778-Full Length Article-2037-1-10-20210622
778-Full Length Article-2037-1-10-20210622
778-Full Length Article-2037-1-10-20210622
2University
Research Office
De La Salle University – Dasmariñas
City of Dasmariñas, 4114 Philippines
Abstract
Population concurrently grows with demand for food and infrastructure, which are
associated with plastic waste mismanagement and concrete hollow block (CHB)
consumption, respectively. However, there is a dearth in the utilization of plastic
pellets using polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polystyrene (PS) in CHBs. Hence, this study
aimed to characterize PVC and PS pellets, and evaluate and compare their potentials
when incorporated as fine aggregates in CHBs in terms of workability and compressive
strength. The pellets were characterized and used as a substitute to sand resulting in
four batches of CHB specimen with 0, 10, 20, and 30% by volume of each pellet. Results
revealed that PVC absorbed more and sank in the water while PS absorbed less and
floated in water. The workability of both experimental groups increased as the
substitution of pellets was increased. The compressive strengths of the PVC group
dropped linearly with increasing pellet substitution and less than the minimum
acceptable value. The batch with 30% PS pellets resulted in the highest compressive
strength of 3.66 MPa among the experimental groups and greater than the minimum
acceptable value of 3.45 MPa. Results implied that the incorporation of PS pellets in
CHBs can be a promising solution to the plastic waste mismanagement and demand
for stronger CHBs.
Keywords: plastic utensil, wire cable insulation, slump value, compressive load, mass
concrete
1. Introduction
Aside from food, the exponential demand for shelter and infrastructure entails
the rise in the need for construction materials with sufficient fresh and strength
parameters to withstand any topographical and environmental risks and
disasters such as typhoons and earthquakes. According to Reddy and Kolasani
(2015), water and concrete hollow blocks (CHB) are the top two of the most
consumed substances on earth. These materials are in great demand
particularly in the industrial sector for infrastructural projects.
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Gregorova et al., 2017; Hama and Hilal, 2017; Khalil and Khalaf, 2017; Lasco
et al., 2017; Patel and Dala, 2017; De Jesus et al., 2018; Nguyen et al., 2018;
Hameed and Ahmed, 2019). Generally, fresh and strength parameters of
concrete increase almost linearly as the percentage of replacement increases
(Sharma and Bansal, 2015; Babafemi et al., 2018). The studies have
established the fact that the replacement of concrete constituents affects the
concrete’s fresh and strength parameters.
2. Methodology
The study used an experimental research design. Materials were acquired from
the local hardware in Silang, Cavite, Philippines. The materials were prepared
based on the characterization and computed amount of each material before
mixing. The mixing of each material for each batch was done in a construction
site in Silang, Cavite. The fresh parameter of each batch was tested in situ after
acquiring a wet mixture. The specimens were then cured in preparation for the
measurement of strength parameter done at the laboratories of the College of
Engineering, Architecture, and Technology (CEAT) of De La Salle University
– Dasmariñas (DLSU-D).
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The raw materials used were water, cement, white sand, PVC pellets, and PS
pellets. Commonly used for mixing and curing, the clean tap water was from
the CHB manufacturing site in Silang, Cavite. The specific gravity was taken
as 1.00. The cement used was Type 1 Portland cement purchased from a local
supplier. White sand as the fine aggregate was characterized and prepared
until a saturated surface dry condition was achieved. The PVC pellets were
thermoplastic pellets previously used as wire cable insulation obtained from a
junk shop in Silang, Cavite, wherein ground residual wastes from electronics
companies in the place are received. The PS pellets were in the form of plastic
cutlery wastes from the same junk shop. These cutleries were ground in a
grinding machine to achieve pellet size. These pellets in Figure 1 underwent
sieve analysis using American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)
E11-20 (2020) sieve plate number 04 with an aperture of 4.75 mm (Milano,
Italy). Pellets with sizes larger than 4.75 mm (> 4.75 mm) were excluded as it
may affect the strength parameters of the specimen (Lasco et al., 2017). These
materials were characterized in terms of density and specific gravity using
Archimedes’ Principle (Lasco et al., 2017), bulk density following ASTM
D1895-17 (2017), and absorption for 24 h following ASTM D570-98 (2018),
which became the bases for mixing. The fluid used in the characterization of
PVC pellets was distilled water while isopropyl alcohol was utilized for PS
pellets due to the difference in specific gravity.
(a) (b)
Figure 1. PVC pellets from wire cable insulation (a) and PS pellets from plastic
utensils (b) ground using grinding machineries
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The materials were mixed to form the test specimens. Four batches each were
prepared for PVC- and PS-blended CHBs: batch 1 (0%), batch 2 (10%), batch
3 (20%), and batch 4 (30%) (Lasco et al., 2017). Batch 1 served as the
reference group wherein all other batches were compared with. The
distribution and measurement of each raw material based on the
characterization for each batch are shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Masses (kg) of each CHB constituent per cubic meter (m3) corresponding to
a mixed proportion (adapted from Lasco et al., 2017)
For each batch, five test specimens were made to maintain objectivity and
attain precision. This resulted in a total of 35 test specimens. The materials
were mixed with the cement to the sand ratio of 1:5 by volume and water-
cement ratio of 0.50 by volume. The test specimen mixtures were molded into
a 4” x 8” x 16” nominal size of CHBs (Lasco et al., 2017) using a molder.
Overestimation of materials was done with the help of the owner and expert
in CHB manufacturing from Silang, Cavite to account for spillage during the
mixing process.
The workability was tested following standard test method for slump of
hydraulic cement concrete conforming to ASTM C143/C143M-20 (2020).
Compressive strength was tested using the universal testing machine (UTM)
for the standard test for sampling and testing concrete masonry units and
related units following ASTM C140/C140M-20a (2020). The compressive
strength test was done under the supervision of the technical support personnel
and laboratory technician of CEAT in DLSU-D. The results were reviewed
and certified by a civil engineer specializing in structural engineering.
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The data gathered for the parameters from batches 2 to 4 were compared with
batch 1. The data analyses were focused on determining if at least one batch
was different from the reference group using one-way analysis of variance
(ANOVA). Pairwise mean comparison was then utilized to determine which
pairs of data were significantly different. All statistical analyses were done at
a 5% probability level.
As shown in Table 2, white sand and PVC aggregates sank in the water while
PS aggregates floated otherwise. Moreover, the PVC had a greater absorption
ability than PS which were both lower than that of the white sand. This means
that when the pellets were mixed with two different concrete mixtures, there
was more water available in the PS mixture than the PVC mixture for
hydration. Furthermore, the specific gravity of the PVC and PS pellets was
higher than that of the cited literature which used PP pellets with 0.89 (Lasco
et al., 2017). Meanwhile, the same as the sand, PVC pellets sank in the water.
These, in turn, justified the fact that whether the plastic pellet sinks or floats
in water, it can be a fine aggregate substitute for CHB mixture.
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3.2 Workability
Table 3 shows the average measured workability or slump values (mm) of wet
concrete mixtures with PVC and PS plastic as fine aggregates. Based on the
results, the control group obtained the lowest slump value, and batch 4 of both
plastic-blended concretes attained the highest slump values. It can also be
observed that workability increased as the percentage of plastic pellets was
increased (Figure 2). Moreover, the mean slump values of the concretes with
PS pellets were slower than that of the PVC pellets.
Table 3. Workability (mm) of PVC- and PS- blended CHBs following the slump test
(ASTM C143/C143M-20, 2020)
Workability (mm)
Batches Degree of Workability
PVC PS
1 (0%) 10.30A 10.30A
2 (10%) 14.60BX 12.60BY Very low
3 (20%) 16.30CX 14.70BY (0 – 25 mm)
4 (30%) 21.90DX 21.10CY
ABCD
– Treatment within each type of plastic (batches); XY – the type of plastic pellets (PVC versus PS).
Different letters indicate a significant difference at the 0.05 level.
This set of data and observations confirmed the study of Choi et al. (2009) as
cited by Khalil and Khalaf (2017), Patel and Dala (2017) and Babafemi et al.
(2018). This trend was attributed to the lower absorption of the pellets (Table
2) resulting in a greater amount of water for the hydration of the mixture when
the amount of the natural fine aggregates was reduced (Babafemi et al., 2018).
Conversely, this result contradicts the study of Rai et al. (2012) as cited by
Babafemi et al. (2018). It can be inferred that concrete mixtures with PVC
pellets had greater slump values than that of the concrete mixtures with PS
pellets. Such result is in contrast with the idea that if the supplement has low
absorption (Babafemi et al., 2018), there is more amount of water available
for hydration since PVC had greater absorption than PS. This can be attributed
to the fact that the absorption test of PS pellets was done using isopropyl
alcohol compared with PVC pellets which were immersed in distilled water.
The values from batch 1 to 4 were within the very dry mixture classification
between 0 to 25 mm (The Constructor, 2018). This implies that the types of
concrete formed were suitable for the roads vibrated by power-operated
machines and can be compacted by hand-operated machines. Moreover, batch
4 of both plastic-blended concretes with PVC and PS pellets were in the range
of 20 to 40 mm for a mixture that can be maximized for road construction.
The same batch for plastic-blended concretes can be classified as a mixture
for mass concrete with a workability value ranged from 20 to 50 mm (The
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25.00
20.00
Workability (mm)
15.00 PVC
PS
10.00
5.00
0.00
1 (0%) 2 (10%) 3 (20%) 4 (30%)
Batches
Based on the results, it can be seen that batch 1 attained the maximum
compressive strength. For CHBs with plastic pellets, batch 4 (30% PVC
pellets) and batch 3 (20% PS pellets) attained the weakest compressive
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4.00
3.50
Compressive Strength (MPa)
3.00
2.50
2.00
PVC
1.50
PS
1.00
0.50
0.00
1 (0%) 2 (10%) 3 (20%) 4 (30%)
Batches
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The dropped trend of the compressive strength or the localized cracking of the
test specimens after being subjected to UTM was attributed to three common
reasons. First, there is a decrease in the adhesive force between the surface of
the waste plastic and cement paste (Lasco et al., 2017). Second, it is the nature
of plastic to be hydrophobic which can restrict the flow of water which in turn
made the curing period of the CHBs less effective. Third, the aforementioned
reasons result in lower strength in the interfacial transition zone (ITZ) of the
CHBs (Sharma and Bansal, 2015) and greater probability of having an
increase in the matrix porosity; thus, decreasing the specimen density and
compressive strength (Senhadji et al., 2015).
The fine aggregates used to partially replace the sand as natural aggregate
were characterized in terms of density, specific gravity, bulk density, and
absorption. PVC had a greater absorption ability than PS which both were
lower than that of the white sand. PVC pellets absorbed more than PS pellets.
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Hence, the PS-concrete mixture had more water for hydration than the PVC-
concrete mixture.
The study also revealed that the workability in terms of slump values of fresh
concrete mixtures increased linearly as the percentage replacements of both
PVC and PS pellets increased. This observation is linked to the pellet
absorption that resulted in more water for plastic-blended mixtures hydration.
Both slump values of PVC- and PS-blended CHBs are qualified for roads
vibrated by power-operated machines and can be compacted by hand-operated
machines. Further, both batch 4 of plastic-blended CHBs are apt for massive
structure utilization such as dams, bridge piers, and canal locks among others.
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5. Acknowledgement
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