Mechanical Behaviour of Concrete Containing Crumb Rubber as Partial Fine Aggregates Replacement

Abstract

Nowadays, the waste tires became a critical issue for many countries as the transportation industries increase around the world. Normally, the worn-out tires will be discarded and become an environmental threat or resourceful end product depending on the waste management of the country. Thus, the aim of this study is to investigate the effect of crumb rubber as partial replacement of fine aggregates in compressive and tensile strength of concrete. Based on the mechanical behaviour, the optimum content of crumb rubber as partial fine aggregates replacement in concrete is determined. The size of crumb rubber used in this study was between 2 mm and 3 mm with 5% to 15% replacements. The targeted strength of concrete at 28th days is 35 MPa with 0.32 water to cement ratio. The slump test was conducted to measure the workability of the mix. 24 concrete cubes with dimension of 150 mm x 150 mm x 150 mm were tested for compressive strength after 7 and 28 days of water curing. In addition, 12 cylinders (100 mm x 200 mm) were prepared for tensile strength test. Based on the results of compressive and tensile strength, generally both strengths decreased as the percentages of replacement increased. However, for 5% and 10% replacement, the targeted strength is still achieved. Hence, it can be concluded that, 10% of rubber crumb is the optimum percentages to be partial replacement of fine aggregates in concrete.