Received: 20 January 2020 Revised: 3 April 2020 Accepted: 5 May 2020

DOI: 10.1002/suco.202000043

TECHNICAL PAPER

Effect of aggressive environment on durability of concrete

containing fibrous rubber shreds and silica fume

Trilok Gupta1 | Salman Siddique2 | Ravi K. Sharma1 | Sandeep Chaudhary3

1
Department of Civil Engineering, College
of Technology and Engineering, MPUAT,
Abstract
Udaipur, Rajasthan, India The present study deals with the investigation of durability properties of
2
Division of Architecture and Urban reinforced concrete fabricated by incorporating fiber type rubber shreds as fine
Design, Institute of Urban Science,
aggregate in concrete and silica fume as a supplementary cementitious mate-
Incheon National University, Incheon,
Republic of Korea rial. Concrete designs were produced to replace natural fine aggregate and
3
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian cement by rubber shreds, and silica fume, respectively. The concrete mixes
Institute of Technology Indore, Simrol, were studied for compressive strength up to 365 days, abrasion resistance, and
Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India
water absorption up to 28 days. The carbonation and acid resistance (H2SO4
Correspondence and HCl) properties were studied up to 90 and 180 days, respectively. Corro-
Sandeep Chaudhary, Department of Civil
sion samples were tested up to 18 months for both macrocell current and half-
Engineering, Indian Institute of
Technology Indore, Simrol, Indore cell potential. The incorporation of rubber shreds lowered the compressive
453552, Madhya Pradesh, India. strength of concrete and resistance to water absorption, carbonation, and cor-
Email: schaudhary@iiti.ac.in
rosion. However, the resistance to abrasion and acid attack was enhanced on
the utilization of rubber shreds in concrete. The presence of silica fume consid-
erably enhanced the mechanical and durability properties of rubber shreds
concrete and lowered the probability of corrosion.

KEYWORDS
acid resistance, carbonation, composite, corrosion, rubber shreds, silica fume

1 | INTRODUCTION
The worldwide automobile requirement has led to
increased demand and production of rubber tires.1 The
automobile expansion and growth in developing coun-
tries such as India has led to a negative effect of disposal
for the end of life tires. The prevalent open dumping of
waste tires had caused serious concerns about its impact
on human and environmental health.2–4 Many efforts
have been made to implement reuse and recycle policies
to develop products containing different forms (ground,
Discussion on this paper must be submitted within two months of the
print publication. The discussion will then be published in print, along
with the authors’ closure, if any, approximately nine months after the
print publication.
crumb, ash, and fibers) of waste rubber tire.5 The use of
rubber aggregates in the development of concrete mixes
has led to a series of studies worldwide. The majority of
the studies focused on the use of crumb rubber aggregate
reported the downfall of mechanical and durability
properties.6–9 Few studies reported an increase in the
ductility properties of concrete such as fatigue and impact
resistance.10–13 Studies also pointed out that different
form of rubber aggregate (crumb, ash, and fibers) played
a different role in affecting the properties of
concrete.14–17
To improve the properties of concrete containing
crumb rubber aggregate, researchers have utilized sup-
plementary cementitious materials (SCMs) as a cement
replacement, additive, or filler.12,15,18–23 Xie et al.24
reported that the use of silica improves the interfacial

Structural Concrete. 2020;1–13. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/suco © 2020 fib. International Federation for Structural Concrete 1
2 GUPTA ET AL.
bonds between cement paste and crumb rubber aggregate
thereby resulting in enhanced strength-based properties.
Fakhri and Saberi20 investigated the influence of silica
fume on the properties of crumb rubberized roller-
compacted concrete. They reported that the presence of
silica fume increased the compressive strength of crumb
rubber concrete and decreased its water absorption.
AbdelAleem and Hasan25 reported that the use of SCM's
such as silica fume, metakaolin, and slag results in
improved mechanical properties of concrete due to
enhanced pozzolanic property. Onuaguluchi and
Panesar22 observed that concrete containing limestone
coated crumb rubber aggregate and silica fume had better
mechanical properties and lower chloride permeability as
compared to plain precoated rubberized concrete speci-
mens. Youssf et al.26 reported that silica fume along with
pretreatment of crumb rubber aggregates resulted in
improved fresh and hardened properties of crumb rubber
aggregate concrete. Pelisser et al.23 studied the effect of
alkaline activation and silica fume on properties of
crumb rubber concrete. A lighter and more compact con-
crete, than the plain crumb rubber concrete, was reported
to be developed. Adamu et al.18 added crumb rubber as
fine aggregate and nano-silica as a cement additive. They
observed that the addition of nano-silica fills the pores in
the cement matrix and increases the mechanical perfor-
mance of rubberized concrete. Elchalakani19 reported
that high strength rubberized roadside barriers could be
developed by adding micro silica fume in concrete mixes.
The impact resistance and toughness of such concrete
mixes were found to be suitable for the roadside barriers.
Guneyisi et al.21 concluded that silica fume could help in
developing high volume crumb rubber concrete with suit-
able mechanical properties. Copetti et al.27 observed that
the use of silica fume recorded a decrease in volume of
voids for concrete containing rubber waste as aggregate.
They also reported that the use of silica fume improved
the mechanical properties of concrete. Xie et al.28
suggested that the use of silica fume reduced the negative
effects of crumb rubber aggregate and enhanced the frac-
ture performance of rubber concrete.
It can be observed from above that though many stud-
ies are available in the literature for the effect of silica
fume on the mechanical properties of crumb rubber con-
crete; however, the long-term properties of rubberized
concrete with silica fume have not been investigated so
far to the best of the knowledge of the authors. Therefore,
this study aims to examine the effect of rubber shreds
and silica fume on long-term mechanical and durability
properties of rubberized concrete. Rubber shreds have
been used to partially replace natural fine aggregate, and
silica fume has been used to partially replace cement.
The silica fume has been added to negate the detrimental
effects of rubber shreds and to improve the pozzolanic
activity of cement paste.
2 | EXPERIM ENTA L PR OGR AM
2.1 | Materials
Ordinary Portland cement conforming to bureau of
indian standards (BIS) 811229 was used as a binder. Natu-
ral river sand (specific gravity 2.56 and water absorption
0.5%) conforming to BIS 38330 was used as fine aggregate.
Crushed natural stone (specific gravity 2.59 and water
absorption 0.5%) was used as coarse aggregate. Potable
tap water conforming to BIS 45631 was used as a mixing
agent along with high range water reducing admixture to
maintain workability. Waste rubber tire in the form of
shreds was used as an alternative fine aggregate in the
present study. Rubber shreds with aspect ratio varying
between 4 and 10 were produced by machine shredding
of waste rubber tire. The specific gravity and water
absorption of rubber shreds were 1.07 and 0.4%, respec-
tively. Silica fume was used as SCM. The chemical com-
position of cement and silica fume is shown in Table 1.
2.2 | Concrete mix details
The concrete mix details are presented in Table 2. Specifi-
cations of BIS 1026232 were followed to design the con-
crete mixes. Two series of concrete mixes were
investigated. For the first series mix, rubber shreds were
utilized to replace (by volume) natural fine aggregates by
0, 5, 10, 20, and 25%. For the second series mix, silica
fume was used to replace cement by 10%, along with rub-
ber shreds as fine aggregates in different percentages.
The workability of the mixes was kept in the range of
0.90–0.95 by adding suitable doses of admixture
(Gelenium sky 877). The workability was evaluated using
the compaction factor test as per the guidelines of BIS
1199.33 The range of workability was selected to ensure
that the produced concrete mixes are easily pumpable.
The samples were water cured for 28 days after casting.
2.3 | Methodology
The guidelines of BIS 51634 were followed to conduct a
compressive strength test on 100 mm cubic samples. The
cubic samples were water cured for 28 days and were
then exposed to the natural environment for obtaining
90 and 365 days compressive strength. Additionally, the
compressive strength of 7 days cured samples was also
GUPTA ET AL. 3

TABLE 1 Chemical composition of cement and silica fume

Material CaO (%) SiO2 (%) Al2O3 (%) Fe2O3 (%) SO3 (%) MgO (%) K2O (%) LOI (%)
Cement 62.34 20.14 4.65 3.29 2.42 2.23 0.72 1.96
Silica fume 0.87 90.12 0.94 1.62 0.29 - 1.21 2.87

TABLE 2 Concrete mix details

Silica Natural fine Rubber Coarse

Cement fume aggregate shreds aggregate Water Admixture Compaction
Mix (kg/m3) (kg/m3) (kg/m3) (kg/m3) (kg/m3) (kg/m3) (%) factor
RC 364.0 0 764.0 0 1,124.4 127.4 2.1 0.90
RS5 364.0 0 726.0 15.9 1,124.4 127.4 2.0 0.91
RS10 364.0 0 688.0 31.6 1,124.4 127.4 2.0 0.91
RS15 364.0 0 650.0 47.5 1,124.4 127.4 2.1 0.91
RS20 364.0 0 611.0 63.5 1,124.4 127.4 2.2 0.91
RS25 364.0 0 573.0 80.1 1,124.4 127.4 2.4 0.91
SFC 327.6 36.4 764.0 0 1,124.4 127.4 2.2 0.90
RSF5 327.6 36.4 726.0 15.9 1,124.4 127.4 2.2 0.91
RSF10 327.6 36.4 688.0 31.6 1,124.4 127.4 2.2 0.91
RSF15 327.6 36.4 650.0 47.5 1,124.4 127.4 2.2 0.91
RSF20 327.6 36.4 611.0 63.5 1,124.4 127.4 2.3 0.91
RSF25 327.6 36.4 573.0 80.1 1,124.4 127.4 2.4 0.91

Abbreviations: RC, reference concrete; RS, rubber shreds concrete; RSF, rubberised silica fume concrete; SFC, silica fume concrete.

reported. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images
were taken to observe the microstructure of concrete con-
taining rubber shreds and silica fume.
The abrasion resistance was evaluated on 100 mm
cubic samples. The abrasion resistance was reported as
the depth of wear (taken as average for three samples).
The resistance to abrasion was evaluated as per the
guidelines of BIS 1237.35
The values for water absorption were determined on
100 mm cubic samples. The samples were kept in the
oven (60 C) before submerging in the water bath, and
the guidelines of british standards 1881-12236 were
followed to conduct the water absorption test.
The guidelines of RILEM CPC-18 RILEM CPC-1837
were followed to obtain the carbonation values of mixes
for 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 56, and 90 days of exposure. Car-
bonation test was performed on 28 days cured prisms of
size 50 mm × 50 mm × 100 mm. The samples were
coated on four longer edges with epoxy to limit the CO2
penetration along the length. The samples were then kept
in a carbonation chamber having a CO2 concentration of
5%, relative humidity of 50 ± 5%, and a temperature of
27 ± 1 C. On the day of evaluation, the samples were
split into two parts, and the phenolphthalein indicator
solution was sprayed to observe any discoloration (pink-
colored areas show noncarbonated zone).
The resistance against acid attack was evaluated for
exposure to two different types of acids namely sulfuric
acid (H2SO4) and hydrochloric acid (HCl); 100 mm cubic
specimens were submerged in a 3% acid solution for a
period of 7, 28, 56, 90, and 180 days of exposure. The
changes in mass and compressive strength for each expo-
sure period were reported.
The probability of corrosion measurement was car-
ried on 28 days cured samples of size 115 mm × 275 mm
× 225 mm (150 mm + 75 mm pond) having three thermo
mechanically treated bars (12 mm diameter). The bars
were placed in a manner to ensure higher chances of
corrosion. The bar length of 275 mm was kept exposed
in concrete, and 75 mm length was projected from
both ends, which was covered with rubber sleeves to
protect exposure to the environment. About 3% NaCl
solution was pounded on top of the sample for 14 days
and was allowed to dry for the next 14 days. The
cycles were repeated for the entire duration of
18 months. The macrocell current values were
reported as per ASTM G109,38 and half-cell potential
values were reported as per ASTM C876. 39
 4 GUPTA ET AL.
3 | R ESULTS A ND DISCUSSIONS
3.1 | Compressive strength
Figure 1 shows the compressive strength of concrete
mixes containing rubber shreds for 7, 28, 90, and
365 days cured specimens. It can be observed that the
presence of rubber shreds lowered the compressive load-
carrying capacity of concrete.12,40 For 28 days of standard
curing, a decrease of 51.8% was observed on replacement
of 25% natural sand by rubber shreds (RS25 mix). The
replacement of cement by silica fume partially helps rub-
ber shreds concrete to gain the compressive strength. At
28 days of curing, on the addition of 10% silica fume, the
compressive strength of RSF25 mix increased by 33.3%
when compared to RS25 mix, whereas in case of refer-
ence concrete (RC) mix, the increase observed was 27.5%
for silica fume concrete (SFC) mix. It can be stated that
up to 10% rubber shreds can be used as fine aggregate in
SFC without significantly affecting the compressive
strength.
The loss in compressive strength due to the addition
of rubber shreds owes to the replacement of hard natural
fine aggregate with softer and flexible rubber shreds.41,42
As observed in Figure 2a, the formation of voids around
the rubber shreds and cement paste junction due to the
smooth nature of rubber also creates the weak planes.25
The hydrophobicity of rubber shreds further creates the
small junctions of weaker cement paste due to
misbalanced water. The misbalance of water usually
takes place near rubber shreds where hydrophobicity of
80
Compressive Strength (MPa)
60
40
20
0
RC RS5 RS10 RS15 RS20 RS25 SFC
Concrete Mix
rubber can lead to small pockets with higher water-to-
cement ratio. This leads to the development of weak
zones in the concrete matrix.17 In the case of a higher
percentage of rubber shreds, the effect of balling can also
cause a loss in the compressive strength. Other authors
have observed similar behavior on the utilization of dif-
ferent types of fibers.43,44
The addition of silica fume provides dual fold benefit
to improve the compressive strength of rubber shreds
concrete. The pozzolanic action of silica fume results in
the formation of additional calcium silicate hydrate
(CSH) gel, which enhances the strength properties of
concrete.45 The second effect is that of filler; the silica
fume fills the voids between rubber shreds and cement
paste thus improving the interfacial bonding (Figure 2b).
The finer particle size of silica fume also reduces the
porosity by occupying the voids between the grains of
cement resulting in a dense structure.
It can be observed from Figure 2a,b that on the incor-
poration of silica fume, the interfacial transition zone
(ITZ) between the rubber and cement paste has lower
voids which can provide for a stronger plane to sustain
compressive loading.
3.2 | Abrasion resistance
Figure 3 illustrates the depth of wear in different concrete
mixes due to abrasion. It is observed that the addition of
rubber shreds and silica fume has a positive effect in
improving the abrasion resistance of concrete.40 For the
7 Days
28 Days
90 Days
365 Days
RSF5 RSF10 RSF15 RSF20 RSF25
F I G U R E 1 Compressive strength
of rubber shreds concrete
GUPTA ET AL. 5

RS25 mix, the depth of wear decreased by 33% as com-

pared to RC. On the addition of silica fume, the depth of
wear reduced by 35% for RSF25 mix as compared to the
RC. The reduction in the depth of wear for RC mix on
the addition of the SFC mix was only 7%.
The mechanism behind the increased resistance to
abrasion can be due to the incorporation of flexible rub-
ber shreds resists the abrasion force by acting as brush
between cement paste and abrasive powder.46 Further-
more, the greater length of rubber shreds makes it har-
der for peeling action to prevail. The addition of silica
fume results in increased compactness of concrete
structure, which refines the interfacial bonding and
achieves good abrasion resistance. In the previous stud-
ies, authors such as Siddique et al.47 and Ardalan
et al.48 reported that the use of pozzolanic materials
results in a higher generation of portlandite crystals
along with CSH gel. The crystal structure of portlandite
further enhances the abrasion resistance of concrete.
All the concrete mixes containing rubber shreds qualify
for placement of heavy-duty floors as per the codal pro-
visions of BIS 1237.35

3.3 | Water absorption

Figure 4 shows the effect of rubber shreds and silica fume

F I G U R E 2 SEM micrograph of (a) Rubber shreds concrete
without silica fume and (b) Rubber shreds. SEM, scanning electron
microscope
on water absorption of different concrete mixtures.
The results (Figure 4) indicate that the presence of
rubber shreds increases the water absorption of concrete
mixes for up to 5% replacement. However, for a higher
percentage of replacement (10% and above), the water
absorption reduces, though it remains higher than RC.40
The water absorption was 0.59% for mix RS25 as com-
pared to 0.5% for RC mix. The replacement of cement by

1.0

0.8

0.8 0.7
Depth of Wear (mm)

0.6

0.6
Water Absorption (%)

0.5

0.4
0.4
0.3

0.2
0.2

0.1

0.0 0.0
RC RS5 RS10 RS15 RS20 RS25 SFC RSF5 RSF10 RSF15 RSF20 RSF25 RC RS5 RS10 RS15 RS20 RS25 SFC RSF5 RSF10 RSF15 RSF20 RSF25

Concrete Mix Concrete Mix

FIGURE 3 Depth of wear for rubber shreds concrete FIGURE 4 Water absorption of rubber shreds concrete
 6 GUPTA ET AL.
silica fume helps in further lowering the water absorption
of rubber shreds concrete. The effect was significant for
5% rubber shreds concrete mix as water absorption
reduced from 0.7 to 0.63%. For concrete containing silica
fume and rubber shreds, the lowest value of water
absorption (0.5%) observed was for RSF25 mix, which
was equal to water absorption of RC mix.
The rise in water absorption on replacement of fine
aggregate by rubber shreds can be due to the rough sur-
face and hydrophobic nature of rubber shreds, which
traps air near concrete structure and makes interfacial
zones susceptible to high water absorption. Additionally,
the presence of rubber shreds causes poor flowability and
compaction of concrete, which ultimately leads to the for-
mation of cavities. Other authors drew similar observa-
tions on using different forms of waste plastic and rubber
aggregates.44,49 It may be noted that the water absorption
of concrete mixes increased on adding 5% of rubber
shreds and then reduced for higher doses of rubber
shreds (10, 15, 20, and 25%) in concrete mixes. The reduc-
tion in water absorption can be attributed to the lower
water absorption characteristics (Section 2.1) of rubber
shreds which reduces the water absorption of concrete.
Furthermore, the addition of elongated rubber shreds
provides tortuosity, which results in a disconnected net-
work of pores lowering the penetration of water. It may
be noted that in an earlier study, Mohammadhosseini
and Tahir44 also reported such observations on the utili-
zation of plastic fibers.
10
8 35 Days
Depth of Carbonation (mm)
6
0
RC RS5 RS10 RS15 RS20 RS25 SFC
Concrete Mix
The lower values of water absorption on the addi-
tion of silica fume could be attributed to the pozzola-
nic activity of silica fume, which reduced the voids
and pores by additional hydration products. Accord-
ingly, the higher production of CSH gel results in a
more compacted and denser concrete surface with
lower porosity.45 For rubber concrete specimens con-
taining silica fume, the filler effect also dominates in
reducing the water absorption as it improves the com-
paction in the interface between cement paste and
rubber shreds.
3.4 | Carbonation
The main adverse effect of carbonation is its role in
lowering the pH of concrete, which reduces the alkaline
protection of rebars in concrete.50 The carbonation pro-
cess is a diffusion-based process in which CO2 is
absorbed from surface to interior of concrete. Figure 5
shows the depth of carbonation in concrete specimens
containing rubber shreds and silica fume. The depth of
carbonation in rubber shreds concrete (without silica
fume) has also been reported earlier by the authors.40 It
can be stated that the addition of rubber shreds in con-
crete makes it more vulnerable to carbonation. How-
ever, the depth of carbonation in none of the cases
exceeded 15 mm which is the minimum cover required
for reinforced concrete as per BIS 456.31
7 Days
21 Days
28 Days
42 Days
56 Days
90 Days
RSF5 RSF10 RSF15 RSF20 RSF25
F I G U R E 5 Carbonation depth of
rubber shreds concrete
GUPTA ET AL.
As discussed in Section 3.4, the addition of rubber
shreds causes poor compaction of the concrete, which
creates voids in the concrete structure. These voids act as
an easy go tunnel for CO2 to penetrate deeper into con-
crete matrix. The hydrophobic nature of rubber shreds
creates pockets of air in the concrete matrix, which are
replaced by pockets of CO2 during the carbonation pro-
cess. These pockets slowly percolate through the flexible
rubber shreds into the concrete matrix and affect a much
larger area. Similar observations were drawn by Alsaif
et al.49 while investigating the durability of crumb rubber
concrete against oxygen penetration.
The addition of silica fume lowers the depth of car-
bonation in rubber shreds concrete mixes. The higher
proportion of hydration products leads to refined pore
structure along with an improvement of ITZ, which
reduces the size of air pockets. The higher proportion of
the hydration products besides refining the pore structure
also improves the CO2 fixing capacity.
3.5 | Acid resistance
The mass loss due to H2SO4 and HCl is shown in Figures 6
and 7, respectively. Figures 8 and 9 show the compressive
strength values for concrete mixes exposed to H2SO4 and
HCl, respectively. It can be observed that, despite having
more cavities in the concrete matrix, the concrete mixes
containing rubber shreds had similar mass loss as com-
pared to the RC. For the H2SO4 attack, the mass loss in the
16
14
12
10
Mass Loss (%)
0
RC
FIGURE 6 Mass loss of rubber
shreds concrete exposed to sulfuric acid
7
RC mix and RS25 mix was 14.2 and 14.4% respectively on
180 days of exposure. In the case of HCl, for a similar dura-
tion of exposure, the mass loss observed for RC mix and
RS25 mix was 8.8 and 9.0% for, respectively.
The mechanism of acid attack on concrete mixes was
found to depend on the type of acid. Overall, it was
observed that H2SO4 had a much harmful influence on
the structure and properties of concrete than HCl.
In the case of an acid attack, the highly corrosive
nature of acid erodes the cement mortar layer of concrete
causing mass loss. For the H2SO4 attack, the portlandite in
the concrete matrix transforms to gypsum, which then
leaches out from the concrete structure.51 In HCl attack,
the chloride ions react with calcium ions to form calcium
chloride.52 The calcium chloride is in a gel-like state, which
is removed from the surface of concrete during the replen-
ishment of acidic solution. The rubber shreds in concrete
provide a much stable and durable mechanism than natu-
ral sand and limit the corrosive action of acid attack. Fur-
thermore, the bridging effect of longer rubber shreds acts
as a barrier to stop the influx of acid in concrete. Addition-
ally, the hydrophobicity of rubber shreds repels the acidic
solution delaying the attack mechanism in concrete.
The effect of rubber shreds on compressive strength
of acid exposed concrete is of particular importance as
the crack arresting behavior delays the failure of concrete
samples. The rubber shreds being resistant to acid attack
provide a durable form of aggregate than natural fine
aggregate thus resulting in increased performance than
RC samples.53
7 Days
28 Days
56 Days
90 Days
180 Days
RS5 RS10 RS15 RS20 RS25 SFC RSF5 RSF10 RSF15 RSF20 RSF25
Concrete Mix
 8 GUPTA ET AL.

7 Days F I G U R E 7 Mass loss of rubber

10 28 Days shreds concrete exposed to

56 Days hydrochloric acid
90 Days
180 Days
8

6
Mass Loss (%)

0
RC RS5 RS10 RS15 RS20 RS25 SFC RSF5 RSF10 RSF15 RSF20 RSF25

Concrete Mix

0 Days F I G U R E 8 Compressive strength

7 Days of rubber shreds concrete exposed to
28 Days sulfuric acid
80
56 Days
90 Days
70
180 Days

60
Compressive Strength (MPa)

50

40

30

20

10

0
RC RS5 RS10 RS15 RS20 RS25 SFC RSF5 RSF10 RSF15 RSF20 RSF25

Concrete Mix

The presence of silica fume enhances the amount of 3.6 | Corrosion

hydration products, which delays the decomposition of
cement paste leading to better performance of concrete
mixes. Various authors obtained similar results on utiliz-
ing different types of SCM in concrete mixes exposed to
acid attack.52,54,55
As per ASTM G109,38 the probability of corrosion initiation
is considered when macrocell values are at 10 μA or higher.
It can be observed from Figure 10 that in the case of RC
mix, the values never reached 10 μA during the entire
GUPTA ET AL. 9

F I G U R E 9 Compressive strength 0 Days

of rubber shreds concrete exposed to 7 Days
hydrochloric acid 28 Days
80
56 Days
90 Days
70
180 Days

60

Compressive Strength (MPa)

50

40

30

20

10

0
RC RS5 RS10 RS15 RS20 RS25 SFC RSF5 RSF10 RSF15 RSF20 RSF25

Concrete Mix

RC
25 RS5
RS10
20 RS15 RC
RS20 SFC
15 RS25 RSF5
Macrocell Current (DA)

15
RSF10
10
RSF15
10 RSF20
Macrocell Current (DA)

5
RSF25
5
0

-5 0

-10
-5

-15
-- 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 -- -10
Age (Months)
-15
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
FIGURE 10 Macrocell current of concrete containing rubber
shreds Age (Months)

F I G U R E 1 1 Macrocell current of rubber shreds concrete

testing duration. For concrete containing rubber shreds, containing silica fume
the threshold value of corrosion was crossed in
18 months of testing. The highest value of macrocell
current (22.3 μA) was observed for RS25 mix at Figure 12 reflects that rubber shreds concrete mixes
18 months of testing age. It can be further observed reaches the threshold value in 13 months of testing. Simi-
from Figure 11 that the addition of silica fume lowers lar to the case of macrocell current, the addition of silica
the probability of corrosion for rubber shreds concrete fume (Figure 13) significantly lowers the chances of cor-
mixes. Furthermore, it safeguards concrete mixes RS5, rosion (half-cell potential) in all concrete mixes con-
and RS10 from the probability of corrosion. taining rubber shreds.
For half-cell potential, the guidelines of ASTM C87636 For concrete mixes containing just rubber shreds, the
state that there is a 90% probability for corrosion if the higher porosity allows for chloride ions to penetrate the
half-cell potential is more negative than −350 mV. concrete matrix and causes depassivation of rebar.
 10 GUPTA ET AL.

Additionally, the presence of oxygen starts the corrosion with fine particles of silica fume decreasing the perme-
initiation in reinforcing steel. The addition of silica fume ability of chloride.
with higher pozzolanic activity leads to the formation of
extra hydration products that react with chloride ions
and forms Friedel's salts The Friedel's salt neutralizes the 4 | CONCLUSIONS
chloride laden moisture to limit the corrosion probabil-
ity.47 Furthermore, the compact and dense microstruc- The long-term properties of concrete containing rubber
ture of concrete due to the presence of silica fume resists shreds as fine aggregate and silica fume as SCM were
the penetration of chloride ions. The weak interfacial investigated in this study. The following conclusions are
zones between cement paste and rubber shreds are filled drawn:

1 The addition of rubber shreds lowers the compressive

RC strength of concrete due to the soft nature and flexibil-
-50 RS5 ity of rubber shreds. The presence of silica fume helps
RS10
in regaining the compressive strength due to the for-
-100 RS15
RS20 mation of additional hydration products.
-150 RS25 2 The addition of silica fume to the rubber shreds con-
Half Cell Potential (mV)

crete enhances the interfacial bonding between rubber

-200
shreds and cement paste that improves the resistance
-250 to abrasion.
3 The addition of silica fume and hydrophobicity of rub-
-300 ber shreds creates a suitable barrier against water
absorption. Also, the elongated rubber shreds form a
-350
discontinued network of pores and capillaries, which
-400 improves the water permeability of concrete.
4 The presence of finer silica fume reduces the voids and
-450
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
pores in rubber shreds concrete, which lowers the pen-
Age (Months) etration of CO2 into the concrete matrix. The air
pockets/voids in concrete matrix between rubber
FIGURE 12 Half-cell potential of concrete containing rubber shreds and cement paste cause an increased amount of
shreds carbonation in the concrete as the pockets are filled

RC
SFC
0 RSF5
RSF10
-50 RSF15
RSF20
Half Cell Potential (mV)

-100 RSF25

-150

-200

-250

-300

-350

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
FIGURE 13 Half-cell potential of rubber shreds
Age (Months) concrete containing silica fume
GUPTA ET AL.
with CO2, which reacts with hydration products to
lower the alkalinity of concrete.
5 The durable, stable, and hydrophobic nature of rub-
ber shreds provides durability against acidic solu-
tions. The addition of silica fume densifies the
concrete matrix which resists the penetration of
aggressive acid.
6 The addition of silica fume is beneficial to rubber
shred concrete as it lowers the probability of corrosion
initiation in concrete. The additional hydration prod-
ucts resulting from the addition of silica fume act as
sieves that trap chloride ions thereby preventing the
lowering of alkalinity in concrete.
The 15% rubber shreds along with silica fume can be
utilized to develop concrete pipes for sewers and chemi-
cal industries as they are susceptible to corrosion. The
required strength for sewer pipes as per BIS 45856 is
35 MPa. Reinforced SFC can be developed by replacing
10% natural fine aggregate by rubber shreds. Future stud-
ies can be carried out to study the freeze-thaw perfor-
mance of rubber concrete.
ORCID
Trilok Gupta https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1086-4545
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Sandeep Chaudhary
Department of Civil Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology
Indore
Simrol, Indore 453552, India
schaudhary@iiti.ac.in
13
How to cite this article: Gupta T, Siddique S,
Sharma RK, Chaudhary S. Effect of aggressive
environment on durability of concrete containing
fibrous rubber shreds and silica fume. Structural
Concrete. 2020;1–13. https://doi.org/10.1002/suco.
202000043