Thermal properties of mine tailings and tire crumbs mixtures

This paper describes thermal and packing behaviors of the dry mixtures of mine tailings and tire crumbs, which has significant relation to engineering applications in utilizing recycled tire particles as lightweight fill materials with improved thermal insulation. The thermal properties and packing measurements of mine tailings and tire crumbs mixtures with different mixing ratios are presented, which are then analyzed to examine their correlations with respect to the volumetric mixing ratio of tire crumbs as well as the porosity of the mixtures. A statistical study using multiple linear regression analysis is also performed to establish a prediction model for the thermal conductivity and an analysis chart for estimating the volumetric heat capacity, as a function of the volumetric mixing ratio of tire crumbs and porosity.