Moderate Lightweight Concrete Mixed with Recycled Crumb Rubber

This study provided the test results on the mechanical and physical properties of lightweight concrete obtained by replacing portions of the conventional fine aggregate with crumb rubber from recycling waste tires. The mechanical properties were compressive and flexural strength. The physical properties were unit-weight, permeable voids, thermal conductivity and sound absorption. Results indicated that the unit-weight of crumb rubber concrete was lower than that of plain concrete. The decrease was found to be proportional with the crumb rubber content. In addition to the decrease in unit-weight, the crumb rubber concrete also exhibited better sound and thermal properties. However, due to the low strength and stiffness of rubber, the mechanical properties of crumb rubber concrete appeared to be lower than that of plain concrete.