Effect of waste rubber particles on the mechanical performance and deformation properties of epoxy concrete for repair

The article conducts the compressive, flexural, spilt, deflection and strain experiments on epoxy concrete with added fine, medium and coarse rubber particles respectively at 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25%. Medium sized rubber particle is selected for further study in a composite beam test in which rubber epoxy concrete serves as a repair material to ``glue" two ordinary concrete short beams, as well as a bond tensile strength test. A deformation compatibility parameter is introduced to measure two strains for indicting the composite beam's deformability. It is found that, meanwhile keeping an adequate interfacial strength needed as a repair material, rubber in epoxy concrete help increase deformability, which is beneficial to compensate the rigidness of epoxy concrete. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.