Abrasion Resistance, Flexural Toughness and Impact Resistance of Rubberized Concrete

This study aimed to investigate abrasion resistance, flexural toughness and impact resistance of concrete mixes with incorporated particles of crumb rubber (CR) as a partial substituent by volume to concrete natural aggregates. Seven concrete mixes were prepared with water to cement ratio 0.4 and cement content 450 kg/m3 . One mix, with no rubber content, was considered as a reference mix to compare the designated mechanical properties of plain rubberized mixes, while the remaining six mixes contained crumb rubber as a partial replacer at levels of 10%, 20% and 30% by volume of each sand and crushed stone aggregates. Abrasion resistance was evaluated according to British standard BS 1338 and impact resistance was measured according to ACI 544.2R. It has been discovered that increasing CR replacement level led to a significant improvement in abrasion resistance, flexural toughness, and impact resistance (number of blows that cause failure cracking). Abrasion lengths decreased by 3.0 - 20.6%, while flexural toughness and impact resistance increased by 8.2 - 39.4% and 18.7 - 365.4% respectively with increasing crumb rubber replacement level.