The use of polystyrene as substitute of sand in pontoon concrete

Abstract

The construction industry in Malaysia has been growing over the years. In order to fulfil the demand, new land needs to be opened and developed. However, this could be an issue as opening and developing a new land causes adverse effects to the environment as these leads to the Green House effect. One of the solutions is to design pontoon-type concrete structure. Pontoon-type concrete structure refers to the artificial pontoon-type structure made from concrete. However, designing a pontoon-type structure requires a special mixture of concrete and infill material. It is profitable to use sustainable material including polystyrene. This research aims to determine the strength of pontoon type concrete partially made from polystyrene and to compare the strength of it with M20 mix concrete. A laboratory testing has been conducted and it can be concluded that the strength of concrete made from polystyrene were lesser than conventional M20 concrete. These may come from the fact that the smooth surface of polystyrene tends to have a weak bonding in the cement paste. It can be concluded that the concrete made from polystyrene could be used for pontoon concrete for non-structural application. This result is significant for the construction industry as it produces new sustainable material for construction industry.