Performance evaluation of rubberized concrete utility blocks with amalgamated reconcile material permutations

Abstract

Material substitution has become the order of the day in the field of construction engineering with specific reference to the concrete substances, and this investigation contributes its might through exploring the plausibility of the usage of waste rubber crumbs in partial substitute with the fine aggregates. For the stabilization of the binding properties of the improvised concrete mix (CRAC) steel slag was also added in a frozen proportion within the cement mantle of the concrete matrix. It was found that an optimal proportional combination of 12% waste rubber tyre crumbs alongside 9% steel slag proved to be the techno-economically viable option sustaining the prescribed properties of given 30 MPa or other base values for concrete with reference to a particular purpose. At this combination, the compressive strength attained after the standardized 28 dats curing period was observed to be around 41Mpa which is far above the value of 36Mpa obtainable for conventional concrete mix and also more than the prescribed strength of 30Mpa for the design mix. By the same token, the split tensile strength (3.762 MPa) and flexural strength (5.18 MPa) attained also endorsed this optimal proportional combination to be the best and sustainable. The SEM analysis followed by an XRD endorsement had also revealed in its close up view the better bonding by the improvised mix over the control mix as well as by the CSH gel diffusion within the improvised mix. From the deflection trend with incremental loading (kN) Vs. Deflection (mm) the average gradient was found to be 0.112mm/kN for the conventional concrete mix. By the same token, CRAC produced a gradient of 0.107mm/kN load which is nearly 5% lesser compared to the conventional mix newline