Preparation of low-cost reactive powder concrete using waste steel fibres recycled from scrap tires

Abstract

The application of reactive powder concrete (RPC) was not wide. One of the main problems was that copper-coated steel fibres (CSF) were expensive. In order to prepare low-cost RPC and resource utilisation of waste steel fibres recycled from scrap tires (WSF), this paper investigated the fluidity and strength of RPC containing WSF. The results indicated that the fluidity of RPC containing WSF was worse than that of RPC containing CSF. But there was not much difference in the strength of two kinds of RPC. In order to optimise performance of RPC containing WSF, the influence of mineral admixtures on the fluidity and strength of RPC was discussed. The results indicated that the optimum silica fume dosage was 20%, and the optimum fly ash and limestone powder dosages were 5%, respectively. Through this study, it was completely feasible to prepare RPC containing WSF. The use of WSF can reduce the cost of RPC.

KEYWORDS:

• Reactive powder concrete
• waste steel fibres
• fluidity
• strength
• low cost

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Nature Fund of Southwest University of Science and Technology [grant number 20zx7126]; Systematic Project of Guangxi Key Laboratory of Disaster Prevention and Engineering Safety [grant number 2020ZDK006]; Guangxi Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars [grant number 2019GXNSFFA245004]; Natural Science Foundation of Guangxi Province [grant number 2018GXNSFAA281344].