Properties of Cement Composite Containing Waste Tire Rubber, Silica Fume and Polypropylene Fiber

Abstract

Management of solid wastes is one of the most important issues around the world. Vehicle tires are one of these solid wastes. A test program was carried out to determine the mechanical properties of rubberized concretes with and without silica fume and polypropylene fiber. The main objective of this study was to investigate the use of silica fume in cement composite containing waste rubber tire. In the present work the Silica fume was replaced by 10% of cement weight. Five designated rubber content varying from 10% to 50% by volume and polypropylene content 0.3% by volume were used. The 28-days properties of the cement composite were determined. The analyses included compressive strength, flexural strengths, velocity of ultrasonic wave, water absorption and Scaning electron microscopy(SEM). The results indicated the following points: Increase in rubber content decreases the sample unit weight, the introduction of rubber particles significantly increas the strain capacity of the materials and the use of silica fume increas the mechanical properties.