STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF ADDING PLASTIC RESIDUES IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CONCRETE HOLLOW BLOCKS

Abstract

Plastics  with  the  highest  presence  in  industrial  waste  are:  polyethylene  (PE),  polyvinyl  chloride  (PVC)  and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), since they represent the highest proportion of materials used in everyday use. In order to take advantage of the abundance of these residues, it has been considered as an efficient alternative the  use  of  them  in  the  construction,  since  when  used  as  aggregates  in  the  mixtures  to  manufacture  various structures,  they  significantly  modify  certain  physical  and  mechanical  properties:  Weight  in  the  manufactured structures,  increase  in  the  resistance  to  the  compression  of  the  same  and  provide  thermal  and  acoustic insulation.  In  the  following  work  the  effect  of  the  addition  of  PVC  and  PET  residues  in  the  manufacture  of hollow  concrete  blocks  was  studied.  Blocks  with  27%  PET,  10.24%  and  14.61%  PVC  respectively  were manufactured  as  a  filler,  which  were  compared  to  blocks  with  no  plastic  residues.  Compression  tests  were performed on the blocks, according to the COVENIN 42-82 standard. The results obtained in this test show that the  addition  of  the  residues  favors  the  reduction  of  weight,  load  and  compressive  strength  supported  in  the blocks, however the percentage of moisture absorption did not present a concrete trend.