Experimental Investigation on the Effect of Rubber Powder on Mechanical Properties of PVA Fiber Concrete

Abstract

To verify the damping improvement by replacing partial sand with rubber powder in the concrete process, this study investigated the effects of the rubber powder (5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%) on the mechanical properties and micromechanism of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fiber-reinforced concrete. In addition, in order to discuss its damping performance, free vibration test was conducted. Microstructure analyses were conducted by the scanning electron microscope (SEM) test. These results indicated that, as the content of the rubber powder increased, the damping ratio increased, and the compressive strength decreased, but this strength loss can be effectively controlled by adding PVA fiber. The rubber powder with a volume content of 5% and PVA with a mass of 2.4 kg/m3 were the most optimal mixing to balance the strength and damping requirement. According to the SEM test results, the rubber powder was beneficial to improve the damping ratio of PVA concrete, but it aggravated its interface defects.

Impact of crumb rubber particle size on the mechanical and microstructure properties of rubberized concrete

“…[10][11][12][13][14] Volume fraction of CR and its particle size are found relevant to the deterioration in the performance of CRC. [15][16][17][18] Generally, the strength of CRC decreases as CR content increases, summarized by establishing interrelated connection based on regression analysis of experimental data. 19 As CR size varies, the mechanical properties of CRC show no obvious trend as shown in Figure 1.…”

“…Previous researches of CR concrete (CRC) usually directly adopted ground rubber particles to substitute natural fine aggregates 10–14 . Volume fraction of CR and its particle size are found relevant to the deterioration in the performance of CRC 15–18 . Generally, the strength of CRC decreases as CR content increases, summarized by establishing interrelated connection based on regression analysis of experimental data 19 .…”