P-6
Recycling Rubber Flash
Recently, recycling has become a very important factor in our world, in all industries. With the high volume of rubber waste, rubber recycling has become an environmental and economic necessity. Many studies have been performed on used tire waste in concrete; understandably considering the sheer volume of tires made and the implications on the environment. It is known that the addition of small rubber bits in concrete can actually strengthens the concrete and can improve cracking resistance. Tire waste in particular has many challenges in use as an additive to concrete, namely; reprocessing by devulcanization or powderization of used tire is difficult and sometimes hazardous with its own environmental consequences.
The purpose of this study is to concentrate on alternate waste rubber sources. Molding flash from rubber molding operations in its "as is" condition should also provide improved strength and cracking resistance without the need for reprocessing. Molding flash is the discarded overage that is trimmed, pulled, or cryogenically removed from a molded rubber part after molding. Mixing different types of molded flash that is readily available to see the effects on compressive strength (f’c) and cracking resistance of concrete. The “as is” rubber flash will be added in different percentages and will be tested at 7 and 28-days setting-time.
The study will ascertain the usefulness of this ready-to-use byproduct of the Rubber Industry in a practical manner thus potentially reducing further the environmental footprint of rubber molding operations in general.