Mechanical Properties of Cement-Based Materials with Recycled Plastic: A Review

Jun Kil Park,Min Ook Kim

doi:10.3390/su12219060

Abstract

This study summarizes existing studies on plastic recycling to determine whether ocean plastics with high pollution degrees could be used for cement-based materials. In particular, the methods to recycle plastic waste, the effects of recycled plastic on the physical and mechanical properties of cement-based materials, and their effective usage were investigated. Workability, density, compressive strength, split tensile strength, and flexural strength of cement-based materials with recycled plastics were reviewed and divided into recycled aggregates and fibers. Based on the previous investigation, the direction of research necessary to recycle marine plastics is suggested. As the amount of recycled plastic aggregate increased, the mechanical strength of cement-based materials decreased. The recycled plastic aggregate lowered the density and increased porosity of the cement-based material. Meanwhile, recycled plastic fibers reduced the compressive strength but improved the tensile strength; to effectively improve tensile strength, a volume content of less than 1.5% should be added to prevent balling fibers. Furthermore, an appropriate aspect ratio should be determined based on the type of plastic to be used.

Highlights

Ocean waste is an environmental problem that continues to receive social attention because it damages the marine environment, ecosystem, and marine landscape [1]
Compared and evaluated the reinforcing effect of recycled nylon fiber, Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fiber, and virgin PVA fiber. In their results, embossed recycled PET fibers showed higher compressive strength and ductility than virgin Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) fibers. These results indicate that recycled fibers could be used to reinforce the mechanical performance of cement-based materials, and plastics collected from the ocean can be used to replace virgin plastics with appropriate pretreatment
We investigated existing research on cement-based materials fabricated by recycling plastic waste to confirm whether ocean plastic waste can be used for these materials

Summary

Introduction

Ocean waste is an environmental problem that continues to receive social attention because it damages the marine environment, ecosystem, and marine landscape [1]. The amount of plastic waste discharged to the ocean worldwide has been estimated to be 4,800,000 to 12,700,000 tons, and 1,600,000 km of waste was formed in the North Pacific region [2,3]. Some researchers have suggested developing and using biodegradable plastic as a solution [6,7,8] This method can solve the long-term plastic waste problem, it cannot resolve the issue of recycling ocean plastic waste. There are several types of ocean plastic waste, including fishing nets, buoys, ropes, plastic boxes used in fisheries and aquaculture, beverage bottles used on land, food packaging containers, plastic bags, etc

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