Mechanical Properties of Steel Fibers and Nanosilica Modified Crumb Rubber Concrete

Yihong Wang,E. Huang,Danying Gao,Jiawei Chen

doi:10.1155/2018/6715813

Abstract

Crumb rubber concrete (CRC) is an environment-friendly material using crumb rubber as a composition of cement concrete. It provides an alternative method for recycling of waste tires scientifically. CRC exhibits numerous advantages compared to ordinary concrete. However, the application of CRC is limited due to its low compressive and tensile strengths. This paper puts forward a new modified method by adding steel fibers and nanosilica in CRC. Material properties’ testing of eighteen concrete mixtures was investigated, considering different strength grades of CRC and crumb rubber contents. In addition, four different steel fiber contents (0%, 0.5%, 1.0%, and 1.5%) and three different nanosilica content (0%, 1%, and 2%) were taken into consideration. The brittle failure of the CRC can be improved and the mechanical properties can be enhanced according to the test results. More importantly, the modified CRC with 1.0% steel fiber content has relatively high compressive and splitting tensile strengths. Furthermore, the noncompactness of CRC can be effectively improved by nanosilica, enhancing the efficiency of steel fibers simultaneously. Finally, the failure mechanism of the modified CRC is discussed in this paper.

Highlights

With the development of automotive industry in recent years, a large amount of waste tires are produced
After a series of treatments, such as mechanical crushing, grinding, dust removal, and cleaning, crumb rubbers can be obtained from the waste tires
The optimum result that most of the concrete mixtures had slump within the range of 40∼80 mm was achieved

Summary

Introduction

With the development of automotive industry in recent years, a large amount of waste tires are produced. Every year more than half of waste tires were discarded with no treatment [1]. These nonbiodegradable waste tires can provide breeding places for flies and mosquitoes. These tires pose high danger of fire, threatening the environment, human lives, and property [2]. This black pollution becomes an inevitable problem raising concerns worldwide. After a series of treatments, such as mechanical crushing, grinding, dust removal, and cleaning, crumb rubbers can be obtained from the waste tires.

Results

Discussion

Conclusion