Mechanical and fracture characteristics of self-compacting concretes containing different percentage of plastic waste powder

This study addresses the mechanical and fracture properties of self-compacting concretes (SCCs) containing plastic waste (PW) powder in varying amounts used as a cement replacement material. Partial amount of cement was replaced by PW powder at 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% by weight so as to design six SCC mixtures with a constant slump flow of 700 ± 30 mm, total binder content of 550 kg/m3 and water-to-binder (w/b) ratio of 0.35. Mechanical characteristics of SCCs were tested for compressive and splitting tensile strengths, net flexural strength as well as modulus of elasticity at 28 day. Moreover, failure characteristics of the concrete were monitored via three-point bending test on the notched beams. The findings indicated that mechanical properties of PVC powder modified SCCs decreased while the concretes became less brittle.