-treated rubber particles [11]. Other than that, the durability of the rubberized concrete in general has not been well understood, which has prevented the popularity and wide-spread implementation of this relatively new material. This study aims to investigate the durability characteristics of rubberized concrete.
Section snippets
Chloride ion penetration
Corrosion of reinforcing steel in concrete is a key factor that strongly influences the performance of a reinforced concrete structure. One of the primary mechanisms in which this occurs is through chloride ion penetration. This consists of chloride ions infiltrating the pore network within the concrete and results in the neutralisation of the alkaline environment around the embedded steel [15]. Ultimately, this causes the corrosion of the embedded steel due to the oxidation of ferrous atoms.
Mixture design and pre-treatment method
Recycled tyre rubber 1–7 mm in size was incorporated within the concrete as aggregates. Limiting the maximum rubber particle size to 7 mm allowed for a homogenous mixture with adequate compaction ability to be achieved. The rubber particles were sourced from Tyre recycle [44] as shown in Fig. 1. Normal coarse and fine aggregates consisted of 10 mm aggregates, 7 mm aggregates and sand. Water and 10% sodium hydroxide (NaOH) were utilised as the rubber pre-treatment method prior to mixing. This
Compressive strengths and densities
Compression tests were conducted to investigate the effects between the sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and water pre-treatment methods on the compressive strengths according to AS 1012.9 [50]. The experimental results were averaged from three specimens for all mixes after 7 days and 28 days of curing (Table 2).
From these results, it can be seen that the compressive strength of rubberized concrete decreased when increasing the rubber content. At 28 days, the 15% specimens exhibited compressive
Service life estimation
A key consideration in the design of any concrete structure is its service life. Due to its porous and non-homogenous nature, concrete is susceptible to various deterioration mechanisms such as chloride permeation, acid attack, and carbonation. Clifton [65] established that the service life of concrete is stochastic. This is influenced by a number of random variables such as mix design, environmental exposure, material characteristics, and protective cover. Due to this, a probabilistic or
Conclusions
This study experimentally investigates the durability characteristic of rubberized concrete. The main findings can be summarized as follows:
- 1.
The inclusion of rubber aggregates led to reduction of the compressive strength of rubberized concrete. The specimens with NaOH pre-treatment method yielded higher compressive strength as compared to those used water pre-treatment method.
- 2.
Rubberized concrete had more positive standard potential than that of conventional concrete, indicating the first one is
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgement
The financial support from Australian Research Council via the Australian Laureate Fellowship number FL180100196 is acknowledged. The authors would like to thank Adrian Jones from Tyrecycle for donating rubberized aggregates.
References (65)
- et al.
Sustainable concrete with high volume GGBFS to build Masdar City in the UAE
Case Stud. Constr. Mater.
(2014) - et al.
Compressive behaviour of concrete structures incorporating recycled concrete aggregates, rubber crumb and reinforced with steel fibre, subjected to elevated temperatures
J. Cleaner Prod.
(2014) High strength rubberized concrete containing silica fume for the construction of sustainable road side barriers
Structures
(2015)- et al.
Dynamic response of rubberized concrete columns with and without FRP confinement subjected to lateral impact
Constr. Build. Mater.
(2018) - et al.
Evaluation of properties and performance of rubber-modified concrete for recycling of waste scrap tire
J. Cleaner Prod.
(2017) - et al.
Durability for concrete structures in marine environments of HZM project: design, assessment and beyond
Cem. Concr. Res.
(2019) - et al.
Assessment of the durability of grout submitted to accelerated carbonation test
Constr. Build. Mater.
(2018) - et al.
Durability of sustainable concrete subjected to elevated temperature–a review
Constr. Build. Mater.
(2019) - et al.
Improvement of chloride ion penetration resistance in cement mortars modified with rubber from worn automobile tires
Cem. Concr. Compos.
(2009) A comprehensive overview about recycling rubber as fine aggregate replacement in traditional cementitious materials
Int. J. Sustain. Built Environ.
(2016)
Scrap-tire-rubber replacement for aggregate and filler in concrete
Constr. Build. Mater.
Possibility of using waste tire rubber and fly ash with Portland cement as construction materials
Waste Manage (Oxford).
Long term behaviour of cement concrete containing discarded tire rubber
Use of electrical resistivity as an indicator for durability
Constr. Build. Mater.
Use of crumb rubber to improve thermal and sound properties of pre-cast concrete panel
Constr. Build. Mater.
Utilization of phase change materials and rubber particles to improve thermal and mechanical properties of mortar
Constr. Build. Mater.
Thermal conductivity of newspaper sandwiched aerated lightweight concrete panel
Energy Build.
Structural and mechanical studies on modified reused tires composites
Eur. Polym. J.
Rubber modified concrete improved by chemically active coating and silane coupling agent
Constr. Build. Mater.
Properties and durability of HPC with tyre rubber wastes
Constr. Build. Mater.
Influence of scrap rubber addition to Portland I concrete composites: destructive and non-destructive testing
Compos. Struct.
The influence of compaction pores on sorptivity and carbonation of concrete
Constr. Build. Mater.
Correlation between initial absorption of cover concrete, the compressive strength and carbonation depth
Constr. Build. Mater.
Abrasion resistance of sustainable green concrete containing waste tire rubber particles
Constr. Build. Mater.
Permeability properties of self-compacting rubberized concretes
Constr. Build. Mater.
Environmentally friendly polymer-rubber composites obtained from waste tyres: a review
J. Cleaner Prod.
Axial impact resistance of rubberized concrete with/without FRP confinement for sustainable road side barriers
Int. J. Protect. Struct.
Electrical resistivity of concrete for durability evaluation: a review
Adv. Mater. Sci. Eng.
Transport Properties of Concrete: Measurements and Applications
Performance Criteria for Concrete Durability
Cited by (62)
Performance assessment and economic and ecological analysis of carbon-negative recycled crumb rubber-based geopolymers
2024, Journal of Cleaner ProductionInfluence of crumbed rubber inclusion on spalling, microstructure, and mechanical behaviour of UHPC exposed to elevated temperatures
2023, Construction and Building MaterialsInfluence of rubber geometrical characteristics on the corrosion behavior of rebar in rubberized concrete
2023, Journal of Building EngineeringDurability of rubberized concrete with recycled steel fibers from tyre recycling in aggresive enviroments
2023, Construction and Building MaterialsResidual strength of steel fibre reinforced rubberised UHPC under elevated temperatures
2023, Journal of Building Engineering