The usage of plastic waste as a secondary raw material for the modification of sandcrete properties

Abstract

Abstract.Recently the usage of various industry wastes as a secondary raw material tends to increase its relevancy. One of possible options to decrease the amount of waste is to use them to produce new products or materials. The operation of various secondary raw materials (tire rubber, tire cord, ground glass shards, ground ceramic waste products) during the concrete mixture preparation allows to change its as well as cured concrete properties. Recently polymer and steel fibers are used for concrete reinforcement. This study analyses the usage possibility of plastic shavings for the reinforcement of concrete. The technological properties of cement slurry (sand, fraction of 0/4 and 10 kg/m 3 , 15 kg/m 3 and 20 kg/m 3 of plastic shavings) as well as mechanical, physical and porosity properties of cured sandcrete were established during the experimental research. The geometric characteristics of mill-shredded plastic shavings were established. Experimental results revealed that the usage of plastic shavings decreased slurry slump and density. The minor decrease of cured sandcrete density (~2200 kg/m 3 ) was noticed with the addition of plastic shavings within the limits of 10 -20 kg/m 3 . The flexural strength of cured sandcrete increased from 36 % to 57 % compared with reference specimen (without plastic shavings). The dependence of flexural force and deflection was obtained. Study revealed that the residual strength after crack opening is bigger with the usage of plastic shavings as a secondary raw material compared with reference specimen.