Motivated by the tremendous trend toward green environment and to reduce the effect of scrap tires on the environment and human health, this research is an attempt to find a practical and environmentally sound solution of the problem of scrap tires by developing a light weight with low thermal conductivity composite construction materials using waste tires. A few literatures may be found about the effect of crumb rubber on thermal conductivity of mortar. Thus, in this research project, an experimental program was established to investigate the effect of the amount and size of crumb rubber (rubber obtained from recycling scrap tires) on the thermal properties of mortar. Four levels of crumb rubber addition: 10, 20, 30 and 40% and three sizes of crumb rubber (#30, #10_20 and a combination of both sizes) were considered to make twelve different mixtures of the rubberized mortar. Specially designed and constructed heat transfer measurement device was used to measure thermal conductivity of the specimens. Results were used to determine the optimal amount of crumb rubber that gives the least thermal conductivity, which directly related to the improvement in thermal resistance of concrete mixtures. It was found that the size and the amount of crumb rubber had an effect on thermal properties of the specimens investigated. The thermal conductivity of rubberized mortar was decreased by 28% when crumb rubber #10_20 was used. It was also found that #10_20 crumb rubber had more effect on the thermal conductivity reduction than #30 crumb rubbers. An empirical equation is proposed to predict thermal conductivity of rubberized mortar.

Utilizing solid wastes and industrial by-products as a partial replacement for raw materials has become an acceptable practice among researchers and scientists in the civil engineering field. Sawdust and wood shavings are not an exception; they are being used in concrete as a partial or total replacement for some of its constituents. The main goal of this research is to establish a relation between destructive and non-destructive testing for concrete containing wood shavings as a partial replacement of sand (woodcrete). With this type of material existing, thus the need to understand the behavior of such material becomes urgent and evokes the need to ease the process of the assessment and the evaluation of such materials and therefore provide more understanding of its behavior. In addition to the conventional concrete mix, five mixes of woodcrete were made by replacing fine aggregate by volume with wood shavings at different replacement levels varied from 5 to 50%. Cubic samples were tested at the age of 90 days using nondestructive tests (NDT), namely, rebound hammer test and ultrasonic pulse velocity test. Then, the specimens were tested using a conventional compressive test using a universal compression testing machine. Statistical analysis was performed to establish empirical relations between destructive and non-destructive results. The dynamic modulus of elasticity was calculated, and some formulas to estimate the (compressive) strength of woodcrete using NDT results were proposed and tested against experimental results and showed acceptable results.

The disposal of scrap tires is a challenging task and hence an innovative solution to meet these challenges is needed. Extensive work has been done on the utilization of waste tires in a variety of applications in asphalt pavements and concrete. However, previous investigations focus only on the mechanical properties of the rubberized materials, but few on the thermal performance. This is especially true for rubberized gypsum. Limited or no experimental data on the thermal performance of rubberized gypsum board are available. In this study, an experimental program is established to investigate the effect of amount and size of crumb rubber on the thermal properties of gypsum materials. Gypsum is replaced by four different percentage of crumb rubber: 10, 20, 30 and 40% by weight of gypsum and two sizes of crumb rubber (#30, #10_20) to make eight rubberized gypsum specimens. The prepared specimens were tested for thermal conductivity using an apparatus specially designed and constructed for this purpose. The experimental program was concluded by proposing an empirical equation to predict the thermal conductivity of rubberized gypsum board. Results indicated better thermal performance of the gypsum board due to the addition of crumb rubber. Thermal conductivity of the rubberized gypsum was 18-38% lower than the ordinary gypsum. It is concluded that thermal conductivity of rubberized gypsum decreases with the increase of crumb rubber regardless the size of the rubber and that thermal conductivity of mixtures contained 40% of rubber was about 38% lower than conventional mixture when crumb rubber #10_20 was added, while the thermal conductivity reduced by 22% when crumb rubber #30 was added. The study suggested for future work to investigate the effect of air voids size and ratio on the thermal conductivity of rubberized gypsum.

Residual and end-life products are a major hazard on the environment. Many researchers have considered waste as partial replacement of some construction materials to reduce their environmental and ecological problems. This kind of practices can be an important option for the protection of the environment. Wood shavings and saw dust are byproduct of the lumber industry. They are made from timber that's been sawn into planks in saw mills in almost every major city worldwide. This is a daily activity that generates piles of wood residuals at the end of each day. This research investigates the effect of using wood shavings on the mechanical properties of concrete. Fine aggregate was replaced by volume at different levels of replacement by wood shavings. Five different levels of replacement were used, namely 5, 10, 15, 30 and 50% and the results were compared to conventional concrete. Tests were carried out on concrete in fresh and hardened phase to determine slump, wet unit weight, compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, flexural strength, dry unit weight and absorption. The results showed that up to 10% level of substitution, the concrete maintained acceptable mechanical properties in comparison to conventional concrete.

The use of rubberized concrete has become increasingly popular as a means of disposing of waste materials, such as used and end-of-life tires, while also providing an effective solution for construction applications. The strength and durability of rubberized concrete can be negatively affected by temperature fluctuations, but little is known about the performance of this material. Hence, the work presented herein aims to evaluate the performance of rubberized concrete when it is exposed to different temperature levels. In this study, rubberized concrete specimens were prepared by replacing 5–20% of crumb rubber by volume of fine aggregate. The specimens underwent a curing process for 28 days, followed by exposure to temperatures of 200 °C, 400 °C, and 600 °C for a period of 2 h. The residual test and normal cooling method were adapted. Surface characteristics by visual inspection, the residual weight, compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, ultrasonic pulse velocity, and dynamic modulus of elasticity were assessed and compared to unheated specimens. The study’s findings revealed that, when exposed to temperatures between 200 °C and 400 °C, rubberized concrete containing a 5% to 15% rubber content experienced less reduction in compressive strength than conventional concrete, which showed a reduction of 43% to 48.5%. Also, it was observed that the splitting tensile strength was more sensitive to elevated temperatures than the compressive strength.