The assessment of using fiber produced from plastic broom bristles on the impact property of normal-weight concrete slabs

Abstract

Plastic has emerged in many modern industries, and petroleum is an essential source for the manufacture of many materials of importance in our contemporary life, such as plastic bags, paints, brooms used for cleaning, and others. This study showed that it is possible to use these plastic products in other ways to reduce the plastic pollution that invades the world, and one of these ways is the possibility of adding plastic to concrete to improve some of its properties. In this work, the bristles of plastic brooms are used in the form of fibers to improve the properties of concrete, and the results showed a significant improvement in the resistance to compression, flexural, and impact resistance of concrete, in addition to a slight decrease in the density. The fibers were added in different proportions (0.6, 1.0, and 1.4) as a percentage of the concrete volume, and the duration of the test ranged between (7 and 28) days for the tests of compression, flexion, and density, while the impact resistance tested at the age of 90 days.