Abstract
Impact resistance, water transport properties and sodium sulphate attack are important criteria to determine the performance of concrete incorporating mixed types of recycled plastic waste. Nine mixes were designed with different combinations of the three plastic types; Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), High density polyethylene (HDPE) and Polypropylene (PP). The plastic partially substituted the coarse aggregate (by volume) at various replacement ratios; 10%, 15%, 20% and 30%. The impact resistance and water transport properties were evaluated for nine mixes while sodium sulphate attack test was performed for three mixes. The results showed that the addition of mixed recycled plastic in concrete improved the impact resistance. The highest impact resistance improvement was achieved by R8 (PET + HDPE + PP) at 30% replacement which was 4.5 times better than the control mix. Water absorption results indicated a slight increase in all plastic mixes while contradictory results were observed for sorptivity test. Analysis of sodium sulphate attack results showed that incorporating 30% mixed plastic reduced the sodium sulphate resistance slightly due to the collective effect of plastic entrapping of sulphate ions after 80 cycles. This study has shown some positive results relating to the impact performance of Mixed Recycled Plastic Concrete (MRPC) which enhances its use in a sustainable way.
Highlights
The plastic pollution in water and soil is alarming in Australia and local authorities are focusing on expanding plastic recycling in order to mitigate plastic related environmental pollution
This paper aims to investigate the impact resistance, water transport properties and sodium sulphate attack of Mixed Recycled Plastic Concrete (MRPC) to clearly understand these durability concerns and to ensure the sustainability of this type of concrete if a decision is made to use it in practical applications
In attack resistance resistance of concrete incorporated with mixed types of recycled plastic aggregate attack were evaluated
Summary
The plastic pollution in water and soil is alarming in Australia and local authorities are focusing on expanding plastic recycling in order to mitigate plastic related environmental pollution. The plastic recycling campaign gained more significant interest since 2019 when the Australian Government announced seven targets in the national waste policy action plan [1]—one of which states “Significantly increase the use of recycled content by governments and industry”. As the need increased to find a more sustainable and environmentally friendly solution for the accumulated plastic waste that requires little or no further processing, the construction sector was proposed to accommodate part of the plastic waste solution. The research on the use of waste plastic as aggregate in concrete has attracted widespread attention, and is still in progress. There are still many aspects that need to be addressed, such as the effect of using mixed recycled plastics on the performance of concrete
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