Compressive and Flexural Strength of Concrete Containing Recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET)

Abstract

This paper presents the feasibility study of adding recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) fiber obtained from drinking water bottle as admixture material in the concrete. A few numbers of tests were conducted to determine the physical and mechanical properties of recycled PET fiber reinforced concrete such as slump test, compressive strength test and flexural strength test. The effect of incorporating the recycled PET fiber on various volume fractions of concrete by 0.5%, 1%, and 1.5% of weight of cement were experimentally investigated. The test specimens comprising of cubes and beams were prepared and tested at 3, 7, 14 and 28 days after curing process completed. Generally, it was found that the workability of concrete reinforced recycled PET has reduced as the volume fraction of PET fiber increased. The compressive strength of concrete reinforced recycled PET has reached the highest value at volume fraction of 0.5%. However, the flexural strength of concrete was significantly increased by incorporating 1.0% of recycled PET fiber. It can be concluded that the concrete which contains 0.5% of recycled PET fiber has the highest of average percentage of relative. Hence, it can be categorized as the optimum percentage of recycled PET fiber to be utilized in concrete. It is recommended to use recycled PET fiber in concrete for the construction of structures and infrastructures as a green construction material in order to achieve clean and sustainable environment in the year future.