Properties of Concrete Containing Scrap (Recycled) Tire-Rubber

Abstract

Solid waste management is one of the major environmental concerns all over the world and in Kuwait. Over 5 billion tons of non-hazardous solid waste materials are generated in Kuwait each year. Of these, more than 2 million scrap-tires (approximately 2 million tons) are generated each year. In addition to this, about 7 million scrap-tires have been stockpiled. Due to the increasingly serious environmental problems presented by waste tires, the feasibility of using elastic and flexible tire–rubber particles as aggregate in concrete is investigated in this study. Tire-rubber particles composed of tire chips, crumb rubber and a combination of tire chips and crumb rubber were used to replace mineral aggregates in concrete. These particles were used to replace 10, 15, 20 and 25% of the total mineral aggregate’s volume in concrete. Concrete cubes with dimensions of 100×100×100 mm3and prisms with dimensions of 75×75×300 mm3have been prepared and tested for their compressive strength. It was observed that, increasing the tire-rubber content, reduces the compressive strength, the unit weight and density of the concrete compared to plain concrete. Moreover, modulus of elasticity decreases as waste crumb tires replacement increases. The study concludes with useful comments and suggestions.