Crumbed Rubber Concrete:

A Promising Material for

Sustainable Construction

Professor Julie Mills

Associate Professor Rebecca Gravina
Professor Yan Zhuge
Dr Xing Ma
Professor Bill Skinner
CRUMBED RUBBER
CONCRETE: A PROMISING
MATERIAL FOR SUSTAINABLE
CONSTRUCTION
Crumbed rubber concrete (CRC) is a promising new material on the
construction scene. Created by replacing sand with rubber particles
when mixing concrete, the material promises to significantly reduce
certain environmental impacts, yet its structural properties are
still relatively unexplored. Researchers at the University of South
Australia and RMIT University are now assessing the properties
of CRC in detail. Their insights could allow us to optimise the
properties of CRC for uses in infrastructure, residential buildings
and industry.

Once rubber tyres have outlived their One potential solution to both of
usefulness, they have a worryingly high these issues could come in the form
chance of ending up as harmful waste. of crumbed rubber concrete (CRC).
Between 2013 and 2014, just 5% of This material can be created by first
tyres were recycled in Australia. Of the grinding up end-of-life tyres into small
remainder, 32% were exported, 16% particles with a similar consistency to
were disposed of in licenced landfills, sand. This ‘crumbed’ rubber can then
while a concerning 47% were either replace a certain percentage of the sand
entirely unaccounted for, or dumped on used in the concrete mixing process –
unlicensed sites. With little economic both giving the economic usefulness
need for them, worn-out tyres will often of tyre rubber a new lease of life while
simply be left to decompose over many alleviating some of the demand for
decades, and are sometimes even natural sand.
burned, releasing harmful pollutants
into the atmosphere. However, as such a new material, the
structural properties of CRC still need to
A further, seemingly unrelated be tested and modelled in detail before Differences to Traditional Concrete
environmental issue involves extracting it can be widely used in construction.
natural sand from the ground to create Therefore, Professors Julie Mills, Yan Since it was first created, we have
concrete. Sand is a vital component Zhuge, Bill Skinner and Dr Xing Ma at known that CRC has significantly
in giving concrete the necessary the University of South Australia (UniSA) different properties to traditional
consistency and chemical properties, and Professor Rebecca Gravina at RMIT concrete. Some of these differences
yet it is becoming increasingly depleted University aim to gain a sufficiently in- are positive – CRC is more resistant
worldwide. As we continue to construct depth understanding of the properties to tensile stress, meaning it is slightly
roads, buildings and industry at an of CRC to enable its commercial use for more flexible than traditional concrete,
accelerating rate, the demand for the first time. They also plan to develop making it able to withstand impacts
sand is forcing mining companies to production methods that could improve more effectively. However, since there
cause damage to natural ecosystems, the material’s functionality. is a limited cohesion between rubber
particularly in sandy habitats such as crumbs and concrete particles, CRC
beaches and rivers. suffers several disadvantages in its

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mechanical properties, including a of rubber were indeed more effective Treating Rubber
generally lower compressive strength at increasing CRC strength, as opposed
and workability than traditional to other shapes such as fibres and In a 2018 study, the UniSA and RMIT
concrete. chips. The team also concluded that University researchers investigated how
the strength of CRC varies depending strong, workable CRC can be achieved
Initial studies into the potential on the percentage of rubber used, by pre-treating rubber crumbs with a
usefulness of CRC focused on how along with the grading of the combined wide variety of additives. This type of
the material could be used in footings sizes of rubber crumbs. However, more research had been carried out before
and slabs. These structures are less work would be needed to quantify the by other groups, but the results until
dependent on concrete strength, yet optimal percentages of these values. then had been highly variable and
account for around 40% of all concrete often contradictory. To improve the
consumption in Australia, already The team’s study highlighted several reliability of the results, the team carried
showing promise for the practicality further lines of investigation that would out a series of new experiments, using
of CRC. However, the UniSA and RMIT be needed to improve CRC strength. sophisticated imaging techniques to
University researchers believe the role The first of these involved investigating analyse them.
of CRC may not need to be limited to various techniques where rubber
structures that are less dependent crumbs are pre-treated with chemicals Firstly, they coated rubber crumb
on strength. In several recent studies, or other treatments to improve surfaces with chemicals including
they have shown that a wide variety cohesion with concrete particles. sodium chloride, sulfuric acid and
of techniques in the CRC production Additionally, the researchers hoped potassium permanganate, and also
processes can be used to improve its to explore the dynamic responses tried soaking them in tap water as
structural properties. of CRC with different percentages of well as heating them in ovens before
rubber, investigate how the strength of mixing. After treatment, the crumbs
In 2016, the researchers carried out a reinforced concrete would be affected were analysed using two specialised
study to determine how the strength by the bond between CRC and steel, techniques. The first of these was x-ray
of CRC is affected by the size and and develop methods to model the photoelectron spectroscopy, which
shape of the rubber particles used, properties of CRC numerically. allowed the researchers to accurately
as well as the amount of rubber used measure the chemical composition of
as a percentage of the total concrete the rubber crumb surfaces. Secondly,
mixture. They found that simple crumbs they used a scanning electron

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microscope, which enabled them to directly image the crumb also constructed numerical models to predict this behaviour,
surfaces to the precision of single atoms. Using these imaging which consistently agreed with their experimental results.
techniques, the researchers could assess the effects of pre-
treatment on a molecular scale, providing detailed insights In their latest study, the team investigated the characteristics of
into how much CRC workability and strength were improved by the bond between CRC and steel profiled sheets. This bond is
each treatment method. particularly important for structural applications in reinforced
concrete, where the strength of concrete is greatly improved
Remarkably, the team showed that pre-treating the rubber by networks of steel embedded in tensile regions. In small-
crumbs with water was more effective than any other chemical scale tests, the researchers investigated the strength of the
in maximising the workability of CRC. They also found that this CRC-steel bond, noting that CRC had a similar performance to
treatment is more effective when the treatment time is longer. conventional concrete when bonding to steel. The difference
In addition, the compressive strength of the material could be in bond strength between the two materials was less than 4%.
increased by up to 3% simply by mixing the crumbs with dry Their results confirm that CRC could indeed become a viable
cement before mixing them into concrete. application for creating reinforced concrete slabs.

Performance Testing A Promising Future for CRC

In a further study, the UniSA and RMIT University researchers Through the work of the UniSA and RMIT University researchers,
tested the relationship between the stress and the strain of CRC now shows a promising potential, particularly for use
different compositions of CRC when different percentages of in reinforced concrete. Using the team’s insights to optimise
sand were replaced with rubber. In solids, mechanical stress the properties of CRC, it could allow for structures that can
describes the forces that particles inside the material exert on withstand impacts including bullets and debris in strong
each other when the solid is compressed or carrying a load. winds. Furthermore, the improved dynamic response of
Strain describes how much the solid extends while under CRC could make structures able to better withstand events
pressure. By measuring the stress-strain relationship of a including earthquakes, machinery vibration and human-
material, physicists can reveal its ‘elastic modulus’ – a quantity induced vibration, making it an ideal material for constructing
describing a solid’s resistance to being deformed. In addition, infrastructure, industry, and commercial and residential
the ‘toughness index’ of a material quantifies how effectively buildings.
it can absorb energy from impacts. For three different
percentages of rubber mixed into CRC, the research team In further research, the team plans to improve their numerical
quantified the elastic modulus and toughness index, along with models to consider the technique of ‘finite element analysis’,
a mathematical description of the mechanical response of each which involves breaking down materials into small elements
material. in a simulation. For any action applied to the material, the
dynamics of each element is calculated individually, before
The team discovered that crumbed rubber generally decreases the elements are integrated together, allowing the simulation
the compressive strength and elastic modulus of concrete. to predict the dynamics of the material as a whole. Such
However, they also showed that CRC has a higher toughness improved models will allow the mechanical properties of CRC
index – when 18% of the material was composed of rubber to be further optimised for commercial applications. With these
crumbs, it became 11.8% tougher than traditional concrete. improvements, an increased use of CRC in global construction
Using this data, the researchers developed several formulae to shows promises to reduce the significant environmental
predict how the stress-strain relationship and elastic modulus impacts caused both from waste tyres and the exploitation of
of CRC will change with varying percentages of rubber. They natural resources.

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 Meet the researchers

Professor Julie Mills Dr Xing Ma

Professor Julie Mills is Professor of Dr Xing Ma has been involved in teaching
Engineering Education, and Head of the and research in civil engineering for more
School of Natural and Built Environments than 15 years. He was a lecturer at Tongji
at the University of South Australia. Her University in China after he finished his PhD
diverse research interests include engineering studies there in 2000, and was promoted to
education, gender studies and structural Associate Professor in 2004. Dr Ma joined
engineering. Professor Mills’ current structural the University of South Australia in 2010. His
engineering research is focused on the use research is focused on composite structures
of recycled materials as partial aggregate and transmission tower structures.
replacement in concrete. She has authored E: [email protected]
numerous journal publications and co-
authored two books. Professor Bill Skinner
E: [email protected] Professor Bill Skinner has spent over 30
years in surface science research, with 24
Associate Professor Rebecca Gravina years in minerals processing. Since 1992,
Associate Professor Rebecca Gravina is a he has worked on physical and chemical
Civil and Structural Engineer with 20 years processes at surfaces and interfaces at the
of experience in academia and consulting University of South Australia. In particular,
engineering. Her current position is as his research focuses on mineral and material
Associate Professor in Civil Engineering at surface chemistry together with forensics,
RMIT University, Melbourne. Professor Gravina environmental science and biomaterials.
received her PhD from the University of E: [email protected]
Adelaide and is now an established researcher
with expertise in structural materials. She
is also the Editor in Chief of the Australian
Journal of Civil Engineering, and co-author of
the book Prestressed Concrete.
E: [email protected]

Professor Yan Zhuge

Professor Yan Zhuge is a Professor in
Structural Engineering, and has lectured
in several Australian universities for more
than 20 years. She has a PhD in Structural
Engineering from Queensland University
of Technology. Her main research interests
include green construction materials, and
sustainable concrete materials. Professor
Zhuge has won several Australian and
Queensland government awards. She is an
executive committee member of the Concrete
Institute of Australia.
E: [email protected]

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