This study presents an investigation of the mechanical properties of normal concrete reinforced with discarded steel fibers (DSFs) resulting from tire manufacturing. DSFs were added to concrete in two different volume fractions of (0.25 %, and 0.5 %), and these fibers have dimensions of (40 mm length×0.92 mm diameter). The results showed that the compressive strength of the concrete was enhanced by (8.8%, and 3.3%) by adding of DSFs. However, the workability of concrete decreased at all added ratios. While the density is slightly changed. Also, the results indicate that the modulus of elasticity shows slight increases by (3.06%, and 2.25%). Additionally, the incorporation of DSFs improves the splitting tensile strength and modulus of rupture significantly. For concrete mixes having volume fractions of 0.25% and 0.5%, the splitting tensile increased by (7.89%, and 23.68%), and the modulus of rupture increased by (6.67% and 25.58%), respectively. It was concluded that using this type of discarded fibers can improve the mechanical properties of concrete as an alternative type for other types of industrial fibers.
To preserve the natural materials, applying the principles of sustainable engineering, to approach the principle of zero waste and to contribute the solution of the negative environmental impact of two decades, which is caused by excessive use of bottles of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in packaging, has led to the approach of alternative, clean and innovative technologies aimed at recycling and reuse to address this environmental problem. Proposed re-use empty bottles as a way to get rid of them and benefit from them at the same time the way, this method through which the empty bottles cutting into fibres using these fibres made of PET to improve the properties of concrete. Percentage of fiber that has been used are 1%, 1.5%, 2%, 3%, 4%, and 5%. Suitable tests were performed to measure properties of concrete reinforcement by recycle PET fibre such as compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, four-point bending strength, modulus of elasticity and toughness index. Flexural toughness tests were performed to measure the ductility capacities of reinforced concrete members with recycled PET fibre reinforced concrete. The results obtained indicate Toughness index was enhanced by using PET fibre reinforced concrete specimens, compared to no ductility performance of concrete specimens without fibre reinforcement. A significant change in ductility was when observed PET used fibre with 3%.
The accumulation of wastes, especially plastic and car tires, has become a major problem facing society today. Therefore, through this research, these wastes were recycled and used to improve some properties of concrete. Recycled crumb rubber from car tires was used instead of sand as a partial replacement of 10%. The substitution was done by two methods: random and equivalent size substitution. As well, 1%polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fiber was added by the volume of concrete to improve some properties of rubberized concrete. Compressive strength, ultrasonic pulse velocity test (UPV) were conducted in this study to investigate the efficiency of PET rubberized concrete, as well the impact resistance test was also conducted to investigated the ability of PET rubberized concrete in term of energy absorption. Slabs of size (50cm×50cm×5cm) were utilized for low velocity impact test. The results indicated there were a reduction in compressive strength and UPV results were observed in PET fiber rubberized concrete the reduction were (37.47% and 5.4%) respectively as compared with PETC mixture and the result of dynamic modulus of elasticity show the same pattern of UPV result , in contrast there was an improvement in the impact resistance when PET fiber and crumb rubber were used it increased by(117.63% and 52.9% ) for random and equivalent replacement respectively as compared with PETC.
This study addressed some important tests for concrete including thermal, acoustic insulation and some mechanical behaviour of concrete containing granular Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) waste as a sand replacement. The PVC waste was collected from a plant of manufacturing PVC doors and windows, was used to replace some of fine aggregate at ratios of 2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, 10%, 12.5% and 15% by weight Properties that studied are thermal conductivity, acoustic insulation slump, fresh density, dry density, compressive strength, flexural strength, and splitting tensile strength. Curing ages of 7, 28, and 56 days for the concrete mixtures were applied in this work. From the results of this study, it is suggested that using of 12.5% fine PVC as a sand replacement by weight can improve thermal insulation to about 82.48% more than concrete without plastic waste Acoustic insulation is about 43.09% more than reference mix and it satisfies the requirement of ACI 213R 2014 for structural lightweight concrete.
In this study, the structural behaviour of RC-deep beams of glass fibre-reinforced polymer (GFRP) rubberized concrete is investigated. Rubberized concrete is manufactured by replacing fine sand aggregate with rubber crumbs in volumetric replacement ratios. The main variables were the crumb rubber content (0%, 10%, and 20%) and the main reinforcement ratio. Tested Six samples of deep beams with different dimensions (b = 150, h = 300 mm, L= 1400 mm) were under a four-point load until failure. The parameters under investigation were the mechanical properties of mixtures, load-midspan deflection curves, toughness, and the load-strain relationship. The results indicate that the increased crumb rubber content led to a decrease in the mechanical properties of rubberized concrete mixtures. It was found that the behaviour of all samples of rubberized concrete affected the deflection load curve, the ultimate load, and the increase in deflection. The sample R2-10% Rub showed the highest toughness among the tested samples, with an increase of 301.6% compared to the reference.