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Lightweight aggregate is an important material in reducing the unit weight of concrete and it is essential in the construction of high‐rise buildings; besides, the use of recycled PET bottles as lightweight aggregate in concrete is an effective contribution for environmental preservation. So, the objective of the present work is to study the flexural strength of PET‐concrete and PET thermal degradation in the concrete, when the blends with 10 and 20 vol% of PET are exposed to different temperatures (200, 400, 600 °C). The flexural strength of PET‐concrete exposed to a heat source is strongly dependent on the temperature, the water/cement ratio, as well as on the content and particle size of PET. Furthermore, the activation energy for PET degradation is affected by temperature, location of PET particles on the slabs and the water/cement ratio. A higher content of water gives rise to hydrolytic degradation on PET and a higher vapor pressure that increases the formation of cracks on the concrete. The values of activation energy are higher on the center of the slabs than on the surface, due to the poor heat conduction of concrete.

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