'Wood' you like to recycle concrete?
Researchers at the Institute of Industrial Science, a part of The University of Tokyo, have developed a new procedure for recycling concrete with the addition of discarded wood. They found that the correct proportion of inputs can yield a new building material with a bending strength superior to that of the original concrete. This research may help drastically reduce construction costs, as well as slash carbon emissions.
[Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200220101119.htm]
The demand for plain and reinforced concrete is increasing globally. Coarse aggregates are becoming scarce day by day due to its extraction from natural resources for various reasons and hence there is a necessity to find a similar material to replace it in concrete. Reclaiming of scrap rubber is the most desirable approach to solve the problems arising due to disposal of waste tires. Physical and chemical recycling processes are the two major processes used in reclaiming waste rubber tires.
C. Kanmalai Williams conducted a study on the optimum replacement and function, which was published on the journal of concrete technology. This research focused on the effective utilization of Reclaimed Rubber (RR) as an alternate material for coarse aggregate in concrete. Concrete mixing was prepared for M20 grade by replacing cement and coarse aggregates with SF and RR respectively for cube and cylinder samples.
A base study of silica fume has been carried out in this research work partially replacing cement with SF at increments from 3% to 24% in both compression and split tension tests. An optimum threshold (12%) is obtained and is used in the main study with reclaimed rubber. Compressive and split tensile strength tests were conducted with optimum SF replacement percent and various proportions of RR replacing coarse aggregates in concrete mix after different curing periods.
Results showed that when mixed with 12% RR and 9% coarse aggregates of silica fume, the cement obtained highest best strength.
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