J. Build. Mater. Struct. (2017) 4: 42-49 Original Article  
DOI : 10.34118/jbms.v4i2.30  

 

ISSN  2353-0057, EISSN : 2600-6936 

Recycling of rubber waste in sand concrete 

Guendouz M 1,*, Boukhelkhal Dj 2 

 
1,*  LME Laboratory, University of Medea, Medea, Algeria. 
2    Geomaterials Laboratory, University of Blida, Blida, Algeria. 
* Corresponding Author: guen12moh@gmail.com 

 

Abstract.  The large development in the consumption of rubber is observed in the recent 
years, which leads to an increase of the production of rubber related waste. Rubbers are not 
hazardous waste, but they constitute a hazard for both environment and health, in case of 
fire in storage sites. So, recycling appears as one of the best solutions for disposing of rubber 
waste.This paper presents an experimental investigation dealing with the valorisation of 
rubber waste, specifically rubber obtained from old shoes sole waste. The waste rubbers are 
used form (0/5 mm) to mixes as addition at percentage (10%, 20%, 30% and 40%) in sand 
concrete. The physical (workability, bulk density), mechanical (compressive and flexural 
strength) and thermal properties are studied and analysed.The results indicate that the 
incorporation of rubber waste particles in sand concrete contributes to increase the 
workability and reduce the bulk density of all studied sand concrete. The obtained results 
show that mechanical performance (compressive and flexural strength) decreases when the 
rubber content increases. Nevertheless, the presence of rubber aggregate leads to a 
significant reduction in thermal conductivity, which improves the thermal insulation 
performances of sand concrete. This study insures that reusing of recycled rubber waste   in 
sand concrete gives a positive approach to reduce the cost of materials and solve some 
environmental problems. 

Key words: Rubber; recycling; sand concrete. 

1. Introduction 

The fraction of rubber waste in household wastes is large and increases with time. In each 
country the waste composition is different, since it is affected by socioeconomic characteristics, 
consumption patterns and waste management programs, but generally the level of rubber in 
waste composition is high. The large volume of materials required for construction is potentially 
a major area for the reuse of waste materials. Recycling in concrete has advantages since it is 
widely used and has a long service life, which means that the waste is being removed from the 
waste stream for a long period. Many authors have reported the properties of concrete with 
used tyre rubbers. Their results indicate that the size, proportion, and surface texture of rubber 
particles affect the strength of used tyre rubber contained in concrete (Khatib et al., 1999; 
Fedroff et al., 1996; Eldin and Senouci, 1993; Ali et al., 2000; Rostami et al., 2000; Topcu, 1995;  
Fattuhi and Clark, 1996; Naik and Singh, 1991; Siddique and Naik, 2004; Lee et al., 1998; Goulias 
and Ali, 1998) . Eldin et al (1993) conducted experiments to examine the strength and toughness 
properties of rubberised concrete mixtures. They used two types of tyre rubber, with different 
tyre rubber content. Their results indicated approximately 85% reduction in compressive 
strength, whereas the splitting tensile strength reduced by about 50% when the coarse 
aggregate was fully replaced by chipped tyre rubber. A smaller reduction in compressive 
strength (65%) was observed when sand was fully replaced by fine crumb rubber. Concrete 
containing rubber did not exhibit brittle failure under compression or splitting tension and had 
the ability to absorb a large amount of energy under compressive and tensile loads. A more in-
depth analysis of their results indicates that an optimised mixture proportion is needed to 
optimise the tyre rubber content in the mixture. In recent years, used tyre chipped rubber 

mailto:guen12moh@gmail.com


 Guendouz and Boukhelkhal, J. Build. Mater. Struct. (2017) 4: 42-49 43 

 

 

containing Portland cement concrete for uses in sound/crash barriers, retaining structures, and 
pavement structures has been extensively studied (Khatib et al., 1999; Eldin and Senouci, 1993; 
Ali et al., 2000) . Test results showed that the introduction of used tyre chipped rubber 
considerably increases toughness, impact resistance, and plastic deformation but in almost all 
cases a considerable decrease in strength was observed. Khatib et al (1999) studied the 
influence of adding two kinds of rubber, crumb (very fine to be replaced for sand) and chipped 
(at the size of 10–50 mm to be replaced for gravel). They made three groups of concrete 
mixtures. In group A, crumb rubber to replace fines, in group B, chipped rubber to replace coarse 
aggregate, and in group C both types of rubber were used in equal volumes. In all, the three 
groups had eight different rubber contents in the range of 5–100% were used. They found that 
the compressive strength of concrete would decrease with increasing rubber content. For 
example, replacing 100% gravels by chipped rubber would decrease the compressive strength of 
concrete up to 90%. Meanwhile, they showed that the rubberised concrete made with chipped 
rubber has less strength than concrete made with crumb rubber.  

This work focuses on the possibility of recycling rubber waste of shoes without any prior 
treatment as a partial replacement of natural aggregate in sand concrete, in order to minimize 
the cost of the final material. The influence of the proportion of rubber waste used on properties 
of the new material has been studied and analyzed. 

2. Experimental program 

2.1. Materials 

The sand used was a dune sand available in south of Algeria, near the city of Tamanrasset. The 
particle size distributions of the used sand are shown in Figure 1 and the physical characteristics 
are presented in Table 1. 

 

Fig 1. Particle size distribution of sand and rubber waste used. 

 

Table 1. Physical properties of used sand. 

Properties Sand Standard 

Bulk density (kg/m3) 1400 NP EN 1097-3 
Specific density (kg/m3) 2560 NP EN 1097-6 
Water absorption (%) 2.66 NP EN 1097-6 
Sand equivalent (%) 80.50 NP EN 933-8 
Fineness modulus 0.84 NP EN 933-1 
Compactness (%) 0.55 NF P 18-555 
Porosity (%) 0.45 NF P 18-555 
Thermal conductivity (W/m K) 1.3-1.4 NF EN ISO 8894-1 



44 Guendouz and Boukhelkhal, J. Build. Mater. Struct. (2017) 4: 42-49  

 

 

An industrial Portland cement CPJ-CEM II/A of class 42.5 is used. The physical characteristics 
are the following: specific density 3100 kg/m3 and specific surface area 308 m2/kg, was used for 
all sand concrete mixtures.  

The use of fillers in sand concrete composition is essential (AFNOR 1994). Their use is intended 
to complete the grading curve of sand in its finest part in order to obtain more compact concrete 
and reduce the cement content and therefore the cost of concrete. In this work the fillers used 
are the limestone powder. Their specific density is 2660 kg/m3, and specific surface area 242 
m2/kg. 
The rubber waste used in this work were obtained by the recycling the waste of shoes (Figure 2) 
discharged into the nature after were collected, are washed, compressed, crushed and extruded 
in the form of grains, and added in the mass of sand concrete with percentage (10%, 20%, 30% 
and 40%).The sieve analysis results are given in Figure 1, and the Table 2 lists the set of physical 
and thermal properties. 

 

 

 

 

 

Fig 2. Particle size distribution of sand and rubber waste used. 

 

Table 2. Physical and thermal properties of used rubber waste. 

Properties Rubber waste Standard 

Bulk density (kg/m3) 1500 NP EN 1097-3 
Specific density (kg/m3) 800 NP EN 1097-6 
Water absorption (%) 1.28 NP EN 1097-6 
Fineness modulus 3.2 NP EN 933-1 
Compactness (%) 53 NF P 18-555 
Porosity (%) 47 NF P 18-555 
Thermal conductivity (W/m K) 0.15 NF EN ISO 8894-1 

A polycarboxylate plasticizer (Medafluid 104) produced by GRANITEX group (Algeria) with solid 
contents of 35% was used for all mixes. The mixing water used for the different mixes is the 
drinking water, free of impurities with a PH equal to 7. 

2.2. Mix design 

In this work, the optimal compositions of the sand concrete studied, without rubber waste, is 
based on the experimental method of project of Sablocrete  (SABLOCRETE 1994). This gave for 
cement proportioning of 350 kg/m3, 1200 kg/m3 of sand, 250 kg/m3 of fillers, and a 
water/cement ratio of 0.85, a percentage of plasticiser of 1% of weight of cement. The rubber 
waste is added in sand concrete at dosages (0%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40%). Literary codes 
identify each mixture in a precise way: 

 CSC:   Control sand concrete (without rubber). 
 SCRW:  Sand concrete with rubber waste. 

All specimens were produced in laboratory environment with 20°C and 50% RH. After 24 h, they 

were removed from the molds and placed in water at 20°C and 100% relative humidity until the 

day of testing. This procedure was respected for all compositions and all tests. 



 Guendouz and Boukhelkhal, J. Build. Mater. Struct. (2017) 4: 42-49 45 

 

 

2.3. Test procedure 

The workability of concrete was measured in terms of slump according to NF P 18-451. The 
flexural strength was measured on 40×40 ×160 mm specimens at the ages of 28 days by a three-
point bending test, using a testing machine according to EN 196-1.The half-samples resulting 
from this test were then submitted to compression test. The measurements of thermal 
conductivity led to the determination of the following parameters: thermal conductivity (λ), on 
three 40×80×160 mm samples using a CT-Meter machine. 

3. Results and discussion  

3.1. Workability 

The slump of sand concrete as a function the content of rubber waste is sowed in Figure 3. The 
use of rubber waste as addition in sand concrete contributes to increase the slump of sand 
concrete, probably due to the presence of more free water in the mixes containing rubber than 
in the concrete mix containing natural aggregate since, unlike natural aggregate, rubber 
aggregate has a lower absorption coefficient than dune sand, which is in concordance with the 
results of Guendouz et al (2016). Khatib et al (1999) investigated the workability of rubcrete and 
reported that there is a decrease in slump with increase in rubber content as a percentage of 
total aggregate volume. They further noted that at rubber contents of 40%, slump was almost 
zero and concrete was not workable manually. It was also observed that mixtures made with 
fine crumb rubber were more workable than those with coarse tire chips or a combination of 
tire chips and crumb rubber. Siddique and Naik (2004) have reported that mortars 
incorporating rubber shreds achieved workability comparable to or better than a control mortar 
without rubber particles It was also observed that mixtures made with fine crumb rubber were 
more workable than those with coarse tire chips or a combination of tire chips and crumb 
rubber. 

 

Fig.3. Slump of sand concrete as function of rubber waste content. 

3.2. Bulk density 

According to the results presented in Figure 4, the use of rubber waste as addition in sand 
concrete contributes to reduce the bulk density, probably due to the lower density of the rubber 
compared with the dune sand, which is in concordance with the results of Guendouz et al 
(2015). Khatib et al (1999)   concluded that because of low specific gravity of rubber particles, 
unit weight of mixtures containing rubber decreases with the increase in the percentage of 
rubber content. Moreover, increase in rubber content increases the air content, which in turn 

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

10
11
12
13
14
15

CSC SCRW 10% SCRW 20% SCRW 30% SCRW 40%

S
lu

m
p

  (
C

m
) 

 



46 Guendouz and Boukhelkhal, J. Build. Mater. Struct. (2017) 4: 42-49  

 

 

reduces the unit weight of the mixtures. The decrease in unit weight of rubcrete is found to be 
negligible when rubber content is lower than 10–20% of the total aggregate volume. 

 

Fig.4. Bulk density of sand concrete as function of rubber waste content. 

3.3. Mechanicals strength 

The results of compressive and flexural strength of different sand concretes at 28 days of age are 
presented in Figure 5 and 6 respectably. The results displayed in Figure 5 and 6 show that 
compressive strengths of sand concrete decrease 15.7 % respectively for addition of 40% 
natural dune sand by rubber waste. Event thing in the case of the flexural strengths, which 
indicates that the addition of 40 % of the rubber waste in a sand concrete represents decrease 
the performances of new materials. This trend may be related to a poor adhesion between the 
surface of the rubber aggregate and binder paste which is likely to have contributed to such a 
strong decay of mechanical properties. Eldin and Senouci (1993) compared the use of rubber as 
coarse aggregates and the use of rubber chips as sand. The reductions of up to 85% of the 
compressive strength were observed when the coarse aggregate was replaced by rubber. A 
smaller reduction in compressive strength (65%) was observed when sand was replaced by 
crumb rubber. It was further observed that rubber-containing concrete did not exhibit brittle 
failure under compression. The strength reduction can be attributed both to a reduction of the 
quantity of the solid load-carrying material and to stress concentrations (tensile and 
compressive) in the paste at the boundaries of the rubber aggregate. 
 

 

Fig.5. Compressive strength of sand concrete as function of rubber waste content. 

0

250

500

750

1000

1250

1500

1750

2000

2250

2500

CSC SCRW 10% SCRW 20% SCRW 30% SCRW 40%

B
u

lk
 d

e
n

si
ty

 (
K

g
/m

3
) 

 

20,00 19,52 
17,60 

16,10 
14,30 

0
2
4
6
8

10
12
14
16
18
20
22
24

0 10 20 30 40

C
o

m
p

re
ss

iv
e

 S
tr

e
n

g
h

t 
(M

P
a

) 

 

             Rubber waste content  (%) 
 



 Guendouz and Boukhelkhal, J. Build. Mater. Struct. (2017) 4: 42-49 47 

 

 

 

Fig.6. Flexural strength of sand concrete as function of rubber waste content. 

3.4. Thermal Conductivity 

Figure 7 give the thermal conductivity values of the specimens measured at 28 days. The 
thermal conductivity value of control sand concrete was 1.58 W/m K. This value decreased to 
1.02 W/m K for dune SC when the replacement of rubber wastes into mixture with normal 
aggregate at a ratio of 40%. Rubber waste aggregate addition into SC composites caused the 
reduction in the values of TC of the specimens. It is thought that, this situation caused by the 
lower thermal conductivity value of the rubber (0.15 W/m K) than natural aggregate (2 W/m K) 
Iucolano et al (2013). So the decreasing thermal conductivity came also from the increase in 
porosity induced by the rubber waste. In fact the pores contain air which has a thermal 
conductivity value (0.024 W/mK) much lower than all the other components of the SC. Similar 
results were observed by several authors in composite systems, for example Hannawi et al. 
(2010) in a study on PF and PET in mortar composites, and it’s showed a decreased in value of 
thermal conductivity of mortar containing PET about 50% lower than a traditional mortar.  
Akçaözog˘lu et al.(2013) find that the PET aggregate replacement with natural aggregate in 
mixture caused a reduction in the values of thermal conductivity value of the specimens. 

 

Fig.7. Thermal conductivity of sand concrete as function of rubber waste content. 

3,00 

2,60 
2,30 

2,10 
1,90 

0

1

2

3

4

5

0 10 20 30 40

F
lu

x
u

re
l 

S
tr

e
n

g
h

t 
(M

P
a

) 
 

             Rubber waste content (%) 

 

0

0.4

0.8

1.2

1.6

2

CSC SCRW 10% SCRW 20% SCRW 30% SCRW 40%

λ
  (

W
/m

.k
) 

 



48 Guendouz and Boukhelkhal, J. Build. Mater. Struct. (2017) 4: 42-49  

 

 

4. Conclusions 

This paper has presented the recycling and the use of rubber wastes as aggregate in sand 
concrete produced either from dune sand (DS). The results which could be summarized and 
concluded as: 

1-These types of rubber wastes types can be used in sand concrete. 

2-The workability of all sand concrete increases and the density decreases with the increase of 
rubber waste shoes content. 

3-The compressive and flexural strength values of all waste rubber SC mixtures tend to decrease 
above the values for the reference SC with increasing the waste rubber ratio. But this result was 
acceptable for lightweight concrete. 

4- The addition of 40% of rubber waste in sand concrete caused a reduction (35%) in the values 
of thermal conductivity. This result is primarily due to lower thermal conductivity of the rubber 
waste, but also to the capacity of the aggregate rubber to facilitate the formation of micro voids 
which improves the thermal insulation performances of the sand concrete. 

The use of rubber waste of shoes as aggregates in sand concrete can most of the problems 
associated with their disposal as well as save natural resources related to aggregates mining.   

5. References  

AFNOR. Concrete – Sand concrete. (1994).Projet P 18-500 [in French]. 

Akçaözoğlu, S., Akçaözoğlu, K., & Atiş, C. D. (2013). Thermal conductivity, compressive strength and 
ultrasonic wave velocity of cementitious composite containing waste PET lightweight aggregate 
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Ali NA., Amos AD., Roberts M.(2000). Use of ground rubber tires in Portland cement concrete. In: 
Proceedings of the international conference on concrete. Scotland (UK): University of Dundee.  

Eldin NN., Senouci AB.(1993). Rubber_tyre particles as concrete aggregates. ASCE J Mater Civil Eng. 
1993.478–96. 

Fattuhi, N. I., & Clark, L. A. (1996). Cement-based materials containing shredded scrap truck tyre 
rubber. Construction and building materials, 10(4), 229-236. 

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rubber. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, (1532), 66-

72. 

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Guendouz, M., & Debieb, F. (2015). Formulation et caractérisation d'un béton de sable à base de déchets 
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Goulias, D. G., & Ali, A. H. (1998). Evaluation of rubber-filled concrete and correlation between destructive 
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Hannawi K., Kamali-Bernard S., Prince W.(2010). Physical and mechanical properties of mortars 
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Iucolano F., Liguori B., Caputo D., Colangelo F., Cioffi R.(2013). Recycled plastic aggregate in mortars 
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Khatib ZK. Bayomy FM.(1999). Rubberized portland cement concrete. ASCE J Mater Civil Eng.11(3) .206–
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Lee HS., Lee H., Moon JS.(1998). Development of tire-added latex concrete. ACI Mater J.95(4):356–64. 



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