Mechanical tests on mortars with recycled plastic aggregates dosed under a model of thermal conductivity

Abstract

Plastic waste constitutes 10 % of the solid waste worldwide. The use of plastic aggregates in concrete improves some properties such as thermal insulation and specific weight, although it produces a decrease in strength. In this work, mixtures with plastic aggregates of residual origin were dosed to satisfy thermal insulation requirements. For this purpose, a simplified model was made, calculating the required plastic thick-nesses in an equivalent wall of 18 cm thick. Then, specimens were molded and tested by bending and compression. The results confirmed that the incorporation of plastic produced a drop in compressive and flexural strength, except in the case of pellets. Under the proposed multilayer wall model, a theoretical thickness of plastic between 2.4 and 6 cm was required to achieve the desired thermal insulation, compared to 37 cm that a wall exclusively made of mortar would have required. However, only one mix reached the minimum strength required for the construction of panels. It was concluded that the rounded aggregates exhibited better behavior than the leaf-shaped aggregates and that the model used for the dosage of plastic aggregates should be improved and contrasted with experimental results in a future paper.