Utilization of Waste Tire and Tube Rubber as Partial Replacement for Fine and Coarse Aggregates in Cement Concrete

Abstract

With the exponential growth in number of automobiles in India during recent years, the demand of tires as original equipment and as replacement has also increased. The quantity of scrap tires produced in India is not exactly available but the increasing trend of use of road transportation will definitely create a problem of disposal in very near future. The total number of registered bused, trucks, cars, jeeps, taxis and two wheelers put together up to 2012 in India were 20 crores, also Indian automobile industry is growing rapidly at a rate of 4.6 million vehicles annually. Due to heavy metals and other pollutants in tires there is a potential risk for the leaching of toxins into the groundwater when placed in wet soils. This impact on the environment varies according to the pH level and conditions of local water and soil. Research has shown that very little leaching occurs when shredded tires are used as light fill material; however, limitations have been on use of this materials; each site should be individually assessed determining if this product is appropriate for given conditions. Thus usage of shredded tires as partial replacement for stone aggregates in cement concrete is safe means of disposal of worn out tires, thereby reducing the ill effects caused by improper disposal of the same. There is growing search for new alternative materials for replacement of stone aggregates. The major significance of this research work is to ascertain the replacement of the natural stone aggregates as good quality conventional natural resources like sand, gravel, aggregates etc are depleting very fast with the increase in construction activities in the country and a ban on new quarries are inevitable due to environmental problem. Experiments were conducted on four series of specimen by replacing, 5%, 10% by volume of fine aggregate and coarse aggregate. Each series consists of three cubes for testing compressive strength, three cylinders for split tensile strength.