Cleaner Materials 5 (2022) 100113

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Cleaner Materials
journal homepage: www.journals.elsevier.com/cleaner-materials

Recycling of waste HDPE and PP plastic in preparation of plastic brick and

its mechanical properties
Prathik Kulkarni a, *, Vikas Ravekar a, P. Rama Rao b, Sahil Waigokar a, Sanket Hingankar a
a
Department of Civil Engineering, Bajaj Institute of Technology, Wardha, India
b
Research Scholar, Pondicherry Technological University, Puducherry, India

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Brick is a primary building material that is often utilized in the construction of masonry. Conventionally, brick is
Plastic brick made up of dried clay and recently many studies have focused on the use of waste materials as an alternate
Thermoplastic material to a conventional brick. In the present study thermoplastics like High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) and
Physical recycling
Polypropylene (PP) are used to manufacture the plastic brick using the physical recycling method. Here, waste
HDPE and PP
Plastic brick wall
plastic from Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) is collected, segregated, cleaned, and
melted to manufacture a 190 × 90 × 90 mm modular sized HDPE and PP brick according to IS 1077:1992. In the
first phase of work, standard tests are performed to study the physical, mechanical and thermal properties of the
plastic brick. In the next phase, a 500 × 110 × 500 mm wall is constructed and the results of the plastic brick wall
are compared with a conventional brick wall. The wall was tested using a universal testing machine (UTM) as per
IS 1905:1987. It was interesting to observe that the HDPE and PP brick gave a compressive strength of 11.19 N/
mm2 and 10.02 N/mm2 which were in good agreement with first-class conventional brick which gave a
compressive strength of 10.5 N/mm2. While it is also worth noting that HDPE brick had the highest compressive
strength. The ultimate load for the plastic brick wall was 197.50 KN with a shear failure at a 45◦ , while the
conventional brick wall experienced a vertical failure at 153.95 KN load. A fire-resistance test on a plastic brick
wall and a conventional brick wall was performed to evaluate if the specifications of Nation Building Code
(2005): Part 4: Table 1 were met. It was observed that the plastic brick wall even after 30 min of heating at 4
corners and centre, showed a better temperature difference as compared to the conventional brick wall. The
study initiates a new line of research in sustainable plastic waste management.

1. Introduction mechanical properties have been investigated. In previous research, the

replacement and addition have been done in the brick with the direct
Brick is a vital building material that is widely utilized throughout composition of different raw materials like rice husk or rice husk ash
the world. It is one of the most demanding masonry units. India, along (Sutas et al., 2012), grapevine twig dust and popular dust(Andiç-Çakır
with China and Spain, is the leading brick manufacturing country, with et al., 2021), slate tailing, fly ash, and OPC(Wang et al., 2021); fly ash
an annual production rate of more than 240 billion bricks (Muheise- and lime(Çiçek and Çinçin, 2015), cigarettes buds(Kadir and Mohajer­
Aralia and Pavia, 2021). India produces about a 3.5 million tons of waste ani, 2015), crushed glass(Chidiac and Federico, 2007; Demir, 2009),
plastic every year which has almost doubled in the last five years. The clay, sawdust, marble(Eliche-Quesada et al., 2012), and sugarcane
production of waste plastic adversely affects our ecosystem and even it is bagasse ash(Faria et al., 2012).
linked with air pollution. Due to this high rate of production, it was In addition to the above-mentioned materials, Plastics are widely
brought to investigate and scrutinize the feasibility of using waste plastic employed in the production of bricks. The use of thermoplastic waste in
as an alternative for manufacturing the brick. As they will be benefiting the production of bricks is the most effective alternative for reducing
the environment as well as maintaining the requirements of materials plastic waste, saving raw materials, and enhancing the properties of
and their standards. As a result, numerous attempts have been made to bricks. Plastics are preferred over other materials due to their light­
incorporate waste into the production of bricks, and their physical and weight, low cost, low density, good stability, and durability, ability to be

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: [email protected] (P. Kulkarni).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clema.2022.100113
Received 29 April 2022; Received in revised form 23 June 2022; Accepted 29 June 2022
Available online 2 July 2022
2772-3976/© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
nc-nd/4.0/).

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 P. Kulkarni et al. Cleaner Materials 5 (2022) 100113

easily molded, good impact resistance, and mechanical properties Table 1

(Jahidul Islam and Shahjalal, 2021; Banerjee et al., 2014; Ahmad et al., Physical and mechanical properties of HDPE and PP (Maddah, 2016; Kusuktham
2017) . M.K. Mondal et al.(Mondal et al., 2019) conducted an experi­ and Teeranachaideekul, 2014).
mental study on three batches of blocks composed of polycarbonate (RIC Property HDPE PP
7), polystyrene (RIC 6), and mixed thermoplastics, sand with fly ash, and Melting point (◦ C) 110–140 160–166
OPC. Whereas mixed thermoplastics are 0–10% by weight and sand is Flashpoint (◦ C) greater than 300 greater than 300
60–70% by weight. The test results suggest that the brick containing Density (g/cm3) 0.90–1.00 0.91–0.94
10% waste plastics has a compressive strength of 17 MPa and high Specific gravity 0.90–1.00 0.9–1.00
Tensile Strength (MPa) 19–39 22–34
thermal resistance. Although these bricks are lightweight, the density is
Elongation (%) 180–1000 3–700
significantly lower. Isaac I. Akinwumi et al.(Akinwumi et al., 2019) Water absorption (%) <0.05 0.01
manufactured compressed earth brick with the use of stabilized soil and
shredded waste plastic varying in percentages and by the size of particles
(less than 6.3 mm and more than 9.6 mm). The results showed that obtained using FE analysis were compared with the theoretical values
compressed earth brick (CEB) incorporating shredded waste plastic (1% and it was observed that FE analysis gave much accurate results.
by weight and particle size <6.3 mm) resulted in a 50% rise in erosion Many researchers have partially replaced waste plastic to improve
rate (the lowest among them) and a 244.4% increase in compressive the mechanical and durability properties of brick, but no study is carried
strength compared to brick containing no plastic (0.45 MPa). These out on the complete (100%) replacement of HDPE and PP plastic in the
earth bricks can be used in residential and commercial buildings. preparation of brick. As HDPE and PP do not emit harmful gases when
In the construction industry Polyethylene (PET) and Polypropylene melted, so the melting process was carried out to prepare 19 × 9 × 9 cm
(PP) plastics are frequently employed. PET plastic brick in composition modular brick. The physical, durability, and mechanical properties of
with foundry sand(Aneke and Shabangu, 2021)and recycled glass plastic brick and first-class (designation-10) red clay brick which is
granules(Frank Ikechukwu and Shabangu, 2021) respectively had 2.5 termed conventional brick are examined. Additionally, an experimental
and 3 times higher compressive strength, and the temperature required study and comparison of plastic brick walls with the conventional brick
to manufacture those bricks was approximately 5 times lower than burnt wall are conducted in accordance with its compressive strength and fire
clay brick. The bricks with a higher percentage of PET i.e., 5% gave resistance test. All the tests were performed according to Indian Stan­
many effective results when compared with conventional fire clay dard codes. This research contributes to the use of plastic waste (HDPE
bricks, but beyond 5% replacement of PET in fire clay bricks, a reduction and PP) in the manufacture of bricks, which is the most effective method
in compressive strength was observed (Akinyele et al., 2020a,b). for reducing plastic waste, conserving raw materials, and enhancing the
Many experimental studies have been undertaken on a brick ma­ properties of bricks.
sonry wall and masonry prisms of varied constituent materials, bonds,
dimensions, and height to thickness (h/t) ratio. The physical and me­ 2. Materials and methodology
chanical characteristics of brick masonry units, as well as their masonry
with lime mortar joints, are determined(Drougkas et al., 2016; Bompa 2.1. Materials
and Elghazouli, 2020). Nassif Nazeer Thaickavil et al.(Thaickavil and
Thomas, 2018)proposed a masonry model with two different types of The thermoplastics, which include High-Density Polyethylene
bricks: cement stabilized pressed earth brick (B1) and local burnt clay (HDPE) and Polypropylene (PP), were used in this research for
brick (B2). Cement mortar ratios of different proportions were used to manufacturing the plastic bricks. PP plastics are the most often used
make masonry prisms. They assessed the compressive strength of the thermoplastics as they are lightweight and easily mouldable (Maddah,
masonry prism and recorded the cracking pattern by performing a lab­ 2016), whilst HDPE is commonly recyclable but decomposition time is
oratory test on 192 masonry prism specimens. The model proposed by too long (almost 100 years (Material Safety Data Sheet: High Density
Thaickavil et al.(Thaickavil and Thomas, 2018) accommodates a wide Polyethylene), therefore those plastics were implemented. Furthermore,
range of mortar (0.3–52.6 MPa) and masonry unit strength (3.5–127 according to the Material safety data sheet (Material Safety Data Sheet:
MPa) in his study. Kumavat et al.(Kumavat, 2016) conducted experi­ High Density Polyethylene; Material Safety Data Sheet: Polypropylene
mental research on the mechanical properties and compressive strength (PP) Homopolymer, HDPE and PP have properties such as low toxicity,
of clay brick masonry prisms using mortar composed of fine aggregate non-hazardous, and safe use. The physical, durability, and mechanical
with clay brick waste (in percentage proposition) as a replacement for properties of HDPE and PP are tabulated in Table 1.
sand. In that, the cement mortar of 1:4 and a 20% replacement of clay The reddish-brown local river sand (as fine aggregate) with a particle
brick waste gave higher results in compressive strength. They found that size of less than 4.75 mm was collected from the Bajaj Institute of
due to this replacement compressive strength of the masonry prism was Technology in Wardha. Sand has a specific gravity of 2.65, a bulk den­
found to be more as compared to standard masonry prism. The sity of 1595 kg/m3, and a fineness modulus of 2.88. As a binding ma­
compressive strength of brick and mortar is the primary factor influ­ terial, ordinary Portland cement (OPC) of 43 grade is used. Normal tap
encing the compressive strength of masonry prism, since the strength of water with a pH value of 7.0 is used for making masonry mortar.
masonry increases as the strength of brick and mortar increases (Nau­
man Azhar and Ali Qureshi, 2020; Francis et al., 2017; Singh and 2.2. Methodology
Munjal, 2017). Gumaste et al. (2007) conduct experimental research on
strength, elastic properties, and failure pattern of brick masonry prism A physical (mechanical) recycling method is involved while
and Wallette under axial compression. The masonry prism is constructed manufacturing plastic bricks (Leng et al., 2018). Initially, we collected
with varying mortar ratios and designed following IS 1905:1987 speci­ discarded plastic materials of High-density Polyethylene (HDPE) and
fications. Ajith Thamboo and Dhanasekar (2019)compared the behavior Polypropylene (PP) from Maharashtra Industrial Development Corpo­
of a prism to a cube and found that the prism provides more strength ration (MIDC) Wardha, Maharashtra, India. However, to make these
than a cube. Aside from constructing brick and analyzing its mechanical waste plastics appropriate for brick manufacturing, undesired elements
properties, numerical simulation and computerized modeling of brick are then removed from the HDPE and PP plastics. The collected plastic
masonry are also done using a finite element (FE) program (Srinivas and materials are then individually chopped into 10–20 mm size using a
Sasmal, 2016; Furtmüller and Adam, 2011). The cracking pattern, plastic crusher machine, as shown in Fig. 1(a). Now, this chopped plastic
crushing, failure of the wall, deformation by mesh application, and material is placed in a container as shown in Fig. 1(b) and heated to
maximum principal strain are all shown in the FE analysis. The results 230 ◦ C (Temperature was measured using an infrared thermometer)

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 P. Kulkarni et al. Cleaner Materials 5 (2022) 100113

Fig. 1. The manufacturing process of Plastic brick. (a) Chopped plastic, (b) Melting, (c) Designed mold, (d) Plastic brick.

Fig. 2. (a) Soundness Test (b) Hardness test.

Fig. 3. (a) Plastic brick wall (b) Painting on plastic brick wall.

which is above the melting point of HDPE and PP individually. Once the properties were conducted on plastic and conventional bricks, Plastic
plastic has been converted into paste form, it is poured into molds of the and conventional brick wall was constructed according to IS 1905: 1987
standard-modular brick size of dimension 190 × 90 × 90 mm in to determine the crack pattern and load-carrying capacity of the plastic
accordance with IS 1077:1992, as shown in Fig. 1(c). Then the molten brick wall (HDPE) (500 × 110 × 500 mm) with a conventional wall
plastic paste is properly compacted in the mold during filling to avoid (500 × 110 × 500 mm) as HDPE brick carries more compressive strength
any pores in the brick. After 24 h, the plastic brick is removed from the than PP brick, fire resistance test of plastic brick wall and a conventional
mold as shown in Fig. 1(d) and tested afterward. brick wall was carried out according to Table 1 in Part 4 of SP 7: Group 1
(2005): National Building Code. The soundness test and hardness test
2.3. Experimental program are as shown in Fig. 2a and 2b. The plastering was a quite challenging
job on a plastic brick wall, so grooves were made on all the surfaces of
In the present study, Physical (Soundness, Efflorescence, Hardness, the plastic brick to have a good bond between cement mortar (1:3 (IS
Impact, and Structure) and mechanical (Compression strength) 1661 (1972)) and brick as shown in Fig. 3a and b.

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