Mechanical Optimization of Concrete with Recycled PET Fibres Based on a Statistical-Experimental Study.

Alejandro Meza,Francesc Pardo-Bosch,Rubén D López-Carreño,Pablo Pujadas,Laura Montserrat Meza

doi:10.3390/ma14020240

Abstract

Discarded polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles have damaged our ecosystem. Problems of marine fauna conservation and land fertility have been related to the disposal of these materials. Recycled fibre is an opportunity to reduce the levels of waste in the world and increase the mechanical performance of the concrete. PET as concrete reinforcement has demonstrated ductility and post-cracking strength. However, its performance could be optimized. This study considers a statistical-experimental analysis to evaluate recycled PET fibre reinforced concrete with various fibre dose and aspect ratio. 120 samples were experimented under workability, compressive, flexural, and splitting tensile tests. The results pointed out that the fibre dose has more influence on the responses than its fibre aspect ratio, with statistical relation on the tensional toughness, equivalent flexural strength ratio, volumetric weight, and the number of fibres. Moreover, the fibre aspect ratio has a statistical impact on the tensional toughness. In general, the data indicates that the optimal recycled PET fibre reinforced concrete generates a superior performance than control samples, with an improvement similar to those reinforced with virgin fibres.

Highlights

Plastics are widely used throughout the world, contributing enormously to their industrial development, helping to raise the living standards in the world [1]
Scope The purpose of this study is to find the best relation of fibre reinforcement of the concrete with recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fibres under different tests
The results demonstrated that the incorporation of recycled PET fibres into concrete generates residual strength capacity to the concrete, with a scarce effect on its volumetric weight, and ultimate flexural and compressive strength

Summary

Introduction

Plastics are widely used throughout the world, contributing enormously to their industrial development, helping to raise the living standards in the world [1]. Plastics bring many societal benefits and offer future technological and medical advances. Concerns about their usage and disposal are diverse [2]. Between 1950 and 2017, 6.4 billion metric tons of plastic waste were produced globally, of which 9% was recycled, 79% went into landfills, and 12% was incinerated [4]. The global waste plastic production per year has been reported in Europe as 288 million tons [6], in India as 18.9 million tons [7], in the USA as 31.75 million tons [8], in the Asian region as 6.7 million tons [9], in Korea as 130 thousand tons [9], and in the UK as 4.7 million tons [10]

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Conclusion