Properties of Concrete Pedestrian Blocks Containing Crumb Rubber from Recycle Waste Tyres Reinforced with Steel Fibres

Abstract

Crumb rubber is a direct product from recycling abandoned tyres. It is considered one of the solutions to reduce immense problems from discarded tyres. Rubberized pedestrian concrete blocks are known to have good energy absorption but poor load resistance. In this study, short steel fibres were introduced in the manufacturing of rubberized concrete pedestrian blocks to enhance its mechanical properties. Two hooked end steel fibres with the lengths of 35 and 65 mm were mixed at 0.5 and 1.0% by volume fractions. The blocks were produced by pressing and were subjected to density, water absorption, slip resistance, flexural load resistance, and field abrasion resistance tests. Results indicated that the addition of steel fibre caused the density and absorption of blocks to increase slightly. The flexural strength, toughness, and abrasion resistance also increased markedly with increasing fibre content. The addition of fibre, however, did not affect the slip resistance. Keywords: Crumb rubber, Rubberized concrete, Pedestrian blocks, Steel fibre, Slip resistance, Mechanical Properties