Combined Utilization of Crumb Rubber and Sulfuric Acid Treated Recycled Aggregate in Self-Compacting Concrete: Rheological, Mechanical, and Embodied Carbon Performance
Keywords:
Highway traffic flow, unmanned aerial vehicle, quad rotor, real time videoAbstract
Purpose: Combining crumb rubber (CR) and recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) in self-compacting concrete (SCC) diverts tire and construction waste from disposal while reducing virgin-material demand, but porous adhered mortar on RCA and the weak interfacial bond of CR can compromise performance. This study investigates whether sulfuric-acid treatment of RCA mitigates this penalty in combination with CR in self-compacting rubberized concrete (SCRC).
Design/methodology/approach: Ten mixtures replaced natural coarse aggregate with untreated RCA or sulfuric-acid-treated RCA (TRCA) at 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%, with 5% CR as a constant fine-aggregate replacement. Acid treatment comprised 24-hour immersion, mechanical rubbing, and neutralization. Fresh-state, mechanical, durability, microstructural, and embodied-carbon characteristics were evaluated.
Findings: Treatment achieved a corrected mass loss of 6.43%, reducing adhered mortar and exposing a more irregular aggregate surface, with comparable surface sulfur before and after treatment. Increasing RCA content reduced slump flow and passing ability, while TRCA moderated these reductions. At 28 days, 25% TRCA reached 56 MPa compressive strength versus 54 MPa for untreated RCA, and 100% TRCA reached 45 MPa versus 41 MPa. TRCA also reduced water absorption, void volume, and water penetration depth versus untreated RCA at every level. CR gave the largest reduction in calculated embodied-carbon emissions; acid treatment added only a small burden.
Originality: This study is among the first to jointly evaluate sulfuric-acid-treated RCA and CR across the full fresh, mechanical, durability, microstructural, and embodied-carbon performance envelope of SCC, using a low-cost, locally available acid, offering a practical pathway for higher-volume RCA-CR utilization in SCC.
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