Effect of Crumb Rubber on compressive strength of fly ash based Geopolymer concrete

Abstract

This study explores the effect of different percentage of crumb rubber on compressive strength of fly ash based geopolymer concrete. This research attempted to produce rubberized geopolymer concrete as an environmentally friendly, lightweight and durable product. Crumb rubber with ranged size from 73 μm to 375 μm was used in order to replace fine aggregates in geopolymer concrete. The replacements of crumb rubber were 0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% in the fly ash based geopolymer concrete. The ratio of fly ash to alkaline activator was 2.5 and the ratio of Na2SiO3 to NaOH was fixed at 2.0. After the curing process, the strengths of the samples were tested on days 7 and 28. The results show that there is a reduction in all compressive strength for crumb rubber mixture, but still higher than normal rubberized concrete. Rubberized geopolymer concrete is a suitable solution in some non structural applications.