Menoufia University

Faculty of Engineering
First International Conference
(Ninth Conference of Sustainable Environmental Development)
24-28 March 2017

Effect of Using Plastic Waste on Mechanical Properties

of Concrete
Dr. Haider K. Ammash1, Dr. Sadjad A. Hemzah 2 and Rasha Jasim 3
1 Assist. Prof. Department of Civil Engineering, University of Al-Qadisiyah, Iraq.
e-mail: [email protected]
2 Lecture Department of Civil Engineering, University of Al-Qadisiyah, Iraq.
e-mail: [email protected]
3 Assist. Lecture Department of Civil Engineering, University of Al-Qadisiyah, Iraq.
e-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

The present study deals with the effect of using plastic waste on mechanical properties of
concrete. The experimental work consists of adding manually formed serrated plastic fibers by
ratios of (1%, 2% and 3%) of cement weight. Different lengths of fibers were used for each ratio
with a constant width of 5 mm. It was noticed from laboratory tests that the addition of plastic fibers
improves the compressive strength, tensile strength and modulus of rupture of concrete, by
different ratios, about 20%, furthermore it could be a sufficient method to get rid of plastic waste.

Keywords: Recycle Plastic Waste, Mechanical Properties, Concrete, Compressive strength,

Flexural Strength.
1. INTRODUCTION

Concrete is one of the most important materials used in construction, and because of its suitable
cost and strength, an improvement of its mechanical and chemical properties was searched by
many researchers by different processes, like adding different types polymers as a ratio of water
content, or adding high strength steel fibers as a ratio of cement content. Some researches
investigate the effect of adding low cost materials on the mechanical properties of concrete, and
because plastic material is one of the environmental pollutants, it had been used in concrete mix in
some researches.

Isamil and Al-Hashimi (2008)1 studied involved 86 experiments and 254 tests to determine the
efficiency of reusing waste plastic in the production of concrete. Thirty kilograms of waste plastic
of fabriform shapes was used as a partial replacement for sand by 0%, 10%, 15%, and 20% with
800kg of concrete mixtures. All of the concrete mixtures were tested at room temperature. These
tests include performing slump, fresh density, dry density, compressive strength, flexural strength,
and toughness indices. Seventy cubes were molded for compressive strength and dry density
tests, and 54 prisms were cast for flexural strength and toughness indices tests. Curing ages of
3,7,14, and 28days for the concrete mixtures were applied in this work. The results proved the
arrest of the propagation of microcracks by introducing waste plastic of fabriform shapes to
concrete mixtures. This study insures that reusing waste plastic as a sand-substitution aggregate
in concrete gives a good approach to reduce the cost of materials and solve some of the solid
waste problems posed by plastics.

AL-Numaan et. al.(2009)11 study the properties of light weight concrete slabs. These slabs
were made of by adding 13 different weight ratios of chopped plastics waste to the concrete to
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construct a light weight construction element of densities ranged from 1095 kg/m3 to 1911 kg/m3.
From their experimental study, they conclude that the increase in plastic additives leads to
decreasing in concrete density and decreasing in mechanical properties, furthermore these
additives made an improvement to temperature properties of the new slabs.

AL-Hadithi and Al-Ani (2015)2 investigated the change in mechanical properties of High
Performance Concrete (HPC) with added waste plastics in concrete. For this purpose, 2.5%, 5%
and 7.5% in volume of natural fine aggregate in the HPC mixes were replaced by an equal volume
of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) waste, got by shredded PET bottles. The mechanical
properties (compressive, splitting tensile, and flexural strength) evaluated at the ages of (7 ,28, 56
and 91) days while the static modulus of elasticity tested at (28 and 91) days. The results indicated
that HPC containing PET-aggregate presented lower compressive strength and static elasticity.
The splitting strength displayed an arising trend at the initial stages, however, they have a
tendency to decrease after a while. On the other hand, flexural strength results gave better
modulus of rapture at all ages of curing, as compared with reference concrete specimens.

In the present study, the plastic wastes were used as fibers with fixed width of 5 mm and three
different lengths (10 mm, 20 mm and 30 mm) by ratios of (1%, 2% and 3%) of cement weight. The
properties of the local used plastic fibers as well as concrete components were measured and
compared with Iraqi specifications. The aim of the present research is to verify the effect of using
these wastes in concrete and finding the best method to use it in improving concrete properties.

2. EXPERIMENTAL WORK

In the experimental work, 180 cubes and 30 cylinders (100×200)mm were casted and tested in the
laboratory to find the compressive and indirect tensile strength on concrete, moreover 30 prisms of
dimensions (100×100×500) mm were casted and used for finding the modulus of rupture for
different waste ratios. Each type of mixing had 12 cubes of dimensions (150×150×150) mm and 6
cylinders of diameter 100 mm and height 200 mm. All used materials were tested and compared
with Iraqi specifications. The tested materials are:

2.1 CEMENT

Al-Muthanna ordinary Portland cement was used in the experimental work. Chemical and physical
tests were carried out in laboratory of Engineering collage/ University of Al-Qadisiyah. Test results
are shown in Table (1).

Table (1): Results of Cement Test

Chemical Test Results
Oxide Percent weight Iraqi Specification
SIO2 21.3 -
CAO 64.64 -
MGO 2.62 ≤5%
FE2O3 2.58 -
AL2O3 6.16 -
Loss on ignition 3 ≤4%
Irresolvable material 1.5 ≤1.5%
Physical Test Results
Property Results Iraqi Specification
Soundness (Autoclave)% 0.02 ≤0.8
Initial setting time (min) 85 ≥45
Final setting time (min) 260 ≤600
Compressive strength (MPa)
3 days 16.3 ≥15
7 days 23.7 ≥23
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2.2 FINE AGGREGATE

Washed fine Aggregate was used in the mix and it was tested according to Iraqi specification No.
45. The test results showed that it within zone 2 as shown in Table (2).

Table (2): Results of Fine Aggregate Test

Sieve size % of pass Iraqi specification
4.75 (mm) 100 90-100
2.36 (mm) 86 75-100
1.18 (mm) 68.6 55-90
600 micron 37.4 35-59
300 micron 8 8-30
150 micron 2.4 0-10
SO3 salt Result Iraqi specification
SO3(%) 0.17 ≤0.5%

2.3 COARSE AGGREGATE

Shattered coarse Aggregate was used in the mix also it was tested according to Iraqi
specification No. 45. The test results are shown in Table (3).

Table (3): Results of Coarse Aggregate Test

Sieve size % of pass Iraqi specification
37.5 (mm) 100 100
20 (mm) 100 75-100
12.5 (mm) 88.48 -
9.5 (mm) 33.56 30-6
4.75 (mm) 0.6 0-10
2.36 (mm) 0.08 -
SO3 salt Result Iraqi specification
SO3(%) 0.08 ≤0.1%

2.4 PLASTIC FIBERS

Plastic fibers were manually formed from water and soft drinks bottles. These fibers were
formed with a width of 5 mm and three different lengths (10, 20 and 30) mm, as shown in
Figures (1, 2).

Figure (1): Formed Plastic Fibers

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 Figure (2): Type of Plastic Fiber

The density of these fibers was found equal to 1.01 gm/cm3 by using Archimedes theory.
Also, elongation, yield stress and ultimate stress was found by testing a sample of plastic fibers
using tensile test machine. The dimensions of the tested samples were as follows:

Total length of sample = 200 mm

Effective length =30 mm
Effective width = 35 mm
Thickness of sample ≈ 0.6 mm
The results of elongation, yield stress and ultimate stress were 8 mm, 7.15 kN and 8.25 kN
respectively.

3. CASTING METHOD

Mixing process was carried out by adding cement powder to fine and coarse aggregate with a mix
ratio of (1:2:4) respectively. The mixture was blending in dry state for a minute to insure the
homogeneity of the mixture, then the plastic fibers were added gradually during dry mixing process
to avoid agglomeration of materials. Finally, the specified weight of water which is equal to 68% of
cement weight was added to complete the casting process.

4. LABORATORY TESTS

The following laboratory tests were carried out in University of Al-Qadisiyah / College of
Engineering. These tests show the effect of additive plastic fibers on mechanical properties of
concrete.

4.1 SLUMP TEST

The base of examining workability of concrete containing plastic fibers is the slump test. Slump
was measured for reference mixture which has no plastic fibers and that which contains different
ratios of plastic fibers. It could be noticed that adding 1% of plastic fibers of lengths (10 mm, 20
mm and 30 mm) had no significant effect on mix workability, while the ratio of 2% shows little
improvement in mix workability as shown Table (4).

Table (4): Slump Tests Results

Slump in (mm)
w/c ratio Fiber Length
Fiber ratio (1%) Fiber ratio (2%) Fiber ratio (3%)
Non 119 119 119
10 mm 120 120 118
0.68
20 mm 120 121 116
30 mm 117 116 114

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4.2 DENSITY TEST

The density of natural concrete with no fibers and those which contains fibers were measured and
listed in Table (5). The results show that there is a little difference in density of concrete contains
plastic fibers. This is because plastic fibers have very low density if compared with other concrete
component and this difference could be neglected.

Table (5): Average Measured Density for All Tested Specimens(kg/m3)

Density For 10mm Density For 20mm Density For 30mm

Reference
Fiber Length Fiber Length Fiber Length
mix
1% 2% 3% 1% 2% 3% 1% 2% 3%
2401 2374 2357 2362 2414 2391 2429 2381 2456 2336

4.3 COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH TEST

The compressive strengths of all (150×150×150) mm concrete cubes were found and recorded.
The average value of compressive strength for ages (7 and 28) days was calculated and listed in
Table (6). The obtained results of all specimens indicate an improvement of compressive strength
in earlier age by about 40%, while in 28 day age the best result was obtained was for 20 mm fiber
length at ratio of (2%) and was about 15%. The other ratios show little improvement in
compressive strength and some of those gave values less than the reference cubes as shown in
Figure (3:a and 3:b).

Table (6): Average Compressive Strength for All Tested Specimens (MPa)

Ref. Compressive Strength Compressive Strength Compressive Strength

Age Mix For 10 mm Fiber Length For 20 mm Fiber Length For 30 mm Fiber Length
0% 1% 2% 3% 1% 2% 3% 1% 2% 3%
7 days 13.98 15.25 16.49 15.86 17.9 19.34 17.9 16.3 17.37 15.94
28 days 20.93 21.5 22.8 21.29 21.7 23.07 20.5 21.1 21.72 19.1

20
Compressive Strength (MPa)

18

16
Ref.
1cm
14
2cm

12 3cm

10
1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
Additive Ratio

Additive Ratio (%)

Figure 3: (a) Compressive Strength Curves for Cubes at (7) Day Age

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 24

Compressive Strength (MPa)
23

22
Ref.
1cm
21
2cm

20 3cm

19
1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
Additive Ratio
Additive Ratio (%)

Figure 3: (b) Compressive Strength Curves for Cubes at (28) Day Age

4.4 TENSILE STRENGTH TEST

The indirect tensile strength of all (100mm diameter and 200 mm height) concrete cylinders were
found and recorded. The average value of tensile strength for ages (7 and 28) days was also
calculated and listed in Table (7). The obtained results of all specimens show an improvement of
tensile strength in earlier age by about 40%, while in 28 day age the best result was obtained for
20 mm fiber length at ratio of (2%) which was about 35%. The other ratios show less improvement
in tensile strength shown in Figure (4:a and 4:b).

Table (7): Average Compressive Strength for All Tested Specimens (MPa)

Ref. Tensile Strength For Tensile Strength For Tensile Strength For
Age Mix 10 mm Fiber Length 20 mm Fiber Length 30 mm Fiber Length
0% 1% 2% 3% 1% 2% 3% 1% 2% 3%
7 days 1.57 2.18 2.19 2.22 1.99 2.1 2.1 1.9 2.08 2.0
28 days 2.13 2.5 2.64 2.53 2.57 2.89 2.67 2.43 2.55 2.46

2.5

2.25
Tensile Strength (MPa)

2
Ref.
1cm
1.75
2cm

1.5 3cm

1.25
1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
Additive Ratio

Figure 4: (a) Tensile Strength Curves for Cylinders at (7) Day Age
6 
 3

Tensile Strength (MPa)
2.75

Ref.
2.5
1cm
2cm
2.25
3cm

2
1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
Additive Ratio
Additive Ratio (%)
Figure 4: (b) Tensile Strength Curves for Cylinders at (28) Day Age

4.5 MODULUS OF RUPTURE

The direct tensile strength for concrete prisms of dimensions (100×100×500) mm under the action
of two point loads, Figure 5, were found and recorded. The average value of tensile strength for 28
days age was calculated and shown in Figure 6. The obtained results for all prisms show an
improvement of tensile strength, spatially in additive ratio of 2% with fiber length 20 mm the
improvement was about 7%. The other ratios show less improvement in tensile strength.

Figure 5: Modulus of Rupture Test

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 3.7

Modulus of Rupture (MPa)
3.6

Ref.
3.5
1cm
2cm
3.4
3cm

3.3
1 1.5 2 2.5 3
Addiive Ratio

Figure 5: Modulus of Rupture results at (28) Day Age

5. CONCLUSIONS

After studying the previous results obtained from the laboratory tests, the following conclusions
were found:
• In order to get rid of the large amount of plastic wastes, it is useful to be used in ordinary
concrete structures with some improvement for its mechanical properties when these plastic
fibers formed as serrated fiber.
• The addition of plastic fibers to concrete mix improve some mechanical properties of the
concrete such as modulus of rupture, indirect tensile strength and compressive strength.
• The best ratio of adding plastic fibers for concrete to get maximum compressive strength and
acceptable increase in tensile strength is (2%) with length of 20 mm and width of 5mm.
• For structures with high tensile stresses, the best ratio of adding plastic fibers for concrete is
(2%) with length of 20 mm and width of 5mm.
• Also some reduction in concrete weight occurs due to additive of plastic fibers.

REFERENCES

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3- American Society for Testing and Materials ASTM C293-10, 2010, Standard Test Method for
Flexural Strength of Concrete (Using Simple Beam With Center-Point Loading), American Society
for Testing and Materials, pp.(1-3) .
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9- Iraqi Specification, No.45, 1984, Aggregate from Natural Sources for Concrete and
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