An Investigation into the Thermal Performance of Rubber-Concrete

The Thermal properties of concrete incorporating pulverized automobile tires as partial replacement for mineral coarse aggregate (granite) was investigated in other to assess its suitability as a construction material and also a solution to the environmental problems constituted by non-biodegradable waste tires. Replacement was made at: 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% by volume. Thermal properties were measured base on the transient line heat source (TLS) method using a KD 2 Pro thermal analyzer. Thermal properties most especially the thermal conductivity of concrete (1.816W/mk) have been greatly reduced to 1.283W/mk indicating 29.4% reduction after 25% partial replacement of mineral aggregate with the rubber particles which makes it a better insulator while the specific heat capacity of concrete (3.040 MJ/m3.k) have been reduced to 2.137MJ/m3k indicating 29.7% reduction with same 25% rubber particles which may adversely reduce thermal mass effect. Other thermal properties such as thermal resistivity increased by 29.4%, thermal diffusivity decreases by 65.1% while thermal effusivity decreases by 37.6% with 25% rubber particles content in concrete. The result indicates that the potential use of such composite material for building applications is viable.