Cement and Concrete Research, Vol. 25, No. 2, pp.

304-310, 1995
Pergamon Copyright © 1995 Elsevier Science Ltd
Printed in the USA. All rights reserved
0008-8846/95 $9.50+.00

0008-8846(95)00014-3

THE PROPERTIES OF RUBBERIZED CONCRETES

|lker Bekir Top~u

Osmangazi University, Civil Eng. Dept., Eski~ehir / TORKIYE

(Communicatedby F.W.Locher)
(ReceivedNovember2; in finalformDecember12, 1994)

ABSTRACT

Utilization of industrial waste products in concrete has attracted attention both with
the energy crisis in the 70s and the rise of environmental consciousness. Most of the
concrete properties can be improved by incorporating different kinds of industrial
wastes° In this study, the changes of the properties for the rubberized concretes were
investigated in terms of both size and amount of the rubber chips. The concretes are
postulated to be a potential material especially for construction applications which
are subjected to impact effects such as crash barriers, bridges and roads. With the
cylindrical and cubic specimens produced by adding rubbers of volume ratios of 15,
30 and 45 % into C 20 quality concrete, the physical and mechanical tests were
conducted at the end of 7, 28-day and 6-month, and o-e diagrams were drawn.
From the diagrams the toughness values and plastic and elastic energy capacities of
these rubberized concretes were determined. It was observed that plastic energy
capacities began to increase when the high elastic energy capacity of normal concrete
was reduced by adding rubber. Due to their high plastic energy capacities these
concretes showed high strains especially under impact effects.

1. I N T R O D U C T I O N

In some application of concrete, it is desired that concrete should have low unit weight, high
toughness and impact resistance. Although concrete is the most commonly used construction
material, it does not always fulfill these requirements. To improve elastic properties of concrete and
recycle the waste materials recently new applications have been realized (1,6). One of these
applications is the utilization of discarded tires to replace a part of the aggregate. For this purpose,
this research was conducted to investigate the physical and mechanical properties of the concrete
which was obtained by incorporating pieces of discarded tires. It is thought that rubberized
concrete would be an ideal material for jersey barriers which are subjected to immediate effects of
impact and very high strength is not sought for. Rubberized concrete could prevent life casulties
and damage to vehicles by absorbing the impact energy.

2. EXPERIMENTAL WORK
2.1. Material Usgd ~In0 Exnerim~nt Dong

In preparation of the specimens for the experiments, ASTM C 150 type I portland cement (28-
day compressive strength of 32.5 MPa) was used. In all concrete series river sand was used,

304
Vol. 25, No. 2 RUBBERIZED CONCRETE, TOUGHNESS, STRAIN 305 !iiiiiiii~ii

i~i~i~iiiii~i
which has 4 mm maximum size, 1.640 kg/dm 3 unit weight, 2.640 specific gravity, 1 % water !~!ilili!i!i!i~!!
absorption, and 2.00 fineness modulus. In concrete, crushed limestone of 4 to 16 mm was used as ::::::::::<::

coarse aggregate. The crushed stone has 1.425 kg/dm 3 unit weight, 2.681 specific gravity, 0.3 %
water absorption, and 5.04 fineness modulus. The rubber aggregate, obtained by mechanical i ~i i!i!i i !ili!
grinding from the outer surface of scrap tires, was seived and separated into two grain sizes of 0/1 :::::::::

(fine) and 1/4 mm (coarse). The fine and coarse rubber chips had specific gravity of 0.650, unit ili!ilili!i!i!!ii~
weights of 0.472 and 0.410, fineness moduli of 1.58 and 1.91, respectively. i:#i:iiii:!:
::::::::::::::::

2.2. Concrete Mixes ::::::::::::::::

:::::::::::
::::::::::::
i!iii~ii!i!i!
In this study, C 20 control concrete without rubber and six series of concrete with rubber chips
of 0/1 and 1/4 mm were used. The mix proportioning of the control concrete series was done using !:~iiiiiiii~i
the absolute volume method. The other six series were prepared by replacing same volume of fine
and coarse aggregates by rubber chips. The water-cement ratio of the batches were around 0.60 to
get an average slump of 40-50 mm and a flow value of 420 mm. The weights and absolute
volumes of the materials in 1 m 3 of the control concrete were as follows:

Cement Sand Crashed Stone Water Air

Weight (kg) 357.5 609.0 1148.1 222.4 0
Volume (dm 3) 113.5 230.7 428.4 222.4 5

The fine and coarse rubber chips were included by replacing 15, 30, and 45 % of the aggregate
in the control concrete. The resulting concretes were designeted as follows: NC (control concrete),
FRC-15, FRC-30, FRC-45 (15, 30, and 45 %, by volume, 0/1 mm rubber chips replacing the
aggregate), CRC-15, CRC-30, and CRC-45 (15, 30, and 45 %, by volume, 1/4 mm rubber chips
replacing the aggregate).

2.3. Tests Conducted

Three 150x300 mm cylindrical and 150 mm cube specimens were prepared for 7, 28 and 180-
day compression testing. Before the compression tests, unit weights of the specimens were deter-
mined. Then, on each specimen non-destructive tests such as ultrasound velocity and resonance
frequency were conducted. For the compressive test (according to ASTM C 39) a 250 ton press
with 100-kg sensitivity was used. To measure the deformations, a compressometer with 0.01 mm
sensitivity was used. The loading rate was 2 kg/cmZ-sec, and with one-ton load intervals, longitu-
dinal deformations were recorded. During the tests of cube specimens, the machine was stopped at
4 ton load and the surface hardness was found with Schmidt hammer. The o-e diagrams of the
cylindrical specimens were drawn. Splitting-tensile test (Brazilian) was done and indirect tensile
strengths of the cylindrical specimens were determined according to ASTM C 496. The values
obtained are the average of at least three specimens.

3. EVALUATION OF T H E T E S T R E S U L T S

3.1. Phvsical Pronerties of Rubberized Concrete

There is a systematic decrease in the unit weight of the concrete (of 7, 28 days and 6
months), with increasing amount of tire chips. The average unit weight, 2.30 kg/dm 3, of control
concrete decreased to 2.22 kg/dm 3, 2.14 kg/dm 3 and 2.01 kg/dm 3 by the using 15, 30 and 45 %
tire chips, respectively. Likewise, the values of Schmidt hardness and ultrasound velocity for the
concretes decrease with increasing amount of tire chips added. The rebound value of 28-day old
control concrete was 29, whereas it decreased to 19 and 16 with addition of fine and co-arse tire
chips, respectively. Similarly, the value of Schmidt hardness for 6-month old concrete was 30,
which reduced to 19 and 22 for the 45 % of fine and coarse rubber chips. For 28-day old control
concrete, ultrasound velocity was determined as 4.30 krn/sec, whereas it decreased to 3.60 and to
2.85 km/sec, with addition of 45 % fine and coarse rubber chips, respectively.
306 I.B. Top~u Vol. 25, No. 2

3.2. Mechani~ill P r o n e r t i e s of R u b b e r i z e d Concretes

The values of compressive strength for rubberized concrete are given in Figures 1 and 2. As
shown in these figures, the strength values of the rubberized concrete are considerably decreased

I
7 Days Fine
7 Days Coarse
28 Days Fine
28 Days Coarse
6 Months Fine
6 Months Coarse
7 Days Eldin-Senoucci
28 Days Eldin-Senoucci
0
0 15 30 45
Tire Chips (% of Aggregate Volume)

Figure 1. Changes in Compressive Strength with the amount of Rubber Mixture

with increasing amount of tire chips at the end of 7, 28-day and 6-month. As seen in Figure 1, the
compressive strength of the control concrete at 7 days is 14.27 MPa. However, this reduces to
14.16, 12.00, and 8.54 MPa with addition of 15, 30, and 45 % of fine rubber chips, respectively.
Likewise, it decreases to 9.68, 8.38 and 5.80 MPa with addition of the above stated percentages of
coarse tire chips.While the cylindrical compressive strength of 28-day old concrete was determined
as 23.48 MPa, it was determined as 24.22, 19.70 and 14.77 MPa with the addition of above stated
fine rubber. Furthermore, it was decreased to 16.18, 12.62, and 9.90 MPa with the addition of the
coarse rubber chips.
3O
[- -A- - 28 Days Fine
~'~,~ I "
• 9-8 Days Coarse

"~N~~ " ~ 1- -n. -. 6 Months Fine

",~",'~,,,~l • 6 Months Coarse
20
ra~

t_

~" lO

oJ

o I !

0 15 30 45
Tire Chips (% of Aggregate Volume)

Figure 2. Changes in Cubic Strength With the Amount of Rubber Mixture

Vol. 25, No. 2 RUBBERIZED CONCRETE,TOUGHNESS, STRAIN 307

For the 6-month old specimens, the strength value of the normal concrete was determined as 33.67
MPa.However, it was found as 20.23, 11.06, and 7.16 MPa with the mixture of fine rubber :iiiii!iii!~!~!i!iiiiii~iiii
chips, and 15.75, 10.82, and 7.72 MPa with the mixture of coarse rubber chips.

As seen in Figure 1, there is no substantial change in the strength of 7 and 28-day with respect
to tire chips (0 to 15 % aggregate volume of fine tire chips); however, there is a linear inverse i!i!i!~!i!i~i~i !i!i!i!i!
relationship between strength and the tire chips for the same amount of the volume of 6-month.
On the other hand, there is about a linear inverse relationship between the same components for the ii!iiii!iililililii~i
coarse rubber chips. To make C 20 rubberized concrete, about 35 % fine and 15 % coarse rubber
tire chips should be suitable.

Figure 2 shows the compressive strength of the cubic specimens with respect to the tire chips
amounts added. As seen in the figure, the compressive strength of a C 20 normal concrete for 28- i!:iiii!i~iiiii!iii~i
day was determined as 29.50 MPa. However, it was determined as 18.80, 16.90, and 12.90 MPa
with the addition of the ratio of 15, 30 and 45 % of fine rubber chips, and as 14.60, 8.91, and
5.51 MPa with the addition of the same amount of coarse rubber chips, respectively. For the 6-
month, the compressive strength was determined as 28.00 MPa for the normal concrete while it
was decreased to 14.40, 13.60 and 8.00 MPa, and 21.00, 15.27, and 6.87 MPa with the addition
of fine and coarse rubber chips, respectively. This suggests that the coarse tire chips lower the
compressive strengths more than the fine tire chips. This could be caused by weak interfacial
bonds between the cement paste and tire chips.

The specimens withstood measurable post-failure compression loads and underwent signifi-
cant displacement without full disintegration. Displacements and deformations were partially
recoverable upon loading. Rubber particles having low modulus of elasticity produce high internal
tensile stresses that are perpendicular to the direction of the compression load applied. Cement
paste shows early failure because of its weakness against tension. Rubber chips behaving like
springs delay the widening of the existing cracks. Continuous application of compressive load
generates more cracks and widens the already present ones. When the bond between cement paste
and rubber is overcome, fracture occurs.

For the splitting-tensile test, the C 20 normal concrete is yielded 3.21 MPa, while it is deter-
mined 2.17, 1.53, and 1.13 MPa with the fine rubber chips and, 1.50, 1.06, and 0.82 MPa with
the coarse rubber chips for the addition of 15, 30, and 45 % ratios, successively. In the splitting-
tensile strength tests, specimens showed high capacity of absorbing plastic energy as expected.
The failed specimens withstood measurable post-failure loads and underwent significant dis-
placement, which was partially recoverable. Thus the concrete mass was able to withstand loads
even when it was highly cracked. This should be because the rubber aggregate has the ability to
undergo large elastic deformation before failure as reported by Eldin and Senoucci (3). Specimens
containing rubber did not exhibit brittle failure under compression due to the rubber's plastic
behavior. Splitting was gradual depending on the type and amount of rubber used. Eldin and
Senoucci (3), reported losses up to 85 % in compressive strength and up to 50 % in tensile
strength at their experimental study. Here, maximum reductions in presented "study on the
mechanical strengths with the addition of rubber of 45 % are given as follows:

Cylin.Comp.Strength Cubic ComproStrength Spl.-Tens.Strength

7 Days 28 Days 6 Months 28 Days 6 Months 28 Days
FRC 0.40 0.37 0.78 0.56 0.71 0.64
CRC 0.59 0.57 0.77 0.81 0.75 0.74

3 . 3 . c - e Diagrams of Rubberized Concretes

Although the a-e diagrams of 7, 28-day and 6-month normal and rubberized concretes were
tested in this study, because of their similarity only those of 28-day concretes are given in Figure 3
as example. When the a-e diagrams of these concretes are analyzed, it can be seen that control con-
crete reaches the ultimate strain around 0.002. The concrete having 15 % coarse rubber mixture
308 I.B. Topqu Vol. 25, No. 2

shows similar behavior as normal concrete. With mixture of coarse rubber particles maximum
strain points fall while the strain increases at the failure point in rubberized concretes e-strain values
change between 0.003 and 0.005 against maximum strains.

Changes in toughness values with addition of robber were determined by measuring the areas
under the o-e diagrams and are given in Figure 4. Here, although decreases in toughness with
additions of rubber are observed, some changes are witnessed in the energy capacities consumed
during the fracture. Since the rubberized concretes absorb more energy, they can show more strain
at the time of fracture. Examination of emax values obtained from o-e diagrams show that these
values can reach to 0.007 and 0.008.
35

30 ] FR-15

eL 25 --,~;~ "t°~'° ~" * N-tC

20. ~ £ AFR_30 ~" 4-
~g

15" [] " ~* phi o ,,.,~n. mno

.

10 • • k [] l U I N []
3~
• • I
5 " CR-45

0 ~ i | !

0.000 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008

Strain, mm/mm

Figure 3. G-c Diagram of 28-Day Old Concrete

0.10
- - o- - 7 Days Fine
- 7 Days Coarse
0.08 - -r- 28 Days Fine
J- 28 Days Coarse
- - D- - 6 Months Fine
0.06
6 Months Coarse

e-
0.04

0.02

0.00 | , m

0 15 30 45
Tire Chips (% of Aggregate Volume)

Figure 4. Changes in Toughness Values with Addition of Rubber

Toughness values in terms of energy capacities consumed at the time of fracture were investi-
gated in two different ways as plastic and elastic properties. How the energy capacities are
Vol. 25, No. 2 RUBBERIZED CONCRETE, TOUGHNESS, STRAIN 309 : i!!~:

evaluated is explained in Figure 5. As can clearly be seen from Figure 5, in the total area shown as
toughness area under o-e diagram, A1 area that shows the plastic energy consumed during the :ii~:
failure and never recovered again (plastic energy capacity) and A2 area that shows the recovered
deformation energy to be obtained just before fracture (elastic energy capacity) were seperately
calculated and investigated. Changes in plastic and elastic energy capacities with addition of rubber
shown in Figure 5 are seperately shown in Figures 6 and 7.
iil
i~i~i!i~i!i'~iii!
Stress iliFi!iiiiiii iri!
ililili!i
:iiiiii:i~iiiiiiil
(i
(A)=(A1)+(A2) !i~ii~i~i~iiiiiiii~i
(If ~..._~-~A. Fracture 171!iiiii!iiii
/ ~ Unload by i!i!ji!i!ii!!i!i~i~ii~i
/ / I Fracture

/ I,Al) / t~z)~, Recovered Upon

/ < race
I ~--- E
V / _ E / . - E1 Strain
Irrecoverable (Strain alter
Energy Fracture)
Figure 5. Determination of Elastic and Plastic Energy Capacities (3).

It was observed that the originally high elastic energy capacities of normal concretes begin to
decrease with the additon of rubbei: and originally low plastic energy capacities begin to increase.
That a material has high plastic energy implies that it could show higher deformation at the time of
fracture and it could absorb more energy. With the rubber mixed into concrete plastic energy
capacities of the concretes can be increased.

0.07 j ~ , - -o- - 7 Days Fine A1

e~ 0.06"*']'~,, - 7 Days CoarseA1
I ~",, --h. - 28 Days Fine AI
*~ 0.05 "~ ~'~-,,, L 28 Days Coarse A1
~ [ X'~ --D-- 6 MonthsFine A1
~" 0.04- X~, . 6 MonthsCoarseA 1
0.03

0.02 -

0.017"

0.00 , ,
0 15 30 45
Tire Chips (% of Aggregate Volume)

Figure 6. Changes in Plastic Energy Capacities with the Additon of Rubber

310 I.B. Top~u Vol. 25, No. 2

4. C O N C L U S I O N S AND RECOMMENDATIONS

A general reduction in the physical and mechanical properties of rubberized concrete made by
using scrap tires was observed. About 50 % decrease in cylinder and cube compressive strengths,
64 % decrease in tensile strengths were observed in concretes mixed with fine rubber particles. On
the other hand, using coarse rubber particles caused decreases up to 60 % in cylinder compressive

0.05 "~ I- - ° " - 7 DaysFine A2 ]l

• 7 Days CoarseA2
- -tr - 28 DaysFine A2
;L ± 28 Days Coarse A2
'%%
0.03 " • % - -n- - 6 MonthsFine A2
- 6 MonthsCoarse A2

0.02' %
r~
.~_
0.01 "
r~

0.00 -r r
0 15 30 45
Tire Chips (% of Aggregate Volume)

Figure 7. Changes in Elastic Energy Capacities with the Additon of Rubber

strengths, and up to 80% in cube strengths and up to 74 % in tensile strengths. These results indi-
cate that coarse rubber aggregates affect the properties more negatively than fine rubber aggregates.
Rubberized concretes in contrast to the normal ones have higher plastic energy capacities. With
addition of rubber, which is an elastic material, concrete becomes comparatively ductile and begins
to show the behavior of an elastic structure under load. With this new property it is projected that
these concretes can be used in architectural applications such as nailing concrete, in road
constructions where high strength is not necessary, in wall panels that require low unit weight, in
construction elements and Jersey barrires that are subject to impact, in sound barries as sound
absorbers, and in rail roads to fix the rails to the ground.

REFERENCES

1. Top~u. i. B., (3zqelik6rs. Y., "Rubberized Concrete", Akdeniz University, Isparta

Engineering Faculty,,7. Engineering Week, 25-27 May 1991, Isparta,,Ttirkiye, (In Turkish).
2. Topqu° I.B., Concrete Barriers Using Rubbers as Aggregate , Antalya Bulletin, Union of
Turkish Engineers and Architects, Chamber of Cir. Eng., Branch of Antalya, No.5-7, 1993.
3. Eldin ,N.N. ve Senouci, A.B., "Rubber-Tire Particles As Concrete Aggregate", Journal of
Materials in Civil Engineering, Vol.5, No.4, November, 1993, pp. 478-497.
4. Girsen, E., "Physical and Mechanical Properties of Rubberized Concrete (with fine
aggregate)", BS. Thesis, Osmangazi University, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture,
Department of CE, January 1994, Eski~ehir, Ttirkiye, (In Turkish).
5. Ers6z, E., "Physical and Mechanical Properties of Rubberized Concrete (with coarse agg-
regate)", BS. Thesis, Osmangazi University, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Department
of CE, January. 1994, Eski~ehir, Tiirkiye, (In Turkish).
6. Topqu. I.B., "Analysis of Rubberized Concretes as a Composit Material", Seminer of
Structural Mechanics 94, Dumlupmar University, June 1994, Kiitahya, Ttirkiye, (In Turkish).