Aging test and performance prediction of rubber in mortar medium

Rubber has superior performance and is widely used, but it is easy to age under the influence of the environment, which leads to the decline of its performance. Rubberized concrete is a new type of building material, which attracts attention because of its environmental protection and good dynamic performance. Based on the environment of rubber in rubberized concrete, the accelerated aging test of rubber in mortar medium is designed in this paper. Through the rubber hardness test and cyclic loading test, the change rule of rubber hardness and loss factor with aging was analyzed. The hardness and loss factor of rubber at 25 °C were predicted by fitting the aging kinetic equation. The results show that the aging of rubber in mortar medium leads to the change of performance of rubber. More specifically, the conclusion is as follows: 1. The hardness and loss factor of rubber show the opposite change rule during rubber aging. With the increase of aging temperature and time, the hardness of rubber increases. After 28 days of aging, the hardness of the rubber increased by 6.9% (80 °C) and 16.4% (100 °C) respectively, its loss factor decreased to 77.2% (80 °C) and 71.6% (100 °C) of the initial value, respectively. 2. Using the results of the accelerated aging test, it is concluded that the Shore hardness of the rubber in mortar medium will no longer increase after 40 years of aging, and the loss factor decreases to 61.4% of that before aging. This paper presents a reference for the application of rubber in mortar medium, and also provides support for further research into rubberized concrete.