Journal of Cleaner Production 149 (2017) 925e935

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Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

A sustainable application of recycled tyre crumbs as insulator in

lightweight cellular concrete
Alireza Kashani a, *, Tuan Duc Ngo a, Priyan Mendis a, Jay R. Black b,
Ailar Hajimohammadi a
a
Department of Infrastructure Engineering, University of Melbourne, Victoria, 3010, Australia
b
School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Victoria, 3010, Australia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: End-of-life waste tyres are known to have negative economic and environmental impacts due to the
Received 27 October 2016 difficulty associated with their disposal and recycling. The use of recycled tyre crumb (RTC) as a
Received in revised form component of construction materials has emerged as a potentially sustainable solution to this envi-
20 February 2017
ronmental issue. There exists extensive research covering the use of RTC as a filler in conventional
Accepted 21 February 2017
Available online 22 February 2017
concrete. However, there are very limited studies focused on insulation properties of RTC in lightweight
cellular concrete (LCC) as a sustainable application that can add value to the final product. This study
investigates the effects of different RTC contents on compressive strength, porosity, thermal conductivity,
Keywords:
Recycled tyre crumbs
sound insulation and water permeability of LCC as an insulator. A rather homogeneous distribution of
Lightweight cellular concrete tyre crumbs within LCC structure was achieved. It has been found that LCC samples containing RTC are
Sound insulation suitable as insulators because the sound and thermal insulation are improved as rubber content is
Thermal insulation increased compared to the sample with similar density but without RTC. The insulation properties of this
Permeability product also come with the same total porosity and a significant reduction in the rate of water
Porosity permeability compared to the sample without RTC. 3D restructuring of micro-CT scan images of this
composite revealed the effects of tyre crumb on the total and local porosity of this composite. Despite the
fact that addition of tyre crumb reduced the strength, surface treatment of crumb rubber with sodium
hydroxide solution exhibited significant improvement in the compressive strength of LCC as the result of
better physical bonding with hydrated cement proven by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images
and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis.
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Waste material production is rising at an alarming rate world-
wide. As a result, it is increasingly important to find sustainable
methods to manage and recycle this substantial waste. Recycling
and reusing of the waste tyre are challenging due to the high-cost
recycling processes and a lack of substantial demand. Approxi-
mately 51 M equivalent passenger tyres reach their end-life each
year in Australia. Only 5% of this waste is recycled locally, and the
rest are exported to be used as a high-emission fuel or disposed to
landfill which generates environmental issues from facilitating
mosquito breeding grounds to being potential toxic fire hazards
(TSA, 2017). Cleaner and sustainable cement production by using
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: kashani.a@unimelb.edu.au (A. Kashani).
alternative fuels and raw materials were reviewed and tyre-derived
scrape was listed as an energy-efficient alternative to fossil fuel in
cement manufacturing (Mikul ci
c et al., 2016). However, after
reduction in the oil price in recent years, the demand for tyre-
derived fuel has been decreased substantially. On the other hand,
a new trend of recycling process by application of tyre-derived
aggregates in hollow concrete has emerged as a sustainable solu-
tion with increased sound insulation and good thermal resistivity
properties (Mohammed et al., 2012). Therefore, the application of
the recycled tyre in construction materials e.g. concrete can result
in less energy consumption of the buildings. With the recent de-
velopments in material technologies, an opportunity exists to
improve the uptake of recycled tyre crumb in concrete by providing
improved elasticity, ductility, damping, toughness, high sound ab-
sorption and freeze and thaw properties in spite of reduction in
stiffness, compressive and tensile strength (Segre and Joekes, 2000;

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.02.154
0959-6526/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
926 A. Kashani et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 149 (2017) 925e935
Siddique and Naik, 2004; Khaloo et al., 2008; Ganjian et al., 2009;
Ismail and Hassan, 2016; Richardson et al., 2016). Concrete com-
posites which utilise recycled tyres as aggregates have the potential
to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions, provide potential
economic benefit and reduce the environmental issues associated
with end-of-life tyres as compared to conventional concrete
(Meyer, 2009).
Lightweight cellular concrete offers thermal insulation and high
strength to weight ratio in addition to low cost and good freeze/
thaw stability (Ramamurthy et al., 2009). Low-density aggregates
such as polystyrene and polyurethane foam granules have been
used to replace high-density aggregates in lightweight concrete
(Laukaitis et al., 2005; Ben Fraj et al., 2010). Crumbed rubber
derived from tyre recycling have a high strength to weight ratio and
can also be used as an aggregate. The densities of lightweight
concrete differ considerably, depending largely on the void ratio
and the density of its aggregates, but are typical between 300 kg/m3
and 1500 kg/m3. Lightweight concrete with lower density range has
gained notability in the construction industry for its application in
non-load bearing structures where a desire for higher strength to
weight ratio and easily installable products with excellent insu-
lation properties exists. Lightweight concrete is known to provide a
higher degree of thermal insulation due to its porous structure
containing air pockets with very low thermal conductivity.
1.1. Literature review
The lower thermal conductivity of concrete composite with
rubber is mainly due to the lower thermal conductivity of rubber
(0.15e0.25 W/m.K) compared to other conventional aggregates e.g.
sand (~1.5 W/m.K) (Abdel Kader et al., 2012; Mohammed et al.,
2012). Concrete-rubber composite is currently being used for its
sound insulation properties in various structures such as highway
sound barriers and sound proof flooring. Conventional concrete
exhibits poor sound absorption capabilities, thus causing echoing
within enclosed spaces. The addition of tyre crumb rubber into
concrete exhibits superior acoustic abilities; showing a higher
sound absorption coefficient relative to conventional concrete
(Holmes et al., 2014).
However, the introduction of tyre crumb into concrete mixtures
poses various challenges, most notably, the lower Young’s modulus,
stiffness and compressive strength of RTC relative to conventional
aggregates (Siddique and Naik, 2004; Khaloo et al., 2008; Najim and
Hall, 2012; Pacheco-Torgal et al., 2012). The reduction in
compressive strength can be attributed to the poor adhesion be-
tween rubber particles and cement paste in the interfacial zone
(Pacheco-Torgal et al., 2012) and/or due to the increase in air con-
tent in normal concrete as the rubber content proportion increases
(Siddique and Naik, 2004). The latter is the result of the non-polar
nature of rubber particles and their tendency to entrap air in their
rough surfaces, thereby decreasing the unit weight of the normal
concrete and hence the compressive strength. The greater the size
or proportion of RTC used to replace concrete aggregate, the greater
the drop in the compressive strength of the sample (Pierce and
Blackwell, 2003; Najim and Hall, 2012). Despite that, RTC can
improve flexural toughness and damping properties up to a certain
volume percentage of concrete (Khaloo et al., 2008; Najim and Hall,
2012). Improving the mechanical performance of concrete-rubber
composite has the potential to improve the practicality and
viability of utilising of RTC in commercial applications. In order to
improve the properties of rubber in concrete, some methods have
been developed and tested primarily on conventional concrete.
Surface treatment of rubber with chemicals e.g. sodium hydroxide
(NaOH) and silane coupling agent was focused on, increasing the
strength of the bonds between rubber and cement particles (Dong
et al., 2013; Huang et al., 2013; Najim and Hall, 2013). NaOH is
deemed to remove zinc stearat, an additive in rubber to prevent
oxidation, from the surface of RTC which contributes to the poor
adhesion between rubber and cement, thus leading to the greater
compressive strength of rubber-treated concrete samples
(Mohammadi et al., 2016).
The addition of RTC into conventional concrete also has the ef-
fect of reducing the density because of the substantially lower
specific gravity of rubber particles than conventional fine or coarse
aggregates (Pierce and Blackwell, 2003). The significant lower
density of RTC compared to conventional concrete has also been
known to cause segregation during the casting and vibration of
RTC-concrete composite. This results in the movement of rubber
particles towards the top surface of the concrete, creating a non-
homogeneous compound with a significantly lower compressive
strength, resulting in failure at lower stresses at the top surface of
the concrete (Ganjian et al., 2009). However, application of RTC in
lightweight concrete has the advantage of the lower density of LCC
compared to the conventional concrete mixture. The density of LCC
can be very close to the density of rubber crumbs hence decreasing
the possibility of segregation.
While there has been a wealth of research investigating the
properties of recycled tyre crumbs incorporated in conventional
concrete, limited research is available with regard to the application
of RTC in lightweight cellular concrete and its insulation properties.
This paper will investigate the inclusion of RTC up to 30 weight
percentage of solid mass in LCC. Due to the suitability of RTC-LCC
composite for a sustainable application as building insulators, an
emphasis on to the insulation properties was taken into account.
The effect of tyre crumb on water permeability, total and local
porosity, sound and thermal insulation properties, as well as
compressive strength, were investigated. Additional interest in the
3D analysis of porous structure using micro-CT scan imaging as well
as the effects of chemical treatment of crumb rubber with NaOH
solution to enhance its bonding properties with hydrated cement
were followed.
2. Materials and test methods
2.1. Materials
The RTC was derived from recycled truck tyres with the metal
and thread removed and was supplied by Tyrecycle, Australia. The
tyre crumbs had an irregular shape with a rough surface and were a
random mixture of sizes ranging from 0.9 mm to 2.5 mm with an
estimated specific gravity of about 1000 kg/m3. The rubber content
in each sample was calculated as a 10, 20, 30 weight percentage of
total solid mass. Ordinary Portland cement (general purpose grade
with the trademark of Baston, Australia) was used. The water to
cement of 0.5 was chosen, and a commercial foaming agent was
used for making the pre-made foam.
Portland cement, water and rubber were thoroughly mixed in a
bowl by hand for 30 s to form a slurry, then the bowl was placed in a
planetary mixer for a further 10 m mixing at low speed. Using a
Dema foam generator machine, foam with a density of around
100 kg/m3 was obtained. The generated foam was added to the
cement mixture and mixed by hand for 1 m. The initial amount of
foam was about 10% of the dry cement. Extra foam was added to
achieve the wet density of around 600 kg/m3 for the samples with
higher contents of rubber. The dry density after curing was slightly
higher for some samples. After moulding, samples were not
vibrated to avoid foam collapse but in order to fully fill the mould
edges with concrete foam (especially for cubic moulds used in
compression test), the moulds were gently tapped on the bench.
The tapping caused slight foam collapse and increase the density of
 A. Kashani et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 149 (2017) 925e935
some samples. However, density was measured for individual
samples for all the tests and is reported as an average of three
specimens or individual samples based on the type of the tests. Six
types of LCC mixtures comprising 0 wt %, 10 wt %, 20 wt % (w/out
NaOH treatment) and 30 wt % (w/out NaOH treatment) RTC were
prepared and poured into moulds and placed in sealed bags. The
mixture proportions of samples are shown in Table 1. No fine ag-
gregates (e.g fine sand) were used in this study in order to only
focus on the effects of tyre rubber crumb aggregates in properties of
lightweight concrete. The samples were de-moulded after 48 h and
re-sealed to cure at room temperature for 7 d, 14 d and 28 d. For
NaOH treatment, the tyre crumbs were soaked in a 20 wt % NaOH
aqueous solution for 30 m before being removed by filtration,
washed with water, dried and added to the dry cement mixture.
2.2. Test methods
In order to evaluate the compressive strength of the samples,
the INSTRON 5569A was used in accordance with a treated version
of the ASTM C170 standard. The compressive strength of LCC cubes
was evaluated after 7 d and 28 d of curing and the average of three
samples per system was reported. The machine was set to a con-
stant displacement rate of 1 mm/m. The load bearing area of each
specimen was measured and recorded using digital callipers. The
load was applied in order to obtain stress-strain curves for all of the
specimens, then the maximum load and the contact area was used
for calculation of compressive strength. Slices with 5 mm height
from the top and the bottom of cubic samples (slice size:
50
50
5 mm) were cut using a band saw in order to analyse the
pores and the rubber distribution. Optical images of these slices
were captured using a high-resolution camera. Cuboids with the
size of 6
6
2 mm of these slices were also used for SEM images.
SEM images were captured using an FEI Quanta FEG 200 machine.
Micro-elemental analysis was conducted using an Oxford energy
dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) instrument attached to the SEM
which was equipped with an X-max silicon drift detector (SDD). A
standard-less quantitative EDS analysis was done only for differ-
entiating rubber from hydrated cement in high magnification SEM
images. The samples cannot be polished because rubber would be
easily removed from the surface during the polishing and small
cement dust would fill the gaps between the rubber and cement
(the area which is of great interest for this study). The samples were
run at high vacuum to reduce the interference of carbon and oxy-
gen elements in the air. Because of these limitations, the EDS results
were used only as an indication rather than accurate elemental
analysis. The data were then analysed with Aztec software version
Table 1
Mixture proportion of the samples.
Cement (kg) Water (kg)
Control Sample 0.3 0.15
10% RTC 0.3 0.15
20% RTC 0.3 0.15
30% RTC 0.3 0.15
20% RTC (NaOH treated) 0.3 0.15
30% RTC (NaOH treated) 0.3 0.15
Table 2
Shapes and dimensions of samples for different test methods.
Test Sample shape
Compressive strength and UPV Cubes
Thermal conductivity and water absorption Cylinder (with 2 mm diameter hole in the center for thermal conductivity samples only)
927
3.1.
Micro-CT scanning was performed with a Phoenix Nanotom m
(GE Sensing & Inspection Technologies GmbH, Wunstorf, Ger-
many). Four cylindrical samples with dimensions detailed in
Table 2 with various quantities of rubber (0, 10, 20 and 30 wt% of
solids) were mounted on the micro-CT stage and positioned as
close to the x-ray source as possible to achieve 20 mm resolution on
a small subsection (4.8
4.8 mm) at the centre of the cores.
Samples were scanned for 20 m (timing ¼ 500 ms, av ¼ 1, skip ¼ 0)
at 80 kV and 375 mA, collecting 1500 x-ray projections of each
sample through 360 of rotation. A 0.25 mm Cu filter was placed in
the collimator on the x-ray source to prevent oversaturation of the
x-ray detector. Volume reconstruction of the micro-CT data was
performed using Phoenix datos|x reconstruction software (GE
Sensing & Inspection Technologies) and data was exported as 32-
bit float volume files. This allowed for direct comparison of gray-
scale values in the histograms between data sets. A region of
1,500
1,500
1,500 voxels in the centre of the sample was
reconstructed. Volume data was processed using Avizo (FEI).
Porosity was segmented using the same region of the 32-bit gray-
scale histogram (1 to 0.0166) to produce binary images of the
porosity in the sample. The volume fraction of segmented pore
space was then computed by x-y slice through every x-y plane
(1500 slices).
The determination of water absorption of samples provides an
understanding of the effects of RTC on the water permeability of
LCC. The water absorption of the samples is obtained by using a
treated version of the method listed in the ASTM C1754 standard.
Cylindrical samples with dimensions detailed in Table 2 were used
for this test. The water absorption test was conducted on samples
after 14 d of curing. The samples were then placed in an oven at
60  C and weighed every 2 h until there was no difference in weight
between two consecutive weighs. The final weight of the sample
was recorded as the dry mass of the specimen. The sample was then
submerged in water for 30 m, 24 h and 48 h. The samples were held
submerged using a metal cage to avoid floating of the samples
because their densities are lower than water. The samples were
then removed from the water and weighed after wiping away
excess water. The average results of three specimens for each type
were reported.
The effect of RTC content on thermal conductivity was analysed
using a treated version of the IEEE 421-1981 standard test which
utilises a data logger to record the heat dissipated from a thermal
probe situated in the centre of a cylindrical sample. The thermal
probe features a thermocouple and a heating element for
measuring thermal conductivity.
Foam (kg) Rubber (kg) Rubber washed with NaoH
0.03 0.000 No
0.032 0.033 No
0.034 0.075 No
0.036 0.129 No
0.034 0.075 Yes
0.036 0.129 Yes
Dimensions (mm)
50
50 x 50
Radius: 25
Length: 110
928 A. Kashani et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 149 (2017) 925e935
The ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) test provides insight into the
effects of RTC content on sound insulation of LCC. The UPV
measured by Pundit PL-200 instrument (sourced by Proceq) for
evaluation of the velocity of sound transmission through the
specimen. A water-based gel was applied to the transducers and
then they were placed on the opposite sides of the cubes. An ul-
trasound pulse voltage of 400 V was applied. The velocity of ul-
trasonic pulses was recorded once the reading stabilised. Table 2
provides descriptions of the shapes and dimensions of samples
for each test methods.
3. Results and findings
3.1. The effects of rubber contents and its surface treatment on
compressive strength of LCC
The results of the 7 d compressive strength show a trend of
decreasing compressive strength as rubber content is increased.
Fig. 1 shows around 10% reduction in compressive strength
resulting from the addition of 10 wt % of RTC, however, increasing
the amount of tyre crumb to 30 wt % resulted in about half of the
compressive strength compared to the control sample. This is in
agreement with the results from previous studies conducted using
recycled tyre crumb in conventional concrete (Pierce and Blackwell,
2003; Siddique and Naik, 2004; Najim and Hall, 2012; Pacheco-
Torgal et al., 2012). However, for non-load bearing applications of
lightweight concrete e.g insulators, compressive strength is less
important. A variation between densities of the LCC samples with
different rubber content can directly affect the strength of the
samples as well as other microstructural and thermal properties.
Higher density generally results in higher strength in lightweight
cellular concrete (Narayanan and Ramamurthy, 2000). The aim was
to control and eliminate the effect of density for better comparison
between different samples. The wet density was targeted at around
600 kg/m3 for all samples, however, the dry density of the samples
after curing was higher and varied between different samples. The
higher density compared to wet density is the result of foam
instability (after tapping the cubic moulds in order to fill the edges)
causing the release of the entrained air before it is encapsulation
during setting of cement. The average densities of three samples
with their average strength is shown in Fig. 1.
Additionally, it was found that the specimens containing NaOH-
Fig. 1. The effects of wt % RTC on compressive strength of LCC (the columns with
dotted pattern show the increase of strength after surface treatment of rubber with
NaOH solution).
treated RTC showed a significant improvement in compressive
strength relative to untreated specimens. As shown in Fig. 1, the
samples with 30 wt % NaOH-treated RTC have about 40% higher
compressive strength compared to the samples containing non-
treated tyre crumb. This method shows a simple and effective
treatment which leads to significant improvement in compressive
strength. The results of scanning electron microscopy and micro-
elemental analysis prove the enhanced bonding between rubbers
and cement hydration products, which will be explained in more
details in Section 3.2. Fig. 2 shows an increase in compressive
strength from 7 d to 28 d of curing for LCC containing 20 wt % RTC
with and without treatment by sodium hydroxide solution. As ex-
pected, longer curing time in a confined environment will increase
the strength because of the continuous process of cement
hydration.
3.2. Distribution of pores and tyre crumbs within LCC
A relatively homogenous distribution of tyre rubber crumbs was
observed inside all LCC samples as shown in Fig. 3. Agglomeration
of tyre crumbs was very limited which shows effective mixing
resulted in the homogenous distribution of tyre crumbs. Settling of
tyre crumbs before setting of the cement can result in a gradient
content of RTC in the samples, thus mechanical and thermal per-
formance can vary in different directions. However, a very limited
variation in rubber content was observed when top and bottom
cuts were compared in any of the samples in this study. Fig. 3b and c
shows the top and bottom cut of LCC with 10 wt % RTC with
negligible difference in RTC content. It can be concluded that
limited settlement has happened before setting due to an excellent
containment of rubber particles within cement binder. The net
forces on the tyre crumbs pushed against the gravity force and held
the rubber crumbs in place until the setting of the lightweight
concrete.
Fig. 4 shows the 3D visualisation of samples with and without
tyre crumbs based on micro-CT scan data. Black, white and grey
colours were chosen to better represent tyre crumbs, pores and
hydrated cement structure respectively (These are not the genuine
colour of these materials in the micro-CT scan images). A combi-
nation of closed and interconnected pores was seen for LCC with
and without tyre crumbs. The calculated total porosity using micro-
CT scan analysis will be further discussed in Sections 3.3 and 4.
A wide range of pore size distribution from a few hundred
micrometres up to around 1 mm was shown in the SEM images of
LCC with and without tyre crumbs (Fig. 5). SEM images have been
effectively used in order to examine the bonding behaviour
Fig. 2. Effect of curing age on compressive strength of LCC containing 20 wt % RTC w/o
treatment by sodium hydroxide solution.
 A. Kashani et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 149 (2017) 925e935 929

Fig. 3. Distribution of RTC within LCC sample. Inside the slices with the dimension of 50
50 mm are shown (a. control; b. 10 wt % (top cut); c. 10 wt % (bottom cut); d. 20 wt %; e.
20 wt % NaOH-treated; f. 30 wt %; g. 30 wt % NaOH-treated; all photos expect (c) are top cuts).

Control 10% RTC

20% RTC 30% RTC

Fig. 4. 3D visualisation micro-CT scan images of control LCC and with 10, 20 and 30 wt % rubber (dimension: 4.8
4.8
4.8 mm) - black spots: tyre crumbs, white spots: pores and
light grey spots: hydrated cement.
930 A. Kashani et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 149 (2017) 925e935

Fig. 5. SEM images of LCC (a. control sample and b. with 30% RTC).

between rubber and cement (Segre and Joekes, 2000; Najim and
Hall, 2013; Karakurt, 2015). Lack of bonding has been shown by
the gaps between rubber and cement, however, in the aerated
concrete system, it is hard to distinguish this gap between tyre
crumbs and cement binder at lower magnification because the
main components of the LCC are the air pores. Despite this fact, a
very thin gap between rubber and cement binder was observed in
some areas e.g. the red circle in Fig. 5b shows this gap.
Fig. 6 shows the SEM images of LCC with 30 wt % rubber but
higher magnification. The image on the left has un-treated rubber
and the image on the right has NaOH-treated rubber. In order to
distinguish the rubber from hydrated cement in the SEM images
with higher magnification, a standard-less quantitative EDS
analysis was done. The results indicate less gap between rubber and
hydrated cement in samples that rubber crumb was washed with
NaOH solution before used in LCC. Five different sections of these
images were analysed by EDS to distinguish the presence of major
elements in each section. The areas with high carbon content
represent rubber particles that are partially covered with cement
hydration products (sections a and d). A distinguishable gap be-
tween rubber (section a) and cement binder (section b) are
observed for LCC with untreated rubber (Fig. 6a), however, NaOH-
treated rubber shows better bonding with hydrated cement as
observed in Fig. 6b between hydrated cement (section c and e) and
rubber (section d). The better bonding is deemed to be the main
reason for the better compressive strength of NaOH-treated RTC as

(a) (b)

Section (d)
Section (a) Section (c)

Section (e)
Section (b)

Fig. 6. SEM images of LCC (a. 30% RTC and b. 30% RTC-NaOH) with micro-elemental analysis of the different sections.
 A. Kashani et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 149 (2017) 925e935
was shown in Fig. 1. The results of SEM and EDS of tyre rubber
particles in conventional concrete by Pelisser et al. (2011) showed
that there is a gap between rubber tyre crumbs, identified with
high carbon content, and cement binder. This gap was reduced by
surface treatment of rubber with NaOH solution. The better
bonding between cement and NaOH-treated rubber evidenced by
SEM images was also shown in a few other studies of rubber-
cement composites (Segre and Joekes, 2000; Najim and Hall,
2013; Karakurt, 2015).
3.3. Total porosity calculation by 3D processing of micro-CT scan
images
A cubic region of interest (4.8 mm) within four cylindrical
samples with dimensions detailed in Table 2 with various quanti-
ties of rubber (0, 10, 20 and 30%) and low-density variation
(600 ± 2 kg/m3) was used for the micro-CT scan analysis. The water
absorption was tested on the same cylindrical specimens. Fig. 7
shows micro-CT scan images (one x-y plane slice of the total of
1500 slices) for control LCC and the sample with 10, 20 and 30 wt %
Control
20% RTC
Fig. 7. Micro-CT scan images of control LCC and with 10, 20 and 30 wt % rubber - black spots: pores, dark grey spots: tyre crumbs and light grey spots: hydrated cement.
931
of RTC. In these images, black, dark grey and grey spots represent
pores, tyre crumbs and hydrated cement, respectively. A combi-
nation of closed and interconnected pores (black areas) with
various sizes is also observed in these images. The percentage of the
total area of the black spots (pores) divided by the area of each slice
(4.8
4.8 mm) gives the porosity for each slice. Fig. 8 shows the
porosity of each of 1500 slices for all the samples. There is only a
slight variation in the porosity along the height of all the samples,
which is a sign of a homogenous distribution of pores (Fig. 8). Total
porosity is calculated as the average porosity of all the slices for
each sample. The results showed porosity of the samples with
different rubber contents but the same density has not changed.
However, it must be noted that by the addition of tyre crumb
rubber (considered as zero porosity sections of the sample), the
remaining area of the sample should have higher porosity in order
to maintain the constant total porosity as RTC increased. This
means higher porosity for lightweight concrete which surrounds
tyre crumbs compared to the control LCC by increasing RTC. The
relationship between porosity, strength and insulation properties
will be discussed further in Section 4.
10% RTC
RTC
30% RTC
932 A. Kashani et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 149 (2017) 925e935

50

40

Porosity (%)
30

20

10

Control 10% RTC 20% RTC 30% RTC

0
0 250 500 750 1,000 1,250 1,500
Slice number
Fig. 8. Porosity distribution through 1500 slices of micro-CT data (x-y planes in 20 mm steps) along z-axis (cylinder’s height) of LCC with and without tyre crumbs.

3.4. Water absorption
The density of the samples was about 600 kg/m3 and average of
three samples were tested. One cylinder from each type of samples
with the density of 600 ± 2 kg/m3 was used for measuring porosity
using micro-CT scan prior to the water absorption test. As discussed
in Section 3.3, the porosity of the samples with different rubber
contents but the same density is the same. A decrease in water
absorption as rubber content is increased was observed as shown in
Fig. 9. About 55% water uptake per mass of control samples after
immersion into the water was observed. This massive water-uptake
substantially reduces by increasing rubber content, especially for
20 wt % and 30 wt % of RTC with about half of the increase in water
absorption compared to the control sample in spite of having the
same porosity. Also, longer immersion time in the water increased
water absorption for samples with higher contents of rubber. There
are two main routes for water transfer from the surface to the
centre of samples. One route is via diffusion of water through
interconnected macroscopic pores (permeability) and the other
route is diffusion through the microscopic porous structure by
capillary suction (sorptivity) within the hydrated cement binder
itself (Narayanan and Ramamurthy, 2000). However, it has also
been shown that crumb rubber decreases the sorptivity of cement
binder matrix by reducing the capillary pressure (Bravo and de
Brito, 2012; Meddah et al., 2014; Onuaguluchi, 2015). The hydro-
phobic nature of rubber can also be the reason for lower water
absorption of the mixtures with the high content of tyre crumbs.
3.5. Thermal conductivity
Variation in thermal conductivity with respect to the RTC con-
tent is presented in Fig. 10. Samples with densities of 615 ± 10 kg/
m3 were used to reduce the effect of density on thermal conduc-
tivity between different samples. The thermal conductivity of the
control samples is about 0.2 W/m.K compared to the range of
0.15e0.25 W/m.K reported for recycled tyre crumb rubber (Abdel
Kader et al., 2012). It can be concluded that tyre crumb and LCC
with 615 ± 10 kg/m3 density has very similar thermal conductivity

60
0.5 h 24 h 48 h

50
Water absorption (%)

40

30

20

10

0
control 10%RTC 20%RTC 30%RTC
Fig. 9. Water absorption (%) after immersion into water for 0.5, 24 and 48 h versus rubber content.

0.25
Thermal conductivity (W/mK)
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0 and Evans, 2010). In spite of the variation between densities of
Control 10%RTC
Fig. 10. Thermal conductivity versus rubber content for lightweight cellular concrete
samples.
properties. The slight decrease in thermal conductivity as rubber
contents increase can be attributed to the fact that the porosity of
the lightweight concrete composite with RTC in the sections sur-
rounding tyre crumbs is higher than the control samples (as dis-
cussed in Section 3.3). In other words, the porosity of the
lightweight concrete in the sections around the tyre crumbs is
higher than the control sample (it must be noted that the total
porosity including tyre crumbs is the same as the control sample as
shown in Fig. 8). Higher porosity means the existence of many air
pockets with very low thermal conductivity within the structure
and around the tyre crumbs which itself has low thermal
conductivity.
3.6. Sound transmittance
As shown in Fig. 11, the velocity of the ultrasonic sound pulse
massively decreases by 65% as RTC content is increased from zero to
30 wt % of the system. Although the frequency of ultrasound is
higher than audible sound, the concept of sound transmission
through the material is the same. The UPV of conventional concrete
is between 3000 and 5000 m/s, the lower values come with using of
lightweight aggregates in the concrete mixture (Bogas et al., 2013).
The UPV value of LCC with the density of 615 ± 10 kg/m3 and
without rubber is less than half of conventional concrete and is
around 1340 m/s (Fig. 11). The UPV of LCC with 30 wt % rubber is as
low as 400 m/s. The UPV test showed that LCC with increased
1,600
1,200
UPV (m/s)
800
400
0
Control
Fig. 11. Ultrasonic pulse velocity of LCC samples with different contents of RTC.
A. Kashani et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 149 (2017) 925e935 933
rubber content is able to show a promising reduction in velocity of
sound transmittance.
4. Discussion on the effects of RTC on the relationship
between porosity, water permeability, strength and insulation
properties
For compressive strength results, there has been some variation
in densities because of limitations in sample making as described in
Section 2.1. Generally, the compressive strength of porous concrete
increases by lowering the porosity (or increasing density) (Akthar
20%RTC 30%RTC the samples for compressive strength test, the reduction of strength
by addition of rubber was less affected by density. The samples with
10% and 20% RTC have slightly higher densities compared to the
control sample but lower strength. The lack of good bonding be-
tween cement and tyre crumb is one reason for strength reduction.
It was shown in Fig. 1 that by improving the bonding after washing
the tyre crumb with NaOH solution, the strength increased sub-
stantially. In addition, it must be noted that by the addition of tyre
crumb rubber (considered as zero porosity sections of the sample),
the remaining area of the sample should have higher porosity in
order to maintain the total porosity constant. This means higher
porosity for lightweight concrete surrounding tyre crumbs
compared to the control LCC. Fig. 12 shows the porosity of the
composite which tyre crumbs considered as areas of zero porosity
in the calculation of total porosity. It shows unchanged porosity by
increasing the RTC. However, calculation of the porosity after
exclusion of the tyre crumb volume shows increased porosity of
LCC surrounding the tyre crumbs. Therefore the combination of
increasing porosity of LCC around tyre crumbs and lack of good
binding between rubber and hydrated cement resulted in sub-
stantial strength reduction for the samples with 30 wt% rubber
compared to the control sample.
With regards to water absorption, longer immersion time in the
water increased water absorption for samples with higher contents
of rubber. This implies that for the sample without rubber or less
rubber, water saturation in the pores happen quickly. On the other
hand, a higher amount of rubber aggregates slows down water
penetration into the porous structure because of their water
repellency effects. Therefore the longer the period of immersion
caused higher water absorption. It is possible that samples with
higher contents of rubber and the same porosity as the control
sample can reach the same level of water absorption in very long
10%RTC 20%RTC (w/o NaOH) 30%RTC (w/o NaOH)
934 A. Kashani et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 149 (2017) 925e935
50
45
40
35
Porosity (%)
30
25
20
15
10
0
Control 10% RTC
Porosity of LCC (RTC included)
Fig. 12. Porosity of the LCC samples with different rubber contents (black columns: rubber crumbs are included in total volume as areas of zero porosity; columns with dotted
pattern: rubber crumbs are excluded from volume and the porosity of the remaining is calculated).
time periods. However, after 48 h the water absorption of the
sample with 30 wt % of RTC was considerably lower compared to
the control sample.
Increasing the content of recycled tyre crumbs is found to
improve the thermal insulation properties compared to the light-
weight concrete with similar densities but without RTC. This result
has implications for the practical application of the product, sup-
porting its use where there is a desire for low thermal conductivity
but not high total porosity and permeability. These applications
include, but are not limited to, auditoriums, intertenancy walls in
residential buildings, plant rooms, offices and hospital partitions.
Decreasing heat transfer within these types of infrastructure may
produce significant energy and subsequent cost reductions.
The main reason for excellent sound insulation properties of LCC
with tyre crumbs is because of the lower velocity of sound in rubber
compared to hydrated cement (Holmes et al., 2014) and also an
increase in porosity of lightweight concrete around tyre crumbs as
RTC increased. The transmittance of sound in air is considerably
slower compared to many solid materials. However, sound velocity
in vulcanised rubber which constitutes the main part of the tyre
crumbs can be lower than air because of its elasticity properties
(Long, 2014). The results indicate that this product is potentially
suitable for structures requiring sound insulation such as in inter-
nal walls within auditorium and warehouses.
The results from this study provide strong evidence that the use
of waste tyre in the form of crumb rubber in lightweight concrete is
an effective solution for manufacturing building insulators. The
results showed enhanced water, thermal and sound insulation, at a
significant reduction in weight. In Australia, the market for light-
weight building insulation panels mainly consists of unsustainable
polymer-based foams such as expanded polystyrene (EPS), poly-
urethane (PUR) and polyisocynature (PIR). The use of polymer-
based foam, in spite of being very light and an excellent insulator,
has rapidly declined worldwide because of sustainability,
combustibility and recyclability issues. There are various grades of
polymer-based foams, some manufactured with special additives to
add fire-retardant properties. However, these additives would only
postpone the fire, and hazardous smoke is still the main problem.
The rubberized lightweight concrete investigated in this study as a
filler for insulating panels is still at its infancy stage. However, the
20% RTC 30% RTC
Porosity of LCC (RTC excluded)
analysis showed that in comparison with available lightweight
insulating panels, the proposed rubberized lightweight concrete
with 30 wt % rubber crumbs performs extremely well. This product
has shown excellent thermal and sound insulation properties, as
well as lower water-permeability for non-load bearing building
insulators.
5. Conclusions
Excellent sound and thermal insulation with very low water
absorption and total porosity have been achieved by inclusion of
recycled tyre crumb in lightweight cellular concrete. Implications
for a sustainable application of recycled tyre crumb in insulating
LCC panels to be used in auditoriums and intertenancy walls in
residential buildings, plant rooms, offices, warehouses and hospi-
tals are suggested. Therefore, this new application of recycled tyre
not only can reduce the stockpiles of wasted tyres worldwide but
also can help with regards to better insulation of buildings, which
finally results in less energy usage, less greenhouse gas emission
and cleaner production.
Treating the RTC with NaOH solution causes improvement in
compressive strength via better bonding between cement and RTC
as evidenced by SEM, EDS and micro-CT scan images. However, a
better understanding of surface chemistry and morphology in or-
der to explain the causes of improvement in bonding strength
should be targeted in the future studies. The distribution of rubber
particles was rather homogenous in every direction of samples
with limited agglomeration or settling. The porosity of samples
with and without tyre crumbs was visualised and measured by the
3D restructuring of micro-CT scan images. The total porosity of
samples with tyre crumbs is the same as the control sample with
the same density. However, the porosity of lightweight concrete in
local areas around the tyre crumbs is slightly higher than the
control sample which causes better insulation but lower mechan-
ical strength. An LCC composite with 30 wt % crumb rubber can
offer excellent sound and thermal insulation properties with less
water permeability compared to the lightweight concrete without
tyre crumbs but with the same density and total porosity.
The current study contributes to a better understanding of the
effects of recycled tyre crumbs on insulation properties of
 A. Kashani et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 149 (2017) 925e935
lightweight cellular concrete. This application is deemed as a sus-
tainable solution in order to ultimately increase the uptake of
wasted tyre crumb in building components as an excellent insu-
lator. The results of this research can be used as a benchmark for
future studies in this area to accommodate a cleaner and more
sustainable production of building insulators.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by Tyre Stewardship Australia (TSA) as
part of an R&D program to develop new end-uses for recycled tyre
and in part by Surrey Engineering Pty Ltd as the industry partner.
The authors would like to thank Tyrecycle for the provision of
recycled tyre crumbs. The authors acknowledge the support of the
Trace Analysis for Chemical, Earth and Environmental Sciences
(TrACEES) platform from the Melbourne Collaborative Infrastruc-
ture Research Program at the University of Melbourne. The authors
also acknowledge Derek Yong, Xiayang Cui, Thomas Alemis and
Liam Ryan for their contribution in the preparation of samples and
execution of some of the tests.
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