A Comprehensive Review of Incorporating Steel Fibers of Waste Tires in Cement Composites and Its Applications

Asad Zia; Zhang Pu; Ivan Holly; Tariq Umar; Muhammad Atiq Ur Rehman Tariq; Muhammad Sufian

doi:10.3390/ma15217420

A Comprehensive Review of Incorporating Steel Fibers of Waste Tires in Cement Composites and Its Applications

Materials (Basel). 2022 Oct 22;15(21):7420. doi: 10.3390/ma15217420.

Authors

Asad Zia^{1

2}, Zhang Pu¹, Ivan Holly², Tariq Umar³, Muhammad Atiq Ur Rehman Tariq^{4

5}, Muhammad Sufian⁶

Affiliations

¹ School of Water Conservancy and Civil Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China.
² Department of Concrete Structures and Bridges, Slovak University of Technology, 811 07 Bratislava, Slovakia.
³ Department of Architecture and the Built Environment, Faculty of Environment and Technology, University of the West of England, Bristol BS16 1QY, UK.
⁴ College of Engineering and Science, Victoria University, P.O. Box 14428, Melbourne 8001, Australia.
⁵ Institute for Sustainable Industries & Liveable Cities, Victoria University, P.O. Box 14428, Melbourne 8001, Australia.
⁶ School of Civil Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China.

Abstract

Accumulating vast amounts of pollutants drives modern civilization toward sustainable development. Construction waste is one of the prominent issues impeding progress toward net-zero. Pollutants must be utilized in constructing civil engineering structures for a green ecosystem. On the other hand, large-scale production of industrial steel fibers (ISFs) causes significant damage to the goal of a sustainable environment. Recycled steel fibers (RSFs) from waste tires have been suggested to replace ISFs. This research critically examines RSF's application in the mechanical properties' improvement of concrete and mortar. A statistical analysis of dimensional parameters of RSFs, their properties, and their use in manufacturing various cement-based composites are given. Furthermore, comparative assessments are carried out among the improvements in compressive, split tensile, and flexural strengths of plain and RSF-incorporated concrete and mortar. In addition, the optimum contents of RSF for each strength property are also discussed. The influence of RSFs parameters on various strength properties of concrete and mortars is discussed. The possible applications of RSF for various civil engineering structures are reviewed. The limitations and errors noticed in previous review papers are also outlined. It is found that the maximum enhancement in compressive strength (CS), split tensile strength (STS), and flexure strength (FS) are 78%, 149%, and 157%, respectively, with the addition of RSF into concrete. RSF increased cement mortars' CS, STS, and FS by 46%, 50.6%, and 69%, respectively. The current study encourages the building sector to use RSFs for sustainable concrete.

Keywords: concrete; fiber reinforced concrete; mechanical strength; mortars; raw steel fibers recovered from waste tires; sustainable environment.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

The National Scholarship Program of Slovakia and the Department of Concrete Structures and Bridges, Slovak University of Technology, Slovakia, are greatly appreciated for providing financial research support. In addition, the authors also acknowledge support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U1904177), the Excellent Youth Foundation of Henan Province of China (212300410079), and Scientific Grant Agency VEGA under contract No. VEGA1/0645/20.