Preliminary Study on the Utilization of RHA as a Performance Enhancer for Rubber Mortar.

Jin Li,Ying Xu,Haibing Cai,Chunchao Li,Peiyuan Chen

doi:10.3390/ma14123216

Jin Li, Ying Xu + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14123216

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Abstract

In this study, rice husk ash (RHA) was explored as a strength enhancer for mortars containing waste rubber. The effects of RHA on the flow, mechanical strength, chloride resistance, and capillary absorption of rubber mortar were investigated by substituting up to 20% cement with RHA. The experimental results showed that the incorporation of rubber into mortar could be safely achieved by adding RHA as a cement substitute by up to 20% without compromising the compressive strength of mortar. Moreover, the RHA also exerted positive effects on the enhancement of the chloride resistance as well as the capillary absorption of rubber mortars, for which 15% RHA was found to be the optimal dosage.

Highlights

The shortage of natural aggregates worldwide has evoked great attention to alternative materials for natural aggregates [1]
In order to analyze the microscopic mechanism of the rice husk ash (RHA) reinforced rubber mortar, the cement pastes cured for 28 days were analyzed with X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR)
This paper explored rice husk ash (RHA) as a strength enhancer for concrete with waste rubber incorporated

Summary

Introduction

The shortage of natural aggregates worldwide has evoked great attention to alternative materials for natural aggregates [1]. This is especially significant in China, where the production of aggregates has sharply decreased in recent years as a consequence of the strict policies of environmental protection [2]. Recycled aggregates, waste rubber, and plastic are popular recyclable wastes used to replace natural aggregates to prepare concrete [5,6,7]. Concrete incorporated with waste aggregates can display comparable or even superior performance to that with natural aggregates. Concrete incorporated with waste rubber, namely, rubber concrete, normally has enhanced impact resistance [11], better ductility [12,13], abrasion resistance [14], sound insulation [15], thermal insulation [16,17], and freeze–thaw resistance [18]

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