The traditional process of creating concrete, which uses crushed rock and gravel, has been successfully replaced by a team of researchers from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) using rubber from used tires that comply with construction requirements.
The university’s press announcement claims that new, lighter, greener concrete also promises to drastically lower manufacturing and transportation costs. These concrete aggregates have previously been partially replaced with rubber fragments from tires. However, the earlier method of removing all of the concrete and replacing it with aggregates had failed.
The production of tires was demonstrated in the study that was printed in the journal Resources, Conservation & Recycling.
This discovery, according to lead author and Ph.D. researcher Mohammad Momeen Ul Islam of RMIT University’s School of Engineering, was revolutionary since it demonstrated the potential of recycled rubber scraps.
According to Islam, “We have shown that this long-standing perceived barrier on employing significant volumes of coarse rubber particles in concrete may now be overcome.” This was accomplished via a precise casting approach.
“The method involves compressing the coarse rubber aggregate in fresh concrete using newly developed casting molds, which improves the performance of the building material, “Added he.
This development builds upon the ground-breaking innovation of this method by Professor Yufei Wu, Dr. Syed Kazmi, Dr. Muhammad Munir, and Professor Yingwu Zhou of Shenzhen University, all of whom are fellow engineers at RMIT University.
cheaper materials, environmentally friendly goods
Professor Jie Li, the team leader and co-author of the study, said that both the environment and the economy will benefit immensely from this production procedure.
Li added that the lighter, greener concrete might significantly lower manufacturing and shipping costs.
“This would help a variety of programs, including affordable housing initiatives in rural and isolated Australia and other nations.
According to Prof. Li, “because coarse aggregate makes up a large amount of ordinary concrete, replacing all of it with used tire rubber can greatly cut the consumption of natural resources and also handle the important environmental dilemma of what to do with used tires.”