AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON PARTIAL ADDITION OF RECYCLED RUBBER TYRES AS REPLACEMENT FOR AGGREGATES IN CONCRETE

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International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET)
Volume 9, Issue 11, November 2018, pp. 315–325, Article ID: IJCIET_09_11_031
Available online at http://www.iaeme.com/ijciet/issues.asp?JType=IJCIET&VType=9&IType=11
ISSN Print: 0976-6308 and ISSN Online: 0976-6316
© IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed
AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON PARTIAL
ADDITION OF RECYCLED RUBBER TYRES AS
REPLACEMENT FOR AGGREGATES IN
CONCRETE
S. Chandrasekar
Research Scholar, Department of Civil Engineering
St. Peter‟s Institute of Higher Education & Research, Avadi, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India
Dr. P. Asha
Professor, Department of Civil Engineering
St. Peter‟s Institute of Higher Education & Research, Avadi, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India
ABSTRACT
Concrete, being one of the widely used construction materials in the world in
which cement and aggregate are termed to be inevitable components that are used to
manufacture it. The increase in consumption of natural resources led to demand in
higher rate where parallel to the utilization of the natural resources emerged out as a
destructive concern inthe environment. In order to protect it the only way defined to
preserve natural resources (say aggregate) is by incorporating alternative materials
say recycled or waste elements in rubber form. In this study, we have carried out an
experimental procedure adopting recycled rubber tyres as a partial replacement for
coarse aggregate to manufacture concrete tyres. Pretreating has of one with sodium
hydroxide solution to modify its surface and interfacial transition zone allowing the
rubber to adhere with cement paste. The cycle tyres were taken and its surface were
treated with a saturated aqueous solution for 20 minutes, washed in running water
and left air dry. Then the coarse aggregates were partially replaced with rubber tyres
in different percentage’s say 5%, 10%, 20% and 30% of its total volume. Prior to that
we have prepared a control mix without any replacement of coarse aggregate to draw
a comparative study. For each and every proportion of tyre mix-concrete cubes,
cylinders were prepared and cast and properties such as slump value, compressive
strength, split tensile strength, and flexural strength are determined and a comparison
has been made
Keywords: strength, aggregates, Rubber, Workability

An Experimental Study on Partial Addition of Recycled Rubber Tyres as Replacement for
Aggregates in Concrete
Cite this Article: S. Chandrasekar and Dr. P. Asha, An Experimental Study on Partial
Addition of Recycled Rubber Tyres as Replacement for Aggregates in Concrete,
International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology, 9(11), 2018, pp. 315–325.
http://www.iaeme.com/IJCIET/issues.asp?JType=IJCIET&VType=9&IType=11
1. INTRODUCTION
It has been estimated that more than 270 million scrap-tires weighing more than million tons
are produced in India every year. In excess 300 million scrap-tires were stock piled already.
Those stock piles influence a greater risk on fire hazard which is extremely dangerous that
emerges out due to lightning, spontaneous combustion, carelessness. Also causing other
health hazard that includes diseases due to rodent and mosquito infestation and atmospheric
pollution. Most landfills refuse to take more tyres due to the fact that they are harmful to the
environment and are not bio-degradable. Some of those innovative and promising
applications are artificial reefs, control over erosion levels. Previous study concluded the
property so called dramatic changes in the mechanical properties of concrete when rubber is
introduced to the mix. Also the use of rubber particles in concrete mix decreases the
compressive strength of hardened concrete. It has been reported that the mechanical
properties of concrete rubber containing concrete exhibit the weak adhesion between the
rubber particles and cement paste. In order to address this issue, the modification of the
rubber particles surface has been suggested. Sodium hydroxide also known as lye or caustic
soda is a caustic metallic base due to its causticity. It is a perfect substance to modify the
surface of rubber in order to improve the interfacial transition zone in the concrete matrix.
Much debate is still raging on whether recycled rubber is better used as a fine aggregate or a
coarse aggregate. However a part has been declared that the introduction of recycled rubber
aggregates do change the property of the concrete.
Rubber filled concrete has the tendency to reduce its slump and density when compared
to ordinary Portland cement concrete. Around 85% reduction on slump has been expected
when comparing traditional aggregate concrete with mixes containing recycled rubber. These
values include mix prepared using partial replacement of natural aggregates by rubber
particles treated with sodium hydroxide solution.
Concrete containing rubber aggregate has the energy absorbing capacity in higher levels
also referred to as toughness property. This investigation intend to compare a OPC control
mix with three mixes having different amount of natural coarse aggregate
replacement(5%,10%,20% and 30%) with a treated shredded rubber
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Kamil (1974) analyzed the properties of crumb rubber concrete, The unit weight of the CRC
mix decreased approximately 6 pcf for every 50 lbs of crumb rubber added. The compressive
strength decreased as the rubber content increased. A Part of strength reduction contributed
towards entrapped airt. Investigation efforts revealed that the strength reduction could be
substantially reduced by adding a de-airing agent into the mixing truck just prior to the
placement of the concrete. Various methods have been executed in order to improve the
strength and the stiffness of waste tyre modified concrete. However preparing waste tyre
powders and thin tyre fiber is time, effort and money consuming.
Eldin (1993) performed tests on rubberized concrete, using tyre chips and crumb rubber
as aggregate substitute of sizes 38mm, 25mm and 19mm exhibited reduction in compressive

S. Chandrasekar and Dr. P. Asha
strength by 85% and tensile splitting strength by 50% but concluded its ability to absorb a
large amount of plastic energy under tensile and compressive loads.
Topcu (1995) investigated the effect of particle size and content of tyre rubber on the
mechanical properties of concrete. The experiment has been declared stating, although the
strength was reduced, the plastic capacity was enhanced significantly.
Zaher (1997) concluded that RPCC mixtures can be made using ground tyre in partial
replacement by volume of CA and FA. Based on the workability, an upper level on 50% of
the total aggregate volume may be used. Strength data developed in their investigation
(compressive and flexural) indicates a systematic reduction in the strength with the increase
of rubber content. From a practical viewpoint, rubber content should not exceed 20% of the
aggregate volume due to severe reduction in strength. Once the aggregate matrix contains
non-traditional components such as polymer additives, fibres, iron slag, and other waste
materials, special provisions would be required to design and produce these modified mixes.
At present, there are no such guidelines on how to include scrap tyre particles in PCC
mixtures.
Guoqiang (2004) conducted investigations over chips and fibers. The tyre surfaces are
treated with saturated NaOH solution and anchoring a hole at the center of the chips were
also investigated and they concluded that fibres perform better than chips: NaOH surface
treatment does not work for larger sized tyre chips. Further efforts will be geared towards
enlarging the hole size. The length of those fibres restricted to less than 50mm in order to
avoid entangle. Steel belt wires provide positive effect on increasing the strength of concrete.
From the above it has been stated that the waste tyre rubber modified concrete is
characterized having high toughness, low strength and stiffness.
Serge (2004) used saturated NaOH solution to treat waste tyre rubber powders. They
found that NaOH surface treatment increased rubber/cement paste interfacial bonding
strength and resulted in improved strength gain and toughness in waste tyre powder modified
cement mortar.
Garrick (2006) determined the analysis of waste tyre modified concrete using 15% by
volume of coarse aggregate when replaced by waste tyres as a two phase material as tyre
fiber and chips dispersed in concrete mix. The result is that there is an increase in toughness,
plastic deformation, impact resistance and cracking resistance. But the strength and stiffness
of the rubberized sample were reduced. The control concrete disintegrated when peak load
was reached while the rubberized concrete had considerable deformation without
disintegration due to bridging caused by tyres. The stress concentration in the rubber
modified concrete is smaller than that in the rubber chip modified concrete can bear a higher
load than the rubber chip modified concrete before the concrete matrix breaks.
Hernadez olivares (2007) used crumbed waste tyre (average length 12.5mm) and shortly
poly propylene (pp) fibers (length from 12-10mm) to modify the concrete.
Schimizze (2009) developed two rubberized concrete mixes using fine rubber granular in
one mix and coarse rubber granular in the other. While these two mixes were not optimized
and their design parameters were selected arbitrarily, their results indicate a reduction in
compressive strength of about 50% with respect to control mix. The elastic modulus of the
mix containing coarse rubber. granular size was reduced to about 72% of that of the control
mixture, whereas the mix containing the fine rubber granular resulted in reducing the elastic
modulus to about 47% of that control mix. The reduction in elastic modulus indicates higher
flexibility, which may be viewed as a positive gain in rubberized PCC (RPCC) mixtures used
as stabilized base layer in flexible pavements.

Mavroulido and Figueiredo (2010) "Discarded tyre rubber as concrete aggregates which
is said to be a possible output for used tyres"it can be concluded that despite the observed
lower values of the mechanical properties of concrete there is a potential large market for
concrete products in which inclusion of rubber aggregate would be feasible. These can also
include non-primary structural applications of the medium to low strength requirements,
benefiting from other features of this type of concrete. Even if the rubber tyre aggregate was
used at relatively low percentages in concrete, the amount of waste tyre rubber could be
greatly reduced due to enormous marketing for concrete products globally. Therefore the use
of discarded tyre rubber aggregates in concrete results in promising development on an
additional route for used tyres.
3. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
Concrete Mix Design as per IS: 10262 2009 (M20 Grade)
Table 1 Mix Proportion for M20 grade of concrete
Cement Fine aggregate
Coarse
Aggregate
Water
w/c ratio
kg/m3
344 516 1032 172
0.5
1 1.5 3
4. PROPERTIES OF FRESH & HARDENED CONCRETE
4.1. Workability
This test is used to determine the workability of the cement concrete. Initially ingredients
such as cement, sand and coarse aggregate are taken. The quantity of water to be taken from
mix design is added to the ingredients and blended accordingly
4.2. Compressive Strength Test
Cubical specimens of size 150mm x 150mm were cast for conducting compressive strength
test for each mix. The compressive strength test was carried out as per IS: 516-1979. This test
was carried at the end of 7 days, 14 days and 28 days of curing. The compressive strength of
any mix was taken as the average of strength of three cubes.
4.3. Spilt Tensile Strength Test
Cylindrical specimens of size 150mm x 300mm height were used for split tensile strength.
The test was conducted at the end of 28 days of curing and the average of three samples was
taken as the representative split tensile strength of the mix.
4.4. Flexural Strength Test
The flexural strength of concrete was carried out with prism of size 150mm x 150mm x
700mm. The test was conducted at the end of 28 days of curing and the average of three
samples was taken as the representative flexural strength of the mix.

Table 2 Mix proportion for the concrete cube specimen
S.NO GRADE OF CONCRETE
TARGET
MEAN STRENGTH
W/C
RATIO
MIX PROPORTION
1 M20 26.60 N/mm2
0.5 1:1.5:3
All mixes were prepared for testing that owe water to concrete ratio as 0.5. The test is
conducted of four different concrete mixes. One control mix that has no recycled shredded
tyre and four mixes with 5%, 10%, 20% and 30% replacement of natural aggregate by its
volume. The tyre used for replacement was pretreated with a saturated sodium hydroxide
solution to modify the surface of the particles and improving the adhesion between the
cement paste and the rubber particles.
Pretreatment consisted of soaking the recycling tyre particles in a NaOH solution for a
period of 20 minutes, then washed under running water left air dry at room temperatures.
Analysis of the physical properties of the natural aggregates was performed according to
Indian standards.
Table 3 Slump performance for various percentage of crumb rubber content
Rubber content (%) 0 5 10 20 30
Slump (mm) 75 71 66 61 52
Figure 1 Slump values for different percentage of rubber
Figure 2 True slump achieved
0
20
40
60
80
0 5 10 20 30
Slumpinmm
Rubber content (%)
slump(mm)

Figure 2 Attainment of rubber based concrete slump
The replacement of 5%, 10%, 20%and 30% of scrap rubber waste reported a decrease in
88% of concrete slump.
4.5. Preparation of specimens
The cube, cylinder and beam were casted in a mix proportion of number‟s say M20 grade by
weight with water cement ratio of 0.5 respectively. The mould of size 150mm x 150mm x
150 mm cubes, 150 x 300 mm cylinders and 150 x 150 x 700 mm beams, were placed on an
even surface and the materials were hand mixed. The compaction was done using vibrating
table for all the specimens. The modulus was stripped after 24 hours. The test specimens
were allowed tocure for 7 days, 14 days and 28 days in the curing tank respectively.
Figure 4 Conventional concrete under compression

Figure.5.Split tensile testing of a specimen
Figure 6 Flexural testing specimen
5. EXPERIMENTAL TEST RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
5.1. Compressive strength
It had been observed that the compressive strength attained on replacing 5 % of the rubber
content exhibited 26 Mpa at 28 days respectively

Table 4 Average compressive strength for M20 grade of concrete
S.NO
Percentage of
Rubber
7 days 14 days 28 days
Collapse
Load
(KN)
Comp.
Strength
(
)
Collapse
Load
(KN)
Comp.
Strength
(
)
Collapse
Load
(KN)
Comp.
Strength
(
)
1 Conventional 475 21.11 536 23.82 600 26.67
2 5% 435 19.33 525 23.33 592 26.30
3 10% 400 17.78 500 22.22 580 25.78
4 20% 355 15.78 380 16.89 510 22.67
5 30% 300 13.33 360 16.00 460 20.44
Figure 7 Compressive strength of concrete for various mix proportions
5.2. Split Tensile Strength
It had been observed that the split tensile strength attained on replacing 5 % of the rubber
content exhibited 2.1 Mpa
at 28 days respectively
Table 5 Average tensile strength for M20 grade of concrete
S. No
Percentage
of Rubber
Collapse
Load
(KN)
Split
tensile
Strength
( )
Collapse
Load
(KN)
Split
tensile
Strength
( )
Collapse
Load
(KN)
Split
tensile
Strength
( )
1 0% 95 1.34 150 2.12 160 2.24
2 5% 85 1.2 135 1.9 150 2.1
3 10% 75 1.06 120 1.68 140 1.96
4 20% 50 0.7 100 1.4 130 1.82
5 30% 70 0.99 80 1.12 120 1.68
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
7 14 28
Compressivestrength(N/mm2)
Age of concrete (Days)
conventional 5% 10% 20% 30%

Figure 8 Split tensile strength of concrete for various mix proportions
5.3. Flexural Strength
It had been observed that the flexural strength attained on replacing 5 % of the rubber content
exhibited 7.5 Mpa at 28 days respectively
Table 6 Flexural strength of concrete for various mix proportions
S.NO
% of
Rubber
Collapse
Load
(KN)
Flexural
strength
( )
Collapse
Load
(KN)
Flexural
strength
( )
Collapse
Load
(KN)
Flexural
strength
( )
1 0% 12.0 6.00 14.0 7.00 16 8.00
2 5% 10.5 5.25 13.0 6.50 15 7.50
3 10% 10.0 5.00 12.0 6.00 13 6.50
4 20% 10.0 5.00 12.0 6.00 12 6.00
5 30% 10.0 5.00 10.5 5.25 10 5.00
Figure 9 Flexural strength of concrete for different percentage of rubber tyres
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
7 14 28
Splittensilestrength
(N/mm2)
Age of concrete (days)
conventional 5% 10% 20% 30%
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
7 14 28
Flexuralstrength(N/mm2)
Age of concrete (Days)
Conventional 5% 10% 20% 30%

6. CONCLUSION
 It has been clearly indicated that when the percentage of rubber replacement
increases, the compressive strength decreases. The performance of rubber replaced
concrete in M20 grade seems to be quite encouraging up to 10% replacement nearly
achieves the target mean compressive strength.
 The compressive strength of 5% replacement of rubber aggregate almost equals 10%
and 20%. The replacement of 20% crumb rubber aggregate performs comparatively
low than that of 85% of the content in 28 days.
 In M20 grade of concrete, the split tensile strength for all percentage of replacement
of crumb rubber attains more than 90% of conventional specimen strength. Whereas
5% of replacement performed exceptionally well and achieves higher strength than
that of conventional and 10% replacement equals the strength of 28 day conventional
specimen.
 In accordance with the aforementioned discussed, it clearly revealed that the
performance of 5%, 10%, replacements has boosted better in the performance cadet of
compressive strength. In split tensile strength, 5%, 10% replacements exhibit good
performance.
 In flexural strength aspect, all proportional replacement concluded exceptionally
better performance. In accordance with the graphical representation it is very clear
that 5% replacement of coarse aggregates alongwith waste tyre aggregates determined
gradual and strong improvement in all the above mentioned strength aspects of
concrete.
 From this experimental study of the partial replacement of crumb rubber tyre with
coarse aggregate the results concluded that the strength parameters such as
compressive strength, split tensile strength and flexural strength goes on reducing, if
the replacement percentage increases.
 By comparing all the strength parameters of various mix proportion such as 5%, 10%,
20% and 30%. The results shows that the mix proportion with 5% and 10% exhibit
90% of normal strength.
 Finally, it has been concluded that the 5% replacement of coarse aggregate with
rubber tyre significantly determined best results that can be used in the areas of low
cost producing structural aspects and in heavy concrete structures under dynamic
loading.
REFERENCES
[1] Ali, A.M. and D.G. Goulias, 1996. „Enhancement of Portland cements concrete with tyre
rubber‟, 12thinternational conference on solid waste management, university of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
[2] Amirkhanian, S.N. and L.C. Arnold, 2001. „A Feasibility study of the use of waste tyres
in Asphaltic Concrete mixtures‟, report no.FHWA-SC-92-04.
[3] Benazzouk, a., o. Douzane, K. Mezreb, M. Queneudec, 2007. „Physic mechanical
properties of aerated cement composites containing shredded rubber waste‟, cement &
concrete composites, 29(4): 337-338.
[4] Bignozzi, M.C. and F.Sandrolini, 2006. „Tyre Rubber Waste Recycling in self-
compacting concrete‟, cement& concrete composites, 3(4): 735-338, J.Appl.sci. Res.,
8(6): 2966-2973, 2012

[5] Chou, L.H., C.K. Lu, J.R. Chang, M.T. Lee, 2007. „Use of Waste Rubber as Concrete
Additive‟, Internationalsolid waste Association.
[6] Chung, K.H. and Y.K. Hong, 1999.‟Interoductory Behavior of Rubber Concrete”, Journal
of Applied Polymer science‟, 72:35-40.
[7] Eldin, N.N and A.B. Senuci, 1993. „Rubber-tyre Particles as Concrete Aggregate‟,
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[8] M. Mavroulidou and J. Figueiredo, “discarded tyre rubber as concrete aggregate: A
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Scotland UK, 2000, pp 391-399.
[11] M. A. Aiello and F. Leuzzi “Waste tyre rubberized concrete”, Properties of fresh and
harden state, Journal of waste management ELSEVIER, Vol 30, 2010, pp 1696-1704.
[12] R. Siddique and T. R. Naik “Properties of concrete containing scrap-rubber: an
overview”, Journal of waste management ELSEVIER, Vol 24, 2004, pp 563-569.
[13] I. B. Topcu, “The Properties of Rubberized Concrete”, Cement and Concrete Research,
No. 25, 1995, pp 304-310.
[14] H. A. Toutanji, “the use of rubber tyre particles in concrete replace mineral aggregates”,
Journal of cement & concrete composites ELSEVIER, Vol. 18, 1996, pp 135-139.772
[15] IS 456-2000 “Code of practices for plain and reinforcement concrete”
[16] IS: 10262-1982 “recommended guidelines for concrete mix design”.1982-first revision,
2009)

AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON PARTIAL ADDITION OF RECYCLED RUBBER TYRES AS REPLACEMENT FOR AGGREGATES IN CONCRETE

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