Compressive Strength of Steel Fiber Reinforced Polymer Modified Recycled Aggregate Concrete

Abstract

Demolish existing structures for better economic gains, functional and structural performance, and non-availability of land or disposal sites in nearby areas of all major cities worldwide turned as a significant reason for the crushing demolished concrete instead of using it as landfill. Research work aimed at arriving Recycled Concrete (RC) with the help of two materials, i.e. Steel Fibers (SF) and Styrene-Butadiene Rubber (SBR) latex, as additives to improve strength parameters of it. SF and SBR added in RC to examine & strengthen and termed as Steel Fiber Reinforced Polymer Modified Recycled Aggregate Concrete (SFRPMRAC). For this purpose, 198 cubes each of M20 (trial-1) and M25 (trial-2) cast separately to check compressive strength and its stress-strain behaviour for Natural Concrete (NC), RC & SFRPMRAC. The volume fractions of SF added 0.5%, 1% & 1.5% m3 of concrete and dosages of SBR latex varied from 2.5%, 5% and 7.5% by cement weight for preparation of cubes made of RC. From experimental results, SFRPMRAC with SF volume fraction of 1% m3 of concrete and 5% by cement weight provides an improvement in compressive strength by 8.62 % & 10.73 % for trial -1 and 11.51 % & 12.57 % for trial - 2 at 28 & 90 days when compared with NC. Compression stress-strain behaviour for SFRPMRAC with SF 1% m3 of concrete and 5% by weight of cement shows higher strain values at the peak stress. SFRPMRAC arrests the sudden drop of load due to co-matrix bond formation between SF and SBR in a linear direction compared to a similar NC & RC mix for both trials. It reflects significant improvement and approval of compressive strength for the desired purpose.