Mechanical Characterization of Concrete Masonry Units Manufactured with Crumb Rubber Aggregate

An experimental investigation was conducted to investigate the effects of replacing varying percentages of fine natural aggregates with crumb rubber in concrete masonry units (CMUs), creating rubberized concrete masonry units (RCMUs). The mechanical and physical characteristics of RCMUs having 0, 10, 20, and 37% crumb rubber were investigated and presented in this paper. The unit weight and water absorption of RCMUs were measured. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis was used to study the global structure for RCMUs and the interfacial zone. RCMUs were also exposed to extreme weather conditions for 72 days inside an environmental chamber. Furthermore, RCMUs were subjected to rapid freezing-and-thawing tests. The RCMUs, as well as grouted and ungrouted masonry prisms, were tested under monotonic and cyclic axial loads. The results indicated that RCMUs with high rubber content displayed higher values of axial ultimate strains. RCMUs exhibited a significant strain softening while, conversely, failure was quite brittle in CMUs. RCMU specimens exhibited an improvement in compressive strength after several cycles of severe weather exposure. The CMU specimens, however, exhibited degradation in their compression strength capacity. The water absorption was higher in RCMUs than it was in the CMU prisms.