Andrej Ivanič

Abstract:

The concrete industry is one of the major consumers of natural resources. The main aim of sustainable development is to find alternative resources, which could decrease negative effects of the concrete industry on the environment and contribute to the preservation of natural resources. Huge amounts of waste tires accumulated all over the world are recognized as a good supplement for natural aggregates in concrete [1], while the fly ash is used as a replacement for Portland cement in concrete owing to its pozzolanic properties [2]. It is important to protect the environment, conserve the topsoil, and prevent dumping of fly ash from thermal power stations on land and to promote utilization of fly ash in the manufacture of building materials and construction activity. In this paper, an experimental investigation of the freeze/thaw performance on the concrete with recycled waste tire rubber and fly ash addition was conducted. As a partial substitute for the Portland cement, two types of fly ash were used and the specific part of mineral aggregate was replaced by recycled rubber particles. Half of the samples were subjected to freeze/thaw cycles in order to compare their mechanical properties with concrete samples not treated in the temperature chamber. All samples were also tested for compressive strength and modulus of elasticity. Test results indicated that there was a significant improvement of concrete resistance to freezing and thawing, which was also observed by other researchers [3]. However, the freezing and thawing did not affect the compressive strength and modulus of elasticity as much as these features were affected by the choice of fly ash.