EXPLORATIVE STUDY OF CRUMB RUBBER APPLICATION IN EXTERIOR WALL MATERIALS

摘要

One major degradation to the walls built with stuccos/coatings/mortars is cracking that will develop as those walls age under the natural environment. This paper presents an explorative investigation of adding crumb rubber into stuccos/coatings/mortars. A number of specimens were made by mixing crumb rubber with stuccos/mortars/coatings, and a series of experiments were conducted on those specimens to examine the thermal and mechanical performance of the mixes. The results show that, in comparison with those without crumb rubber, the mixes with crumb rubber do exhibit better performance in increasing crack-resistance capability, reducing thermal expansion-shrinkage and enhancing thermal insulation capacity. The only drawback for the crumb rubber mixes is the reduction in compressive strength, but this can be compensated by other means.