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Article history: Plastic waste is today an crucial environmental issue for which innovative recycling techniques are
Received 26 April 2017 needed. This research aims at investigating the feasibility of replacing fine aggregate in concrete by
Received in revised form 9 June 2018 recycled plastics from real post-consumer streams. Different kind of plastics were sorted in Material
Accepted 9 June 2018
Recovery Facilities (MRF) to realize different Plastic Aggregates (PAG) at different seasonal time. The
Available online 22 June 2018
concrete composites were characterized in terms of compressive strength, post-cracking compressive
strength, toughness indeces, thermal conductivity, density, and water absorptivity. Correlation tables
Keywords:
were used to understand the key material parameter of PAG governing concrete properties. The effects
Plastic
Concrete
of the replacement percentage, the PAG kind, the level of impurity, and the time-related variations on
Recycling the quality of the concrete are discussed. The presented results indicate that concrete composite
Recycled aggregates with PAG from postconsumer waste is a promising research direction for developing eco-responsible
Waste stream characterization construction materials with enhanced thermal insulation and water absorptivity.
Post-cracking strength Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Thermal conductivity
Water absorptivity
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2018.06.083
0950-0618/Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
562 C. Jacob-Vaillancourt, L. Sorelli / Construction and Building Materials 182 (2018) 561–572
extensive sorting, conditioning and upgrading processes [7]. At Material E (GPa) ft (MPa) k (W/mK)
Material Recovery Facilities (MRF), different kinds of plastics are [29,31] [29] [30,31]
generally sorted manually (based on packaging visual appearance) PET 2.1–3.1 55–80 0.15
or with optical sorting units [8–10]. The sorted plastic streams are PE 0.6–1.4 18–30 0.33–0.52
then granulated, washed and often pelletized by conditioners to PVC 2.7–3.0 50–60 0.17–0.21
PP 1.3–1.8 25–40 0.12
obtain an easily marketable commodity [11]. Door-to-door collec- PS 3.1–3.3 30–55 0.105
tion programs are generating increasing volumes and kinds of plas- Quartzite sand 70 – 4.45
tic [5]. There is today a critical need for recycling technologies that Limestone gravel 70 – 2.29–2.78
can process large volumes of plastic at low cost with minimal prior Cement paste (w/c = 0.5) 36–40 – 1
conditioning, as an alternative to landfilling or incineration of plas-
tic. In this context, concrete offers a promising opportunity for
recycling postconsumer plastic waste due to its extensive world- that E decreases proportionally with PAG volume [17], e.g., Correira
wide volume production of about 10 km3/y, which is about 5, 7.7 et al. [22] found that E decreased by 13–31% for mixes where sand
and 10 times more than the yearly use of fired clay, timber, and was substituted by polyethylene terephthalate (PET) aggregates at
construction steel, respectively [12]. It is worth mentioning that 7.5% volume. This is somehow expected as PET aggregates have a
recycled construction and demolition concrete waste are already much lower E value than those of typical mineral aggregates
used as aggregate for structural concrete [12,14]. Recycling PAG (Table 2). It is also worth mentioning that the range in results
in concrete may help tackle three major environmental issues: (i) was due to the variation of the water-to-cement ratio as the
the ever-increasing amount of anthropogenic waste in landfills mix-designs were formulated to have a similar workability in
and the environment [13]; (ii) the concerns associated with terms of slump. Notably, contrarily to round sand particles or
extracting limited natural resources; (iii) improving the ecological pellet-shaped PAG, more angular PAG decreased the workability
footprint of concrete. A ‘‘systematic reuse of anthropogenic mate- of fresh concrete [22]. Moreover, PAG size can significantly impact
rials from urban areas” may result in a successful urban mining fresh concrete workability, and thus porosity, compaction and
application [15]. mechanical performances in hardened concrete [17,23]. For the
In the last decades, numerous research on the use of PAG as compressive strength fc, previous studies have found that replacing
sand replacement in concrete mixes have been undertaken sand by PAG also leads to a significant strength loss. Hannawi et al.
[16–18], which demonstrated their potentially beneficial effect [24] reported a decrease in fc of respectively 30% and 28% by
on concrete properties, such as: ductility, flexural toughness, den- replacing 10% of fine aggregate volume with PET and polycarbon-
sity and thermal resistance [19–21]. Table 1 summarizes some ate (PC) aggregates. The loss of fc was well correlated with the loss
results available in open literature on the effect of PAG on concrete of E, hinting to similar degradation mechanisms. Visual inspections
properties. In particular, Table 2 reports typical Young’s modulus of the interface zones under an electron microscope showed large
(E), tensile strength (ft) and thermal conductivity (k) of the poly- gaps around hydrophobic PAG, which weakens the bond with the
mers considered in this study along with typical concrete raw cement paste [24–26]. The interface zones between PAG and the
materials such as aggregates, sand and cement paste. The introduc- surrounding cement matrix resulted to be more porous than that
tion of PAG in concrete usually negatively affects the Young’s of a cement-mineral aggregates interface [24]. Compressive Post-
modulus E and the compressive strength (fc). It has been reported Cracking Strength (PCS) of concrete has several beneficial effects
Table 1
Summary of the reported effects of PAG on key material parameters.
Polymer used for PAG Size1 PAG volume2 fc loss3 (%) E loss3 (%) k loss4 (%) Slump loss (%) Reference Notes
PET <8 mm 7.5 31 31 8 [22] e
<4 mm 7.5 14 13 0
RPOMIX (compound) <2 mm 10 48.5 [21] a
20 75.7 50
PET <10 mm 10 30.5 [24] e
50 69 68.4
PC <5 mm 10 27.2 [24] e
50 63.9 61.9
PET <11.4 mm 20 49 48 100 [23] e
<2.6 mm 20 38 45 44
PVC <5 mm 15 18.6 13.8 [20] b
30 21.8 18.9
PU <4 mm 13.1 56 55 -14 [27] c
33.7 94 85 57
PET <2.5 mm 10 0 10.3 [28] d
30 0 20.6
100 86 73.8
a
Hydraulic lime mortars.
b
Lightweight concrete with expanded clay aggregates.
c
PUR foam lightweight mortars.
d
Mortars.
e
Concrete.
1
Estimated from a 95% passing value from size analysis curves.
2
Expressed as % of fine aggregates in concrete, and as % total volume in mortars.
3
Under wet curing conditions, when specified.
4
Dried specimens.
C. Jacob-Vaillancourt, L. Sorelli / Construction and Building Materials 182 (2018) 561–572 563
Fig. 3. Variations of the polymer compositions of the seven stream samples collected at the MRF (the legend colors are in the same vertical order of the histogram bar).
Fig. 4. Example of TGA results for PAG from PS fraction with 3 test repetitions.
2.4. Concrete mix designs
sample, and used to estimate a polymer percentage (‘‘% Polymer”) The considered concrete consisted of 400 kg/m3 cement; 1024
parameter. The experimental temperatures associated with this kg/m3 limestone aggregate; 724 kg/m3 quarry sand and 200 kg/m3
mass loss were corroborated with polymeric pyrolysis temperature water (% air = 3.7, slump = 125 mm). A volumetric fraction of sand
ranges reported in literature [42]. In the specific case of PVC, poly- was replaced by PAG samples, while ensuring that final concrete
mer pyrolysis occurs in two steps and generates carbon-based volume remained the same for all mixes. The water-to-cement
residual compounds (‘‘char”) [29]. Therefore, it was necessary to ratio (w/c = 0.5) was kept constant in this study without any cor-
combine mass losses for 2 pyrolysis steps and the mass loss imme- rections for slump. Table 5 summarizes the 14 mix designs studied
diately following combustion at 600 °C to better estimate the poly- in this work which were classified in 3 series: (i) Series ‘‘a” con-
mer content. The remaining mass after combustion mainly consists sisted of 4 mix designs with the same plastic material (MIX frac-
of inorganic material from polymer additives, reinforcement mate- tion, i.e., mixed plastic material stream prior to sorting), while
rial or surface contamination. varying the PAG volume and size distribution; (ii) Series ‘‘b” con-
As for the studied PAG, Table 4 reports the polymer concentra- sisted of 5 mix design at the same replacement volume content
tion estimated through TGA in terms of mean value and standard of sand (20%) by PAG, but different plastic kinds. Additional a bMIX
deviation. The impurity concentration (which is defined here as sample was fabricated by mixing all the sorted plastics to check the
the non polymeric part of sorted plastics) was below 10% with a effect of separating them; (iii) Series ‘‘c” consisted of 5 mix design
mean of 5% of weight. The contaminants in a plastic stream may with 10% sand replacement with PAG fractions PS-PVC 1 to 5 to
be papers (e.g., cellulose, lignin), adhesive labels, plastic additives verify the effect of seasonal variations in the plastic stream.
(e.g., pigments and reinforcement materials), and other residues Mix-designs were cast according to CSA A23.22C and CSA
such as food or detergents. Table 4 reports also the PAG apparent A23.23C standard procedures [38]. Each mixture was cast into 6
density measurements with satisfactory reproducibility. The opti- cylinders (height of 150 mm and diameter of 75 mm) for mechan-
cally sorted polymers exhibited a density between 0.919 and ical testing. Additionally, certain mixtures were cast into 3 cylin-
1.335 g/cm3. Plastic streams PVS-PS 1 to 5 have different apparent ders (height of 200 mm and diameter of 100 mm) for thermal
density due to seasonal effect. A preliminary analysis of PS and PVC conductivity, water absorption and density analyses. All cylinders
fractions showed that a slight variation in the apparent density were cured at 100% humidity for 28 days prior to mechanical test-
may exist between samples of the same polymer kind. Further- ing, and 15 days for thermal testing. The curing temperature was
more, the concentration of PS and PVC varied between mixed about 24 ± 2 °C. The air content and slump of fresh concrete were
samples 1 to 7 : based on Fig. 3, the volume content of PS and also characterised according to standard procedures CSA A23.24C
PVC was 54%±3% and 46%±3% for PS and PVC, respectively (where and CSA A23.25C, respectively [38]. All cylinders were cured at
Table 4
Characteristics of the plastic streams used in this study. 1.5 column width.
Fraction % Polymer PAG Apparent density (g/cm3) PAG Bulk density (g/cm3) PAG Shape index
MIX 97.76 ± 0.31 0.972 0.334 66.0
*
0.226 *77.0
PP 95.85 ± 0.20 0.919 0.330 64.1
PE 97.11 ± 0.37 0.952 0.358 62.4
PS 91.09 ± 1.31 1.086 0.287 73.6
PVC 97.44 ± 0.13 1.335 0.433 67.6
PS-PVC1 93.79 ± 0.53 1.182 0.380 67.9
PS-PVC2 93.39 ± 0.25 1.208 0.395 67.3
PS-PVC3 94.02 ± 0.20 1.200 0.377 68.6
PS-PVC4 95.07 ± 0.11 1.197 0.366 69.5
PS-PVC5 94.34 ± 0.44 1.195 0.349 70.8
*
Graded size distribution
566 C. Jacob-Vaillancourt, L. Sorelli / Construction and Building Materials 182 (2018) 561–572
Table 5
Concrete mix-designs studied in this work.
Tests Series Fraction Substitution rate (%) PAG Size distribution Air reducing agent (mL/m3) Concrete ID
Series a MIX 5 Coarse 0 a5
MIX 10 Coarse 0 a10
MIX 10 Graded 0 a10_graded
MIX 20 Coarse 0 a20
Series b PP 20 Coarse 50 bPP
PE 20 Coarse 50 bPE
PVC 20 Coarse 50 bPVC
PS 20 Coarse 50 bPS
MIX 20 Coarse 50 bMIX
PS-PVC1 10 Fine 25 c1
PS-PVC2 10 Fine 25 c2
Series c PS-PVC3 10 Fine 25 c3
PS-PVC4 10 Fine 25 c4
PS-PVC5 10 Fine 25 c5
100% humidity for 28 days prior to mechanical testing, while only stress-strain curve up to the EOL strain was defined as the elastic
15 days for density, water absorption and thermal testing. energy (We). Two toughness indices, I3 and I5, were defined by
integrating the stress strain-curve to a total strain of 3 and 5 times
2.5. Concrete characterization the EOL strain, respectively, while normalizing by the elastic com-
pression toughness, as follows : Ii = Wie/We with i = 3 or 5.
2.5.1. Elastic modulus E and compressive strength fc
A hydraulic press was employed to carry out the compressive
3. Results and discussion
tests. To measure the deformation during compressive testing, 3
linear variable differential transformers were mounted on the
3.1. Fresh concrete properties
cylindrical samples by means of two aluminium rings at a distance
of 100 mm. The E-modulus was determined by averaging the
Table 6 reports the fresh properties of mix designs in terms of
slopes of the last two of three cycles in the elastic regime at a con-
air content and slump. The replacement of spherical sand grains
trolled rate of 1.1 kN/s. The stress-strain curve of each cylinder was
with flakier PAG reduced slump as found in previous work
obtained by imposing a displacement of 0.25 mm/min. The test
[19,23]. For Series a, which did not include an air-reducing agent,
was stopped when the residual stress was equal to 30% of the
the air content increased significantly with the increase of PAG vol-
strength (fc). Results reported in Section 3 are averages of 4–5 test
ume content. The volume of entrapped air seems to be rather pro-
repetitions.
portional to the PAG volume. The hydrophobic nature of polymers
caused air bubbles to form on the surface of PAG. Such trapped air
2.5.2. Water absorption and concrete dry density layer on PAG surface could explain the gap observed at the PAG-
Dry densities were determined by drying the cylinders in an cement interface by previous authors [25,26]. The stability of these
oven at 60 °C until the recorded mass change was <0.5% in 24 h. trapped air bubbles on the surface of PAG has not been investi-
The cylinder dimensions measured with an accuracy of 10 mm were gated, although the effect of entrapped air on the compressive
employed to estimate their volumes. Water absorption was calcu- strength is previously found [39]. As for the rheology of fresh con-
lated by sinking the cylinders in boiling water for 5 h in accordance crete, the air content compensated the slump reduction due to PAG
to CSA A23.2-11C [38]. by a lubrication effect. For Series b, an air-reducing agent was used
in mix designs to stabilize the air content between 2.5 and 3.5 %,
2.5.3. Thermal conductivity which is comparable to the reference mix (3.7%). The slump values,
Thermal conductivities were obtained using oven-dried cylin- which were considerably lower than the reference, varied from
ders with 2 test repetitions under thermal equilibrium conditions 40 mm to 10 mm. As for Series c, an air-reducing agent was also
at an average temperature of 10 °C. Each cylinder was fitted with
two disc-shaped flowmeters in a fully isolated chamber, and the
Table 6
power flux in W/m2 was automatically acquired for a controlled
Air content and slump of concrete mixes. 1 column width.
temperature gradient set at 5 °C between the top and bottom disks.
A full description of the apparatus can be found in [43]. Thermal Concrete PAG volume Air Slump
mixtures content (%) content (%) (mm)
conductivity of the sample was estimated by assuming a simplified
Fourier law as follows: Ref 0 3.7 125
a05 5 7.2 110
k ¼ q h =rT ½W=m=K ð2Þ a10 10 8 75
a10_graded 10 7 35
where h is the specimen height, q is the power flux and rTis the a20 20 11.2 80
temperature gradient. bPP 20 2.8 40
bPE 20 3.1 40
bPVC 20 3 25
2.5.4. Toughness indices bPS 20 3.5 10
The compressive stress-strain curve of each mix design was bMIX 20 2.5 35
measured with 4–5 test repetitions for mix-design, while 10 repe- c1 10 5.8 60
titions for the reference concrete. The deformation of the End Of c2 10 2.7 55
Linearity (EOL) point was conventionally defined on stress vs. c3 10 3.1 50
strain curve when the tangent modulus differs from the initial c4 10 3.8 50
c5 10 7.6 85
E-modulus by more than 15%. Moreover, the area underneath the
C. Jacob-Vaillancourt, L. Sorelli / Construction and Building Materials 182 (2018) 561–572 567
used, but the entrapped air ranged from 2.7 to 7.6%. For Series c, it content (7.6%), which may hint that this uncertainty is mainly due
is possible that surface contamination of the flakes (e.g., leftover to variations in entrapped air.
soap or detergent) generated air bubbles, especially in the case of
concrete c5. In this study, plastic samples did not go through a 3.2.2. Compressive stress-strain curves and toughness indices
cleaning process as it is not common practice in material recovery Fig. 6a–d show mean compression stress-strain curves used to
facilities. evaluate PCS. The average stress-strain curves of Series a behaved
similarly to that of reference mix curve, although the maximum
3.2. Mechanical properties strength is significantly reduced at 20% replacement of sand
(Fig. 6a). Fig. 6b shows the 90% confidence interval bands (based
3.2.1. E-modulus and compressive strength on 5 test repetitions), highlighting the beneficial effect of PAG on
Fig. 5 shows the effect of the kind of PAG on the elastic modulus PCS dispersion after peak load (the same phenomenon was also
E and compressive strength fc in terms of mean values and stan- observed for Series b and c). In the reference mix, the confidence
dard deviation of 5 test repetitions. In Series a (Fig. 5a), the interval (with 10 samples) quickly expanded after peak strength
increase of PAG volume lowered both fc and E. At maximum because of randomly occurring brittle failure. It is possible that
replacement of 20% sand by PAG, fc and E losses are 46.9% and PAG acted as reinforcement fibers, somehow delaying damage
32.1%, respectively, compared to the reference mix. The lower propagation [21]. It is also noteworthy that graded PAG were
strength of a Series mixes depended on 3 factors: (i) PAG volume slightly more efficient than coarse PAG in maintaining PCS. If resid-
content. PAG with lower compressive strength could act as stress ual strength and ductility in PAG mixes is attributed to plastic
concentration zones favoring damage propagation; (ii) PAG- flakes delaying crack coalescence and propagation, smaller flakes
cement weakened interfaces; (iii) increased air content. Notably, could reduce crack propagation by generating more reinforcing
the PAG size distribution did not seem to significantly affected fc particles for the same volume of plastic. One should also note that
and E (see a10 and a10_graded). lower-strength concretes exhibit often a less brittle behavior.
For all the mixtures of Series b, the replacement of 20% sand vol- Series b and c, which are characterized by lower entrapped air
ume by PAG resulted in a relatively lower loss of fc and E with respect displayed significantly higher fracture energy. In particular, PVC
to mix design a20 thanks to the use of an air-reducing agent. Series b aggregates in Series b (and their combined use with PS in Series
showed that polymer kind can significantly affect the mechanical c) generated mixes that exhibit PCS after peak strength even
performances of concrete with a reduction of fc varying from 13 to greater than that of the reference mix. At 10% PAG volume, the
38 % (Fig. 5b). Interestingly, PVC and PS aggregates respectively gave toughness indices I3 and I5 of Series c were equal or superior to that
the best and the worst performances in Series b. In series b, the mean of the reference mix, except for high entrained-air c5 mixture
E for mix designs with recycled polymers is 26.6 GPa with a coeffi- (Table 7). In the same table, the embedded figure compares the
cient of variation of 5.9%, while mean fc is 31.8 MPa with a coeffi- toughness indices. One can observe that the PAG affects more the
cient of variation of 11.4%. It is worth noting that bMIX, simulating toughness index I5 than the I3, meaning that the effect on the dis-
the use of PAG that were not polymer-sorted, resulted in the second sipated energy is more at higher inelastic deformation. In more
best mechanical properties for Series b. details, as for series a, the PAG volume increases the toughness
As for Series c, the volume of PAG was relatively low (10% of index I5. As for series b, the mix bPVC shows also the highest tough-
total sand volume) and an air-reducing agent was used (Fig. 5c) ness I5 hinting for a better bond between PVC particles and cement
so that the reduction of E was limited to 12–18% with respect to paste. Finally, as for series c, the seasonal effect on the toughness
the reference mix. Series c showcased a good repeatability in E indices are limited.
with PAG collected from the same material streams over a period
of 11 months. Values ranged between 27.68 GPa (c5) and 30.08 3.2.3. Dry density, water absorption and thermal conductivity (k)
GPa (c3). However, the compressive strength fc showed to be more In order to study the water absorption and k parameters over a
sensitive to time-related variations by ranging from 31.81 MPa (c5) large gradient of concrete dry density, the following 6 mix designs
to 40.85 MPa (c3). In particular, mix design c5 had a very high air were chosen for further analyses: (i) Ref; (ii) a10; (iii) a10_graded;
Fig. 5. Mean values of elastic moduli E and compressive strength fc for (a) series a; (b) series b and (c) series c. The standard deviation bars are shown.
568 C. Jacob-Vaillancourt, L. Sorelli / Construction and Building Materials 182 (2018) 561–572
Fig. 6. Mean compressive stress-strain curve for (a) Series a with confidence interval bands (CI = 90%); (c) Series b; (d) Series c.
Table 7
Toughness indices for reference and experimental concrete mixtures.
Mix We I3 I5
Ref 0.64 7.22 14.39
a10 0.44 7.11 14.34
a10_graded 0.39 7.26 15.37
a20 0.19 7.06 15.63
bMIX 0.50 6.93 14.14
bPE 0.48 7.03 14.34
bPP 0.51 6.98 13.70
bPS 0.45 6.57 13.23
bPVC 0.62 7.10 14.51
c1 0.63 7.29 14.70
c2 0.72 7.07 13.78
c3 0.74 7.20 13.84
c4 0.65 7.16 14.43
c5 0.48 7.10 14.50
Fig. 7. For selected mix-designs: (a) Dry density and % absorbed water; (b) Dry density and thermal conductivity.
(iv) a20; (v) bMIX; and (vi) c2. As shown in Fig. 7, dry density val- imbibition. It is worth mentioning that water immersion methods
ues progressively decreased with an increase of air and plastic con- do not guarantee a complete saturation for mixes containing PAG
tent by ranging between 2.26 g/cm3 for the reference mix (3.4% air, due to the entrapped air bubbles caused by polymer flakes [44].
0% PAG) to 2.00 g/cm3 for A20 (11.2% air, 20% PAG). Mixtures with The thermal conductivity k is proportional to the dry density as
high air content such as Series a should normally be more porous evinced in Fig. 7b. Besides the effect of the different conductivity of
and permeable with higher water absorption [17,25]. As shown polymers [21,28], the Series a mixtures with higher air contents
in Fig. 7a, the mix a20 with the highest air void content was char- exhibited lower conductivities. As found by Dermiboga et al. [34],
acterized by the lowest water absorption. The air-reducing surfac- k was mostly influenced by the increased air voids generated by
tant may have had the effect of reducing the hydrophobicity of PAG PAG. Mix designs c2 and bMIX, have significantly lower thermal
surface. Such results are in agreement with those of Hannawi et al. conductivity than that that of the reference, despite the fact they
[24] who reported lower coefficients of water sorptivity with have similar air contents. Thus, thermal conductivity also depends
higher PAG contents. The authors attributed these results to the on the conductivity of concrete constituents, volume of air content
hydrophobic nature of the polymer flakes, which reduces the water and PAG volume. Furthermore, Côté and Konrad suggested that
C. Jacob-Vaillancourt, L. Sorelli / Construction and Building Materials 182 (2018) 561–572 569
thermal conductivity in cement materials is also influenced by the crete ft [39,45]. Thus, aggregate mechanical strength and shape are
pore shape and the ratio of water-to-entrapped air [43]. key factors for concrete mechanical properties.
Fig. 9b shows that entrapped air is correlated to mechanical prop-
3.3. Correlation study erties in Series c (R2 = 0.7). The wide range of entrapped air in Series c
does not seem to be strongly dependent on any of the measured PAG
This section investigates the Pearson correlation between the properties (shape, % polymer, apparent and bulk densities). Thus, the
mechanical performances and the characteristics of studied PAG. explanation of such varying higher air content may be inferred to
All the correlation tables are presented in section A for the 3 series surface contamination of PAG from material stream, such as resi-
and the 6 mix designs investigated in the Section 3.2.3. In dues in household detergent of soap bottles. This highlights the
particular, Figs. 8 and 9 shows the most relevant correlations. importance to add a washing step in the preparation of PAG in order
Fig. 8a shows that, for the Series a without air reducer, the com- to achieve consistent results in further research. The positive rela-
pressive strength fc and the volume of entrapped air are strongly tionship between slump and % air content is also evidenced in
correlated to PAG volume. The hydrophobic plastic particles may Fig. 9b. Finally, Fig. 9c shows a good correlation (R2 = 0.96) between
explain the strong correlation between air content and PAG concrete dry density and thermal conductivity k. The changes in dry
volume. In Series b, PAG shape index varied strongly as plastic frac- density resulted from both variation of PAG volumes and variation of
tions were characterized by different packaging items. Fig. 8b percentage of entrapped air. Air has a low k (0.024 W/m/K) and poly-
shows the strong dependency of the slump on the shape mers’ k are about one order of magnitude lower than conventional
(angularity) of aggregates for Series b. Although the same granula- concrete materials (Table 2).
tion process and sieves were applied to all PAG, the difference in
container wall thickness generated particles of different morpholo- 4. Concluding remarks
gies, which in turn affected the slump of fresh concrete. Finally, the
entrapped air is also strongly correlated to slump, due to its effect Facing the urgent need to find eco-friendly applications for recy-
on the viscosity of fresh concrete batches. cled polymers, this work analyses some thermo-mechanical prop-
Fig. 9 shows the effect of the aggregate bulk density on fc for the erties of concrete incorporating PAG from real postconsumer
Series b and Series c. The former which have similar air content, material streams. In particular, 3 effects were considered, such
shows a strong correction which likely depends on the intrinsic as: (i) the volume and size of PAG; (ii) the kind of recycled poly-
apparent density (q) of the different plastics. mer; (iii) seasonal or time effect on stream quality. Based on the
In general, spherical aggregates of graded size distribution lead present results, the following conclusions can be drawn:
to higher packing density and better mechanical resistance, while
lower packing density are achieved by randomly distributed elon- 1. As for the mechanical properties, the replacement of 20% sand
gated (or flaky) particles [39]. Based on empirical data, aggregate volume by PAG (series a) reduced E-modulus and compressive
shape alone may explain up to 22% of concrete fc and 31% of con- strength (fc) of concrete by 32% and 47%, respectively;
Fig. 8. (a) For Series a, fc and % air content vs. PAG volume; (b) For Series b, slump vs. PAG shape index.
Fig. 9. Correlation curves: (a) fc vs. PAG bulk density for Series b and Series c; (b) Slump and fc vs. % entrapped air for Series c; (c) Concrete dry density vs. k. (Standard
deviation bars is shown).
570 C. Jacob-Vaillancourt, L. Sorelli / Construction and Building Materials 182 (2018) 561–572
2. The addition of air-reducing agent reduces the strength loss due 8. A correlation study revealed that the PAG bulk density is the
to the PAG addition. Considering the lack of information on key factor behind compressive strength (fc), while the shape
measured air content in previous studies on PAG concrete index had a strong influence on the concrete workability
[17], this result highlights the importance to consider the effect (slump). This explains why the PVC aggregates, which had the
of entrapped air induced by PAG and the use of an air-reducing highest bulk density, generated mixes with significantly higher
concrete additive; compressive strngth fc. On the other hand, particle size of PAG
3. Considering the kind of recycled polymer at 20% replacement of were found to have an appreciable effect only on concrete
sand (series b), PVC aggregates were found to perform the best PCS, but almost no influence on the studied properties E, fc, k
(fc reduction of 14%, E reduction of 18%); or water absorption;
4. Replacing 10% of sand with a combination of recycled PVC and
PS (Series c) engendered a relatively smaller reduction of Upcycling of postconsumer plastics as aggregate replacement in
compressive strength (fc reduction of 11%) and stifness concrete appears to be a feasible and promising endeavour for
(E reduction of 13% on average), while maintaining similar addressing today’s environmental issues and improving concrete
post-cracking strength and toughness (i.e. in terms of tough- mechanical resilience and thermal properties. Our next works will
ness index I5); extend this study to other mechanical properties (e.g., flexural
5. As benefit, PAG reduced thermal conductivity (k) by about 4.4% behaviour, drying shrinkage, etc.) and durability properties (e.g.,
in concrete composites with similar air content, which can pro- freeze–thaw resistance, salt scaling, etc.), especially considering
vide an interesting improvement for building isolation; specific concrete applications.
6. PAG exhibited a remarkable reduction of the water adsorption
capacity of concrete, in spite of the increased porosity, perhaps
5. Conflict of interest
due to their hydrophobic surface and electrostatic forces. This
offers new potentials for impermeable concrete applications
None.
where durability is a concern;
7. Sampling plastic material over time generated significant varia-
tions in material composition and PAG properties. In general, Acknowledgements and Funding sources
time-related variations had a rather minimal impact on con-
crete performances (differences of about 3% in terms of E and The authors wish to thank Gaudreau Environnement Inc. and
fc), with the exception of a mix design (series c5) which was the National Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC)
characterized by an unexpected high volume of entrapped air. CRDPJ 477126-14 for funding this research. The first Author
This suggested that surface-cleaned post-consumer plastic also extends his gratitude to the Fonds Québécois de Recherche
waste could be systematically used as concrete aggregate en Nature et Technologies (FQRNT) and RECYC-QUEBEC for
replacement. Also, the use of an air-reducing agent will help scholarships.
stabilise the effect of variable entrapped air. Eventually, uncer-
tainties in concrete properties can be further reduced by a care-
Appendix
ful monitoring of variations in plastic packaging types in the
material stream;
See Tables A1, A2, A3 and A4.
Table A1
Correlation table for Series a (including Reference). Pearson coefficients above 0.90 are in bold.
E (GPa) fc (MPa) W0 (Nm) I3 (Nm) I5 (Nm) Entrapped air (%) Slump (mm) PAG volume (%)
E (GPa) – – – – – – – –
fc (MPa) 0.99 – – – – – – –
W0 (Nm) 0.97 0.98 – – – – – –
I3 (Nm) 0.76 0.74 0.72 – – – – –
I5 (Nm) 0.61 0.57 0.52 0.95 – – – –
Entrapped air (%) 0.98 0.98 0.95 0.83 0.70 – – –
Slump (mm) 0.55 0.57 0.63 0.07 0.34 0.39 – –
PAG volume (%) 0.99 0.98 0.98 0.83 0.67 0.96 0.53 –
Table A2
Correlation table for Series b. Pearson coefficients above 0.90 are in bold.
Table A3
Correlation table for Series c. Pearson coefficients above 0.90 are in bold.
Table A4
Correlation table for 6 mix designs selected for dry density, water absorption and thermal conductivity characterization. Pearson coefficients above 0.90 are in bold.
Thermal conductivity Water absorption Dry density Entrapped Slump PAG PAG density PAG shape
[W/(mK)] (% mass) (g/cm3) air (%) (mm) volume (%) (g/cm3) index
Thermal conductivity – – – – – – – –
Water absorption (% mass) 0.77 – – – – – – –
Dry density 0.97 0.71 – – – – – –
Entrapped air (%) 0.77 0.59 0.88 – – – – –
Slump 0.41 0.29 0.18 0.14 – – – –
PAG volume (%) 0.84 0.69 0.72 0.32 0.59 – – –
PAG density 0.70 0.16 0.70 0.51 0.00 0.43 – –
PAG shape index 0.09 0.09 0.12 0.11 0.48 0.52 0.08 –
PAG bulk density 0.31 0.19 0.27 0.33 0.42 0.14 0.63 0.82
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