Assessment of mechanical and durability properties of concrete containing PET waste

Abstract

Plastic waste is a silent threat to the environment and its disposal is a serious issue. To sort out this issue, many e orts have been put to reusing the plastic waste, but no signi cant results have been achieved. On the contrary, being a widely used construction material, concrete is facing problems due to unavailability of the ingredient materials (sand and coarse aggregate). In this study, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) aggregates manufactured from the waste un-washed PET bottles in shredded form were used to partially replace ne aggregate and coarse aggregate in concrete in various percentages (0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%). Various tests like workability, compressive strength, exural strength, water permeability, abrasion resistance, and dynamic and static moduli of elasticity were conducted. The micro-structural analysis of the specimens was carried out using an optical microscope. It was found that workability, compressive strength, exural strength, and dynamic and static moduli of elasticity decreased with the increasing amount of PET waste in concrete. Water permeability of concrete was found to increase with increasing amount of PET waste. In both of the cases, i.e., when ne and coarse aggregates were replaced with PET waste, an improvement in the abrasion resistance of concrete was found.