Impact of new type of plastic as aggregate on fresh and hardened, microstructure properties of concrete

Abstract

The goal of this work is to reuse plastic waste as a result of the production of valves on gas bottles into concrete. In this way, one can reduce and consume that waste and at the same time reuse it in concrete and study its effects on its properties to decide which best content. This kind of plastic waste was used in different quantities (5%, 7.5%, 10%, 12.5%, and 15%) to replace fine natural aggregate (sand) partially. The effects of these ratios on the fresh concrete's slump factor, the density of hardened concrete, compressive strength, absorption, microstructure, and ultrasonic pulse speed were studied and compared with a reference mixture free of plastic waste. The ANOVA analysis was used to analyze the results of the fresh and hardened tests, and it was concluded that 5% was the ideal percentage of the percentages used, as it had less negative influence on the properties of concrete. From laboratory work, it was concluded that increasing the percentage of plastic waste has a negative impact on the properties of concrete, such as reducing compressive strength, flexural strength, spitting tensile strength, and increasing absorption.