Physical, mechanical and durable characteristics of concrete incorporating polyethylene terepthalate fiber from bottle waste

Abstract

High consumption of plastic based products especially polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles had increased the volume of polymeric waste which in turn causing environmental problems. With the increase of awareness in sustainable development, researchers have come out with an idea of utilizing plastic waste fiber which is believed to offer some benefits such as waste reduction and resource conservation. In this research an attempt has been made to investigate the physical, mechanical and durability characteristics of concrete incorporating PET fibers from recycled bottle wastes and was exposed to acid and sulphate attack At the first stage, fiber length of 10mm, 20mm and 30mm with 0.5% of fiber content was included into the concrete matrix to find out the optimum length of fiber to be used. Once the typical best length was determined, the fresh and hardened properties of concrete including workability, density, compressive strength, splitting tensile and flexural strength are determined with fiber volume range of 0.5% - 1.5%. The results revealed that the presence of PET fiber in concrete noticeably decreased the density and workability of concrete. Although a small amount of fibers increased the compressive strength, higher amount caused a reduction in compressive strength. However, the splitting tensile and flexural strength as well as the ductility of concrete were greatly enhanced. The concrete exposed to acid attack showed characteristic yellowish colour and for sulphate it combines with C-S-H or concrete paste and destroys the paste. Out of this study, the optimum length and fiber volume determined were 20mm and 0.5% fiber volume fraction respectively. In conclusion, the PET fibers in concrete provided satisfactory performance showing good potential in concrete construction.