Abstract
High-performance concrete has low tensile strength and brittle failure. In order to improve these properties of unreinforced concrete, the effects of adding recycled polypropylene fibers on the mechanical properties of concrete were investigated. The polypropylene fibers used were made from recycled plastic packaging for environmental reasons (long degradation time). The compressive, flexural and split tensile strengths after 1, 7, 14 and 28 days were tested. Moreover, the initial and final binding times were determined. This experimental work has included three different contents (0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 wt.% of cement) for two types of recycled polypropylene fibers. The addition of fibers improves the properties of concrete. The highest values of mechanical properties were obtained for concrete with 1.0% of polypropylene fibers for each type of fiber. The obtained effect of an increase in mechanical properties with the addition of recycled fibers compared to unreinforced concrete is unexpected and unparalleled for polypropylene fiber-reinforced concrete (69.7% and 39.4% increase in compressive strength for green polypropylene fiber (PPG) and white polypropylene fiber (PPW) respectively, 276.0% and 162.4% increase in flexural strength for PPG and PPW respectively, and 269.4% and 254.2% increase in split tensile strength for PPG and PPW respectively).
Highlights
Due to high demand, the global production of fossil-based plastics has grown from 1.5 million tons in 1950 to 288 million tons in 2012 and 322 million tons in 2015
This study aims to contribute to this growing area of research by exploring the influence of the content of polypropylene fiber on the compressive, flexural and split tensile strength of fiber-reinforced concrete
The materials used in this study were Portland cement, water and a polycarboxylate deflocculant used as a hardening admixture
Summary
The global production of fossil-based plastics has grown from 1.5 million tons in 1950 to 288 million tons in 2012 and 322 million tons in 2015. Akand et al [46] present a 1–2% increase in present the influence of the applied addition of recycled polymer fibers on the increase of compressive strength obtained by adding polypropylene fibers to the concrete mixture. 0.38, using polypropylene fibers with 80 μm diameter, 12 mm length and tensile strength of 520 MPa. Matar and Assaad have shown that the percentage increase of compressive strength independently from the used w/c ratio (in the article we tested w/c ratio equal to 0.38 and 0.5). Used different percentage compositions of concrete mix and smaller amounts of polypropylene fibers (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5 wt.%) They obtained compressive strength equal to 65.6 MPa for the mix with. This study aims to contribute to this growing area of research by exploring the influence of the content of polypropylene fiber on the compressive, flexural and split tensile strength of fiber-reinforced concrete. The findings of the study make an important contribution towards an effective and ecological solution of utilizing plastic waste (packaging waste) in concrete
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