Improved strength performance of rubberized Concrete: Role of ground blast furnace slag and waste glass bottle nanoparticles amalgamation

Abstract

Production of high strength and sustainable concrete by recycling various industrial wastes in an eco-friendly way to reduce the landfill problems remains challenging. Ever-increasing disposal of million tons of waste tyres worldwide posed serious environmental concern. The reuse of waste tyres in concrete as fine and coarse aggregates was shown to enhance its strength performance and solve the landfills-related environmental issues. Thus, new types of rubberized concrete mixes with improved bond zone and strength performance were produced by combining the waste rubber tyre aggregates (WRTAs), waste glass bottle nanoparticles (WGBNPs) and ground blast furnace slag (GBFS) with ordinary Portland cement (OPC). The designed concrete mixes contained 30% of crumb rubber as substitute of the natural fine and coarse aggregates wherein OPC was replaced by 20% of GBFS and various WGBNPs contents (3, 6, 9 and 12%). The workability performance, microstructures, and strength properties of the proposed mixes were evaluated using various tests. Concrete containing 6% of WGBNPs showed significant enhancement in the bond zone between cement paste and crumb rubber surface wherein the compressive strength was increased by 14% compared to the control specimen. The microstructures analyses of WGBNPs blended concretes displayed the formation of dense gels and less pores with acceptable engineering properties. It was asserted that concretes obtained by blending GBFS, WGBNPs and WRTAs with less OPC can be the potential green construction materials with immense benefits for the environment, thus minimizing the greenhouse gases emission and landfill requirements.