Abstract
Most PET bottles used as beverage containers become waste after their usage, causing environmental problems. To address this issue, a method to recycle wasted PET bottles is presented, in which short fibers made from recycled PET are used within structural concrete. To verify the performance capacity of recycled PET fiber reinforced concrete, it was compared with that of polypropylene (PP) fiber reinforced concrete for fiber volume fractions of 0.5%, 0.75%, and 1.0%. Appropriate tests were performed to measure material properties such as compressive strength, elastic modulus, and restrained drying shrinkage strain. Flexural tests were performed to measure the strength and ductility capacities of reinforced concrete (RC) members cast with recycled PET fiber reinforced concrete. The results show that compressive strength and elastic modulus both decreased as fiber volume fraction increased. Cracking due to drying shrinkage was delayed in the PET fiber reinforced concrete specimens, compared to such cracking in non-reinforced specimens without fiber reinforcement (NF), which indicates crack controlling and bridging characteristics of the recycled PET fibers. Regarding structural member performance, ultimate strength and relative ductility of PET fiber reinforced RC beams are significantly larger than those of companion specimens without fiber reinforcement.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 232-240 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Cement and Concrete Composites |
| Volume | 32 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2010 Mar |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This research was supported by the financial assistance from Korea Science and Engineering Foundation (KOSEF) (Grant No. R01-2008-000-1117601 ) and Center for Concrete Corea from the Ministry of Construction and Transportation.
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Building and Construction
- Materials Science(all)