Performance of geopolymer concrete containing recycled rubber

Abstract

Abstract For the past few years, the construction field industry is responding to the challenge of incorporating sustainability in the production processes, this was done through the utilization of solid waste materials as aggregates in concrete or via searching for more environmentally friendly raw materials. Producing binders free of Portland cement is one of the most innovative ways to substitutes the Portland cement. Using a cementitious material (steel slag or blast furnace slag) or pozzolanic materials (fly ash or silica fume) activated with alkali activators. These alkali-activated binder systems are called geopolymer concrete. One of the possible solutions for the use of waste tire rubber is to incorporate into geopolymer concrete as a substitution of natural aggregate. This study designed to investigate the effect of different percentages of crumb rubber as a partial substitution of both; fine, and coarse aggregates by volume percentage (0, 10, 20 and 30%) on the hardened properties (compressive, tensile and flexural strength) and impact resistance of slag based geopolymer concrete (replacing the cement by; ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) activated with sodium silicate and sodium hydroxide). Finally, the work provides the mix with high compressive strength, ductility and impact resistance to be used in structural elements subjected to impact and dynamic load such as (bridge approach slabs, railway buffers, and airport runways).