assessment of mechanical and durability properties of concrete containing pet waste

Plastic waste is a silent threat to the environment, and their disposal is a serious issue. to sort out this issue, many efforts were made to reuse the plastic waste, but no significant results were achieved. on the contrary, concrete being the widely used construction material is facing problem due to unavailability of ingredient material (sand and coarse aggregate). in this study pet (polyethylene terephthalate) aggregates manufactured from the waste un-washed pet bottles in shredded form were used to partially replace fine aggregate and coarse aggregate in concrete in various percentages (0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20%). various tests like workability, compressive strength, flexural strength, water permeability, abrasion resistance, dynamic and static modulus of elasticity were performed. the micro-structural analysis of the specimens was carried out using an optical microscope. it was found that the workability, compressive strength, flexural strength, dynamic and static modulus of elasticity decreased with the increasing amount of pet waste in concrete. water permeability of concrete was found to increase with increasing amount of pet waste. in both the cases, i.e., when fine and coarse aggregates were replaced with pet waste, an improvement in the abrasion resistance of concrete was found.