20.500.12556/DiRROS-25178 Assessing the role of recycled tyre polymer fibres (RTPFs) on the key hydration processes governing autogenous shrinkage The incorporation of recycled tyre polymer fibres (RTPF) in cementitious composites provides an effective and sustainable approach in tyre waste management while offering potential benefits in mitigating early-age volume deformations. This study evaluates the influence of RTPFs, used in dry (RTPFd) and pre-wetted (RTPFw) states, on key hydration processes governing autogenous shrinkage in cement pastes with w/c of 0.4 and 0.22. The results show that RTPF reduced workability and altered the setting process due to the fibre–matrix mechanical interactions. Incorporation of RTPFs induced changes in water distribution at the fibre surface, delaying self-desiccation and maintaining higher internal relative humidity. While RTPFs offer a beneficial reduction in autogenous shrinkage by 12–41% in mixtures with w/c of 0.4 and by 15–34% in mixtures with w/c of 0.22, RTPFs also increased porosity, which contributed to a reduction in 28-day compressive strength of up to 16%. These findings highlight the dual effect of RTPF on early-age performance and provide insight into their potential application in sustainable cementitious composites. recycled tyre polymer fibre hydration kinetics self-desiccation autogenous shrinkage reciklirana polimerna vlakna pnevmatike kinetika hidratacije samoizsušitev avtogeno krčenje true false true MDPI AG Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik © 2025 by the authors Neznano 2026-01-13 11:12:20 2026-01-13 11:19:29 2026-01-14 03:53:37 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2025 0 0 str. 1-20 iss. 12, [article no.] 165 Vol. 13 Dec. 2025 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 2025-12-10 620.1/.2 2079-6439 10.3390/fib13120165 261308419 https://doi.org/10.3390/fib13120165 0 596bf11e-f068-11f0-94a7-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=37951 RAZ_Baricevic_Ana_2025.pdf RAZ_Baricevic_Ana_2025.pdf 1 C0D716CC43B64747954ACA6D065F1261 f10dca0089d3dcd83f5efc0a7c47e7d15f3c2212d0784cb62e95305fc245615d 534ce3c0-f069-11f0-94a7-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=37952 Zavod za gradbeništvo Slovenije 0 0 0