When silica fume is added to concrete, initially it remains inert.

Once portland cement and water in the

mix start reacting with each other (hydrating), primary chemical reactions produce two chemical
compounds: Calcium Silicate Hydrate (CSH), which is the strength producing crystallization, and Calcium
Hydroxide (CH), a by-product also called free lime which is responsible for nothing much other than
lining available pores within concrete as a filler or leaching out of inferior concrete. Pozzolanic reaction
occurs between silica fume and the CH, producing additional CSH in many of the voids around hydrated
cement particles. This additional CSH provides the concrete with not only improved compressive,
flexural and bond- strength but also a much denser matrix, mostly in areas that would have remained as
small voids subject to possible ingress of deleterious materials.

http://www.norchem.com/silica-fume-concrete.html

Some studies have also investigated the application of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs)
such asfly ash, silica fume, and metakaolin as an approach tominimizing the mechanical strength loss in
PRC. The positive effect of using silica fume in concrete was reported by [36], the addition of silica fume
and rubber up to 20% wt powder and 50%, respectively, had a beneficial effect in terms of mechanical
properties and diminished the rate of strength loss. Pelisser et al. [27] reported a synergy between the
combinations of sodium hydroxide followed and 15% silica fume. They concluded that the addition of
15% silica fume in addition to washing the rubber with NaOH solution led to the improvement of
concrete strength and lower permeability.

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/175c/92c1c7ab0636110536a614bcf68d69cc9ca4.pdf

There are some conclusions conducted from the present study as follows: 1. Mechanical properties of
concrete such as compressive strength is found to decrease with adding of rubber content resulted from
weak bond between rubber particles and concrete compared with bond between concrete and concrete
and this confirm the results from previous researches. In the present study the average decrease in the
compressive strength when added 15% rubber particles is about 49.8% from traditional concrete. 2. The
results show that the bond between rubber particles and concrete can be enhanced by increasing
electrostatic interactions and / or facilitating chemical bonding. In the present study, rubber particles
were pretreated by a coupling agent (SILAN) and this method was found to be very effective in
improving the compressive strength of the RMC and there is no adverse effect on the workability, it is
found that the average decrease in the compressive strength when added 15% rubber particles and
treat it with SILAN is about 12.9% from traditional concrete, so that the SILAN was very effective in
improving the compressive strength by about 42.34% from untreated rubberized concrete.

https://www.iasj.net/iasj?func=fulltext&aId=28475

The hydrophilicity of crumb rubber was increased with wet chemical modification and added to
concrete to increase its adhesion with concrete, consequently the compressive strength relative to that
of concrete with untreated rubber. Other modification methods were tested on crumb rubber and
rubber sheets to yield an increase in hydrophilicity. Certain tests were less reliable for powder testing or
tedious and time consuming and concrete materials and rubber may not be homogeneous.

For wet chemical modification, several approaches were attempted. First, crumb rubber was soaked in
5% sodium hydroxide, 5% potassium permanganate and saturated sodium bisulfite, tested for
hydrophilicity using Sessile Drop, Washburn Capillary Rise and hydrophobic partitioning and added to
concrete cylinders tested for compressive strength. The results from the Sessile Drop method show that
water spread out and disappeared over the modified rubber indicating hydrophilicity. The results from
the Washburn Capillary Rise show that the modified rubber has a contact angle of 89.4 ± 0.02°. The
results from the Hydrophobic Partitioning method show that rubber became somewhat more miscible
with water. Results of compressive strength testing show that the compressive strength of concrete
containing unmodified rubber was 40% lower than that of regular concrete but the compressive
strength of concrete containing modified rubber was 2% lower than that concrete containing
unmodified rubber. Second, crumb rubber was soaked in 5% sodium hydroxide for 24 hours or stirred in
saturated sodium hydroxide for 20 minutes and tested for hydrophilicity using Sessile Drop or
hydrophobic partitioning. The results from the Sessile Drop method show that unmodified crumb rubber
has a contact angle of 121.8 ± 13.2°, crumb rubber soaked in 5 % NaOH for 24 hours has a contact angle
of 115.8 ± 8.0° and crumb rubber stirred in saturated NaOH for 20 minutes has a contact angle of 121.5
± 8.1°. Results from the Hydrophobic Partitioning method show that unmodified rubber and rubber
soaked in 5 % NaOH for 24 hours are not miscible with water at all (rubber soaked in saturated NaOH
was not tested). To gain some basic understanding on how rubber can be affected by different
treatment methods, rubber sheets were modified with sodium hydroxide, potassium permanganate,
sodium bisulfite, combinations of the three, as well as by ultraviolet radiation or plasma radiation.
Water contact angles on the treated rubber sheets were measured using the sessile drop method. The
results show that rubber sheets were made somewhat more hydrophilic with the combinations of
sodium hydroxide, potassium permanganate and sodium bisulfite treatments and significantly with UV
or plasma but not with sodium hydroxide alone.

https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
referer=https://www.google.com.ph/&httpsredir=1&article=1575&context=honors_research_projects

The crumb rubber cement mortar is prepared by the crumb rubber aggregates in 60 mesh which are
modified by 1% polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) solution. Some mechanical properties of cement mortar with
different crumb rubber aggregate amounts are researched including compressive strength, flexural
strength, the ratio of compressive strength to flexural strength, impact resistance, and dry contraction
percentage. In our tests, we consider six kinds of the rubber contents, 0%, 7.5%, 15%, 19%, 22.5%, and
30%, respectively. The optimal mixing amount of crumb rubber is determined by measuring three
indices, the ratio of compressive strength to flexural strength, impact resistance, and dry contraction
percentage. It is shown by test that the ratio of compressive strength to flexural strength is the smallest
when the mixing amount of rubber is 19%; meanwhile high impact resistance and rational drying
shrinkage are observed. The optimal mixing amount of the rubber particles is 19% determined by this
test.

The surface layer is not a load-bearing part; on the premise of meeting the basic strength requirements,
toughness can be considered as the main performance index of mortar. Though rubber particles reduce
the compressive strength and the flexural strength of surface mortar, but the ratio of compressive
strength to flexural strength is decreased, and this indicates the mortar toughness is improved. Cement
mortar mixed with crumb rubber can be used for the surface engineering, which may solve the problem
that the crack resistance is poor in traditional surface mortar. According to the tests, the ratio of
compressive strength to flexural strength is the smallest when the mixing amount of rubber is 19%;
meanwhile impact resistance is high at this moment and drying shrinkage is rational, so the appropriate
mixing amount of rubber particles determined by this test is 19%.

https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ace/2017/8643839/

Rubber concrete is a type of concrete in which aggregates are replaced with waste rubber particles. The
uses of rubber concrete are limited because of its reduced strength. By improving the mechanical
properties of rubber concrete it can be used for advanced construction works. In this paper, the
technique presented is for improving the mechanical properties of rubber concrete. The poor
mechanical properties are due to the poor bonding between rubber particles and cement. Certain
chemicals can make bond between cement and rubber powder by improving bond between them. It is
possible to improve the mechanical properties of rubber concrete. PVA (Polyvinyl Alcohol) is one of the
chemical that can make bonding between rubber powder and cement. The addition of PVA can make a
considerable change in the mechanical properties of rubber concrete

https://www.ijirset.com/upload/2017/april/111_Experimental.pdf

Using sulfur compounds

In this study, the use of crumb tyres as additives to concrete was investigated. For some time,
researchers have been studying the physical properties of concrete to determine why the inclusion of
rubber particles causes the concrete to degrade. Several methods have been developed to improve the
bonding between rubber particles and cement hydration products (C-S-H) with the hope of creating a
product with an improvement in mechanical strength. In this study, the crumb tyres were treated with
waste organic sulfur compounds from a petroleum refining factory in order to modify their surface
properties. Organic sulfur compounds with amphiphilic properties can enhance the hydrophilic
properties of the rubber and increase the intermolecular interaction forces between rubber and C-S-H.
In the present study, a colloid probe of C-S-H was prepared to measure these intermolecular interaction
forces by utilizing an atomic force microscope. Experimental results showed that rubber particles
treated with waste organic sulfur compounds became more hydrophilic. In addition, the intermolecular
interaction forces increased with the adsorption of waste organic sulfur compounds on the surface of
the rubber particles. The compressive, tensile and flexural strengths of concrete samples that included
rubber particles treated with organic sulfur compound also increased significantly.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19710121