Mechanical performance of engineered cementitious composite containing crumb rubber at elevated temperature

Abstract

The growing amount of waste tires has raised ever-increasing environmental concern with the development of the automobile industries. Therefore, utilization of crumb rubber in Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC) has attracted attention in the construction industry. During elevated temperature, the crumb rubber (CR) melts and creates escape routes for build-up pressure due to moisture in the matrix. This research reports the influence of crumb rubber on the residual compressive strength of ECC after exposure to elevated temperature up to 1000°C. The CR-ECC mixes were developed for utilizing crumb rubber in the percentage of 0%, 1%, 3% and 5%. The CR-ECC fresh mixtures were cast into 50 mm cube moulds and cured for 28 days. The samples were preconditioned and exposed to elevated temperature (23°C, 100°C, 200°C, 300°C, 400°C, 500°C, 600°C, 700°C, 800°C, 900°C, 1000°C) for 1-hour duration. Afterward, the samples were evaluated for residual compressive strength. However, there was no explosive spalling recorded in all the specimens used for the experiment.