Strength Development and Microstructural Observations of Concrete Incorporating Corn Straw Ash and KH570-Treated Crumb Rubber
- 1Department of Building Engineering, Harbin Vocational University of Construction Technology, Harbin 150025, China
- 2Centre for Infrastructure Geo-Hazards and Sustainability Materials, Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology, SEGi University, Kota Damansara, Petaling Jaya 47810, Selangor, Malaysia
- 3College of Civil Engineering and Transportation, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
Abstract
Strength losses and poor compatibility between recycled crumb rubber (CR) and cement paste constrain the use of waste-tire polymers in concrete. This study investigated the combined use of corn straw ash (CSA) and KH570-treated crumb rubber (CR) through mechanical testing, microstructural characterization, and compressive strength prediction. Fifteen mixtures were examined, with compressive strength measured at 3, 7, and 28 d and flexural strength at 28 d. Among the investigated CSA replacement levels at 10% CR, 8% CSA produced the highest 28 d compressive and flexural strengths of 39.28 and 7.1 MPa, respectively. These values were 15.1% and 20.3% higher than those of the corresponding rubberized concrete without CSA, and 15.2% and 16.4% higher than those of the untreated-rubber mixture. The combined treatment therefore partially compensated for rubber-induced strength losses. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy provided complementary evidence consistent with matrix refinement and improved rubber–paste interfacial compatibility. Backpropagation (BP), genetic-algorithm-optimized BP, and particle-swarm-optimized BP (PSO-BP) models were compared using 135 experimental records. PSO-BP yielded the lowest test-set root-mean-square error of 2.1713 MPa under the adopted data partition. These findings demonstrate the potential of combining agricultural ash incorporation with waste-rubber surface treatment to improve the strength performance of rubberized concrete and provide an experimental basis for composition selection.
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BibTeX
@article{gao2026strength,
title = {{Strength Development and Microstructural Observations of Concrete Incorporating Corn Straw Ash and KH570-Treated Crumb Rubber}},
author = {Kai Gao and Tengku Anita Raja Hussin and Qijing Xia and Jinyuan Zhang and Yi Shen and Vin Cent Tai},
journal = {Polymers},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3390/polym18212614},
url = {https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/18/21/2614},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Strength Development and Microstructural Observations of Concrete Incorporating Corn Straw Ash and KH570-Treated Crumb Rubber
AU - Kai Gao
AU - Tengku Anita Raja Hussin
AU - Qijing Xia
AU - Jinyuan Zhang
AU - Yi Shen
AU - Vin Cent Tai
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/22
JO - Polymers
DO - 10.3390/polym18212614
UR - https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/18/21/2614
AB - Strength losses and poor compatibility between recycled crumb rubber (CR) and cement paste constrain the use of waste-tire polymers in concrete. This study investigated the combined use of corn straw ash (CSA) and KH570-treated crumb rubber (CR) through mechanical testing, microstructural characterization, and compressive strength prediction. Fifteen mixtures were examined, with compressive strength measured at 3, 7, and 28 d and flexural strength at 28 d. Among the investigated CSA replacement levels at 10% CR, 8% CSA produced the highest 28 d compressive and flexural strengths of 39.28 and 7.1 MPa, respectively. These values were 15.1% and 20.3% higher than those of the corresponding rubberized concrete without CSA, and 15.2% and 16.4% higher than those of the untreated-rubber mixture. The combined treatment therefore partially compensated for rubber-induced strength losses. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy provided complementary evidence consistent with matrix refinement and improved rubber–paste interfacial compatibility. Backpropagation (BP), genetic-algorithm-optimized BP, and particle-swarm-optimized BP (PSO-BP) models were compared using 135 experimental records. PSO-BP yielded the lowest test-set root-mean-square error of 2.1713 MPa under the adopted data partition. These findings demonstrate the potential of combining agricultural ash incorporation with waste-rubber surface treatment to improve the strength performance of rubberized concrete and provide an experimental basis for composition selection.
SN - 2073-4360
ER -