Raw and Pre-Treated Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR) Dust as a Partial Replacement for Natural Sand in Mortars
Krzysztof Pikoń,
Nikolina Poranek,
Marcin Marczak,
Beata Łaźniewska-Piekarczyk,
Waldemar Ścierski
Affiliations
Krzysztof Pikoń
Department of Technologies and Installations for Waste Management, Faculty of Energy and Environmental Engineering, The Silesian University of Technology, Konarskiego 18, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland
Nikolina Poranek
Department of Technologies and Installations for Waste Management, Faculty of Energy and Environmental Engineering, The Silesian University of Technology, Konarskiego 18, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland
Marcin Marczak
Unirubber Sp. z o.o., Zielonka 17, 59-940 Węgliniec, Poland
Beata Łaźniewska-Piekarczyk
Department of Building Engineering and Building Physics, Faculty of Civil Engineering, The Silesian University of Technology, Akademicka 5, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland
Waldemar Ścierski
Department of Technologies and Installations for Waste Management, Faculty of Energy and Environmental Engineering, The Silesian University of Technology, Konarskiego 18, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland
The circular economy (CE) is widely known for its emphasis on reducing waste and maximizing the use of resources by reusing, recycling, and repurposing materials to create a sustainable and efficient system. The CE is based on 3R—reuse, reduce, and recycle. The aim of this article is to use styrene butadiene rubber dust (SBR) in building material, constituting secondary waste in the production of SBR, which is currently disposed of as landfill. SBR is partly intended to replace the natural raw material sand. The purpose of the final material is to use it for its light weight, insulating properties, or ability to absorb vibrations and sounds. Various shares of SBR dust in mortars were tested. Some of the mortars used SBR thermal pre-treatment at temperatures of 200, 275, and 350 °C. The strength and SEM results are presented. The best pre-treatment for SBR dust is thermal treatment at 275 °C. The maximum usage of rubber dust with thermal treatment is 60% as a sand substitute. The novel finding of this study is the possibility to use more than 30% rubber dust (as a substitute for sand) thanks to pre-treatment, whereby 30% is a common maximum ratio in mortars.
