Preliminary trial on the potential of fiber-reinforced rubberized foamed concrete as sustainable roof tiles
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The growing negative effects of nonbiodegradable trash, including waste tires, underscore the necessity for sustainable alternatives in construction materials. This study examines the feasibility of manufacturing foamed concrete tiles reinforced with fibers, utilizing a superplasticizer (SP) with suitable quantities of waste tire rubber (WTR) from nonbiodegradable tires to reduce environmental pollution. Initially, standard concrete tiles with a density of 2400 kg/m³ and dimensions of 500 × 500 × 50 mm3 (Class A, IQS 1107) were manufactured for comparison. Subsequently, four types of foamed concrete tiles with a density of 1100 kg/m³ were produced: conventional foamed concrete tiles, foamed concrete tiles enhanced with SP, fiber-reinforced foamed concrete tiles utilizing polypropylene (PP), and fiber-reinforced rubberized foamed concrete tiles containing SP, PP, and WTR. To assess the effect of density, fiber-reinforced rubberized foamed concrete tiles were produced with densities of 800 and 1400 kg/m³. In examined foamed concrete tile preparations, a fraction of sand (≤ 2.36 mm) was substituted with WTR at optimal proportions of 50% for coarse WTR (4.75–10 mm) and 34% for fine WTR (≤ 2.36 mm). The comparison of foamed concrete tiles, with and without PP and WTR, against ordinary concrete tiles revealed a reduction in the rupture force while achieving a weight reduction of more than half. The failure modes transformed from brittle to ductile upon adding these wastes. Additionally, when the density of the rubberized samples increased to 1400 kg/m³, water absorption decreased by 3.9 and 9.43 after 0.5 and 24 hours, respectively, which aligns with IQS requirements.
Authors: Oday Abd, Ameer Hilal, Tareq Khaleel
Language: English
Subfield: Civil and Structural Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4407279517