Manufacturing Light Concrete with PET Aggregate

Abstract

The manufacture of concrete using a polymer instead of a stony coarse aggregate known as gravel is presented. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is the polymer used, recycling soft drink containers with sufficient tenacity. PET is a material commonly used by engineers as a structural element, not as an aggregate. The research work revealed that PET aggregate produces good quality mixtures with lower volumetric weight but mechanical behavior similar to that of natural concrete with adequate granulometry. The water/cement (W/C) ratio is lower for light concretes than for natural concrete. Regarding stress and Flexural strength, it was found that for 300 kg/cm3 and higher cement consumption, which may be due to the fact that at low W/C ratios, the coarse aggregate behavior prevails, while at high W/C ratios, the paste behavior prevails. This leads us to the fact that PET aggregate is best applied on low cement consumption up to 300 kg/m3, since expensive mixtures for higher consumption may result from use on higher consumption. Modulus of elasticity for light concretes is lower than for natural concretes. Deformations are lower for light concretes than for natural concretes. A feature of using PET to substitute coarse aggregate is volumetric weight, since it is 68.88% lighter than concrete with natural aggregates.