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Mechanical and Microstructural Behavior of Concrete with LDPE Waste as Partial Fine Aggregate Replacement
Summary
Substituting up to 20% of fine aggregate with recycled LDPE plastic in concrete consistently reduced compressive, tensile, and flexural strength by approximately 40%, while lowering density. The study demonstrates that while plastic waste can be incorporated into construction materials to divert it from landfills, structural applications require careful limits on substitution rates.
Waste plastic disposal poses a significant global environmental challenge due to its health risks, high disposal costs, and the difficulty of landfill management. Unauthorized dumping exacerbates the problem, highlighting the need for sustainable reuse solutions. Hence, there is a crucial need to explore alternative methods for reusing plastic waste for other purposes, and concrete has been determined as one of the viable options to use the plastic waste as a part of concrete’s aggregate. Therefore. This study aims to illustrate the use of Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE) in Jordan as a partial replacement for fine aggregate in 40 MPa concrete and evaluating its impact on the mechanical and physical properties of concrete based on the 0 %, 5 %, 10 %, 15 %, and 20% percentage of plastic replaced. By preparing and testing the five different concrete mixes with LDPE replacement at a 0.4 water-cement ratio (W/C). The inclusion of plastic aggregates resulted consistent reduction in mechanical properties with increasing plastic aggregate replacement, where compressive strength declined from 42.5 MPa (0 %) to 25.4 MPa (20 %), split tensile strength from 3.8 MPa to 2.3 MPa, and flexural strength from 5.2 MPa to 3.2 MPa, showing 40.2 %, 39.5 %, and 38.5 % respectively maximum reductions. Therefore, plastic can be considered an environmentally friendly material when used as a partial replacement for fine aggregates in concrete, depending on its strength properties Its suitability differs for structural, light structural, and non- structural applications in constructions.