POLYMER CONCRETE MADE WITH RECYCLED AGGREGATES &

POLYMERIC WASTERS (CRUMB RUBBER & PET)

Mudit Mishra
Assistant Professor
Manav Rachna International Institute of Research & Studies, Faridabad, Haryana, India

Karan Gautam
Student
Manav Rachna International Institute of Research & Studies, Faridabad, Haryana, India

Devinder Thakur
Student
Manav Rachna International Institute of Research & Studies, Faridabad, Haryana, India

Abstract
The main aim of this project is to resolve the solid waste problems represent by concrete
demolition waste, used tyres and plastics. This purpose is tried to solve by using these polymeric
and solid waste in production of polymer concrete and thus recycling of PET bottles, tyre rubber
and the use of recycled aggregate would result in lowering the material cost of producing many
suitable polymer concrete products. Therefore, the adoption of recycled-PET, tyre rubber and
recycled aggregate in the production of polymer concrete would result in the reduction of
environmental pollution and preservation of natural resources. For this we have conducted
various test on the recycled coarse aggregate obtained from the concrete demolition waste and
compared the results with the natural coarse aggregates. We have used crumb rubber obtained
from recycling process of used tyres as an alternative of fine aggregate (5%). The PET
(Polyethylene terephthalate) obtained by the recycling of PET bottles, is used as a resin in the
polymer concrete. The polymer concrete made by addition of these material were tested on the
basis of compressive strength characteristics and were compared the strength values with the
normal concrete. We have come to the conclusion that the compressive strength of the polymer
concrete made with crumb rubber and recycled aggregates was much higher than the other
normal concrete.

Keywords— Polymer concrete, crumb rubber, aggregates, cement, property

INTRODUCTION

Polymer concrete is a compound substance that constitute of coarse aggregates, fine aggregates and in
addition with a polymer. The strength of polymer concrete is more than the other ordinary concrete.
Due to better durability and low maintenance required, the polymer concrete has been used in the
various construction purposes such as construction of drain pipes, trench lines, bridge deck overlay
and in reparation task of highway roads. Polymer concrete has a high bond in the middle of
aggregates and resin. It also has good tensile and bending strengths than the normal concrete. It has
various benefits like: excellent adhesion properties, good mechanical strength, water resistant and
very good thermal insulation properties. The material cost of this type of concrete is higher and hence
it is not largely used, therefore less expensive resins can be used to reduce the effective cost of the
polymer concrete.
Many practices have been made to utilize demolition waste material from concrete structures and to
reduce the solid waste. Recycled concrete aggregates are obtained by the recycling process of
demolition waste. It has comparatively lower density and has good water absorption properties than
natural coarse aggregates. Recycling of waste concrete also leads to preservation of environment and
effective use of natural resources. Therefore, for best utilization of these waste concrete structures, it
is important to use waste concrete as an alternative of coarse aggregates for fresh or new concrete.
Polymeric wasters such as waste rubber tyres and PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) are a major
problem to environment. The disposal of tyres has become a very serious problem in environment.
Since there is no proper method for recycling of tyre rubber, they are disposed in many processes like
landfilling, burning of tyres, as a fuel etc. which results in an increase in environmental pollution.
Recycling the discarded tyres as an alternative of aggregates to manufacture of new concrete is a new
method. This attempt could be environmental friendly and also helps to control the environment
pollution produced by the burning of tyres.
The PET waste is a general type of plastic in solid waste such as plastic bottles etc. Since it is non-
biodegradable and remains in environment for a long time. The PET waste which can be used as a
replacement of aggregates in concrete is a superior idea to reduce the plastic waste. It is also used as
resin in polymer concrete which in turn results in an economical concrete and also reduces the solid
waste.
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

The main idea of this work was to focus on the properties of polymer concrete comprises of recycled
concrete aggregates, crumb rubber and recycled PET. It also provides the results of the polymer
concrete made with these materials in comparison to the ordinary or normal cement concrete.
The results to be achieved are contributing to these types of fields:
1. Production of Polymer concrete using recycled concrete aggregates and ordinary concrete for their
comparison in their physical properties.
2. Using of crumb rubber as an alternative of fine aggregate and changing the percentage of content in
the polymer concrete.
3. Increasing use of waste such as recycled concrete aggregates and recycled PET in the manufacture
of polymer concrete, which results in protecting the environment.

EXPERIMENT

A. Materials

1. Aggregates

There are four types of aggregate used in all types of concrete. Those are recycled coarse aggregates,
recycled Fine aggregates, natural coarse aggregates and natural fine aggregates. The recycled coarse
aggregates used were in the nominal size range of 4.75mm-20mm and they were obtained from the
demolition waste concrete. The fine aggregate was obtained from river sand. The physical properties
of the recycled coarse aggregate and natural coarse aggregate are given in table 1.

Fig.1. Natural fine aggregate Fig.2. Natural coarse aggregate

Recycled aggregates were presoaked by extra amount of water before mixing it in the concrete
due to more water absorption property of these aggregates.
Fig.3. Recycled fine aggregate (Crumb Rubber) Fig.4. Recycled coarse aggregate

Recycled
Natural coarse
Description coarse
aggregate
aggregate
Water
absorption 1.15 0.81
(%)
Specific
2.70 2.65
gravity
Ratio of
22 11
abrasion (%)
Table 1 Physical properties of recycled coarse aggregate and natural coarse aggregate

2. Resin

Unsaturated polyester such as PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) resin which is easily found in solid
waste in the form of plastic bottles etc. are used as resin to produce a better kind of polymer concrete,
comparatively at a much lower cost and can save the use of natural resources. The properties of this
type of resin are given in table 2. It is also used as a replacement of aggregates and their
corresponding results of strength are carried out.
Non-volatile materials (%) Acid value (mgKOH/g) Viscosity (MPa s) Elongation (%)
65 5 1365 4.5
Table 2 Properties of resin as PET

3. Crumb Rubber

Crumb rubber is a fine rubber consists of particle size ranging from 4.75mm to less than 0.075mm. It
is made from re-processing or shredding disposed automobile tyres. Crumb rubber can be
manufactured by various processes such as granular process, cracker mill process and micro-mill
process. In this research crumb rubber used are manufactured by the micro-mill process and are used
as a fine aggregate alternative with varying the content of crumb rubber. The properties of crumb
rubber are given in table 3.
Physical property Result values
Specific gravity 1.72
Density 515 Kg/m^3
Thermal
0.15 W/k m
Conductivity
Tensile resistance 4.35-15 MPa
Water absorption 0.55
Table 3 Properties of crumb rubber

4. Mix Design

The recycled aggregates were divided into two groups. One group was selected for the test on
recycled aggregates and the other group was to study and compare the properties of natural coarse
aggregates, recycled coarse aggregates, natural fine aggregates and recycled fine aggregates by
making their mixtures of concrete.
These result values shows how the content of recycled aggregate affect the compressive strength of
polymer concrete and type of relationship place between the polymer concrete strengths. The nominal
25-MPa standard concrete of ratio 1:1:2(cement: fine aggregate: coarse aggregate) was used for
production of polymer concrete and the water/cement (w/c) ratio of 0.5 was taken for the polymer
concrete. The OPC (Ordinary Portland cement) and PPC (Pozzolonic Portland cement) of 43 grades
were used for the experiment.

Fig.5. OPC (Ordinary Portland cement) of 43 grade

 B. Testing Procedure

1. Specimens

The demolition waste was first broken into smaller sizes of about 4.75mm to 20mm and then these
recycled aggregates were presoaked in the water drum for about 24 hours so that all the finer particles
get removed from the aggregates and then are put outside in the open atmosphere for about 1 hour so
that the excess water gets evaporated and therefore the recycled aggregates are produced. The natural
coarse and fine aggregates were sourced from a building material supplier, Faridabad and the crumb
rubber aggregate was sourced from a waste tyre recycling company, Faridabad. The PET was also
used as a resin in the polymer concrete.

2. Test on Recycled Aggregates

Test were conducted on recycled coarse aggregates such as fineness modulus, elongation index and
flakiness index, specific gravity, crushing test, impact value test, abrasion test and were compared the
results with the results of test on natural coarse aggregates. The comparisons between these two types
of aggregates were given in table 4.

Fig.6.Aggregate impact test apparatus Fig.7. Sieve shaker apparatus

 Fig.8. Different sizes of sieves

3. Test on Concrete Cubes

The concrete cubes to be tested were casted and put it into cube mould of size 150X150X150 mm by
laying the concrete in three layers and tamping after each layer so that the concrete gets compacted
well. These specimens were used for the compressive strength test and the tests were done after 7, 14
and 28 days of curing. The compressive strength tests were done on compression testing machine
having 100 tons of capacity.

Fig.9. Concrete cubes tested after 28 days of curing

Fig.10. Compression testing machine Fig.11. Vibration table

 RESULT & DISCUSSION

After performing the tests for recycled aggregate and prepared polymer concrete specimens,
experimental results were obtained for the compressive strength, density etc.

A. Test on Recycled Aggregates

These test shows that the fineness modulus of recycled aggregate is same as natural aggregate as the
major particle size distribution lies in the range of 12.5mm-20mm. The specific gravity of recycled
coarse aggregate was found to be 2.7 whereas natural coarse aggregate’s specific gravity was 2.65. In
the crushing test, the crushing test value of recycled aggregate was 12% which was less than the
crushing test value of natural aggregate that is 28%. The impact test and abrasion test shows slightly
difference in their values.

NAME OF TEST FOR NATURAL AGGREGATE FOR RECYCLED AGGREGATE

1. FINENESS The major particle size distribution The major particle size distribution
MODULUS are in the range of 12.5mm-20mm are also in the range of 12.5mm-
20mm

2. FLAKINESS INDEX SAME RESULT SAME RESULT

&
ELONGATION INDEX

3. SPECIFIC GRAVITY 2.65 2.7

4. CRUSHING TEST 28% 12%

5. IMPACT VALUE 33.5% 41%

TEST

6. ABRASSION TEST 37% 39%

Table 4 Comparison between natural and recycled aggregate

B. Compressive Strength

Twelve concrete cubes were casted of nominal M25 standard concrete of ratio 1:1:2 (cement: fine
aggregate: coarse aggregate) to determine the compressive strengths of normal concrete, concrete
made with recycled coarse aggregates, concrete with crumb rubber(5%) as an alternative of fine
aggregate and natural coarse aggregate, concrete with crumb rubber(5%) and recycled coarse
aggregates. The concrete were casted with a water/cement (w/c) ratio of 0.5 and the PET
(Polyethylene terephthalate) was used as a resin in the polymer concrete to enhance the workability of
the concrete.
The results have shown that the compressive strength of concrete made with recycled aggregate are
higher than the concrete made with natural aggregate and also the concrete made with crumb
rubber(5%) as a replacement of fine aggregate and recycled coarse aggregates have much higher
compressive strength than the rest of the concrete.

Category 1: Category 2: Category 3: Category 4:

CEMENT: FINE CEMENT: FINE CEMENT: 95%FINE CEMENT: 95%FINE
DAYS AGG. : NATURAL AGG. : RECYCLE AGG. + 5% CRUMB AGG. + 5% CRUMB
COARSE AGG. COARSE AGG. RUBBER : NATURAL RUBBER : RECYCLE
(1:1:2) (1:1:2) COARSE AGG. (1:1:2) COARSE AGG. (1:1:2)

7 Days 20 Mpa 23.11 Mpa 17.33 Mpa 24.22 Mpa

14 Days 22.5 Mpa 23.55 Mpa 20 Mpa 26.63 Mpa

28 Days 29.33 Mpa 30.66 Mpa 28.44 Mpa 38.22 Mpa

Table 5 Comparison of compressive strength of concrete cubes at 7, 14 and 28 days

45

40

35

30
Category 1
25
Category 2
20
Category 3
15 Category 4
10

0
7 days 14 days 28 days

Graph 1 Compressive strength of concrete cubes at 7, 14 and 28 days

Conclusions
The following conclusions can be taken out from this work:
1. The compressive strength of recycled polymer concrete increased with 5 % crumb rubber content;
however, beyond certain crumb rubber content that is, it does not exceed 20% replacement of total
aggregate content.
2. Tyre rubber and PET are a major environmental problem that needs to be reduced to protect the
environment and therefore it results in increase in preserving of natural resources.
3. Recycling of polymeric wasters such as PET and tyre rubber and the utilization of recycled coarse
aggregate could lower the effective cost of manufacturing suitable polymer concrete products.
4. This develops the new ideas for the use of recycled PET and recycled concrete aggregates in the
polymer concrete products.
5. By the addition of polymeric wasters such as crumb rubber and PET, the workability has been
improved.

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