Republic of the Philippines

Central Luzon State University

Science City of Muoz, Nueva Ecija

EVALUATION OF PLASTIC AGGREGATES

USED AS HOLLOW BLOCKS

By:
ALQUINN B. TABLANG
BSCE 5-2

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirementsin

CENGR 522 (SPECIAL PROBLEM)
College of Engineering

Supervised by:
ENGR. PETER O GELILIO
Instructor, Department of Civil Engineering, CLSU

PLASTIC AGGREGATES IN CHB

(CONCRETE HOLLOW BLOCKS)

CHAPTER 1
I. INTRODUCTION
Disposal of plastic waste in environment is considered to be a big problem due to its very
low biodegradability and presence in large quantities. In recent time significant research is
underway to study the possibility of disposal of these wastes in mass concrete where strength of
concrete may not be major criteria under consideration, such as heavy mass of concreting in PCC
in pavements. If plastic wastes can be mixed in the concrete mass in some form, without
significant effect on its other properties or slight compromise in strength, we can consume large
quantities of plastic waste by mixing it in the concrete mass. Plastic is one component of
municipal solid waste (MSW) which is becoming a major research issue for its possible use in
concrete especially in self-compacting concrete and light weight concrete. Although some of
these materials can be beneficially incorporated in concrete, both as part of the cementitious
binder phase or as aggregates, it is important to realize that not all waste materials are suitable
for such use.
One of the main environmental problem today is the disposal of the waste plastics. The use
of plastics in various places as packing materials and the products such as bottles, polythene
sheets, containers, packing strips etc., are increasing day by day. This results in production of
plastic wastes from all sorts of livings from industrial manufacturers to domestic users. To
circumvent this pollution crisis, many products are being produced from reusable waste plastics.

On the other side, the Indian construction industry is facing problems due to insufficient and
unavailability of construction materials. So, we need to search for new construction materials as
well as a method to dispose the plastic waste. To find a solution to the above problems, one of
them can be used to solve the other.
Disposal of used plastics by land filling may be temporary solution and also affects ground
water recharging and soil microbe activities. Incineration of plastic material will cause air
pollution, global warming and monsoon failure. Investigations done so far have shown that waste
plastics can be utilized for making polymer aggregate blocks with ceramics and granite, which
can be used in laying footpaths. The blocks can take 350 tonnes of load and prevents water
penetration. They can also be used in lining of canals. A bitumen blend can be used as a coat
over reinforced cardboard for roofing. Besides enhancing the strength and life of roofing, used
by the poor, the blend will provide better moisture resistant. A blend of waste plastics with
mastic components and flooring materials provides floors of more strength, especially in
industrial units. Waste polymers also infuse greater strength when mixed with cement as a
reinforced concrete.
Concrete has proved to be an excellent disposal means for fly ash, silica fume, ground
granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS), marble powder, and so forth which not only traps the
hazardous material but also enhances the properties of concrete. Concrete, as a material, has
significantly been benefited from the usage of fly ash, silica fumes, and GGBS. For a constant
workability, the reduction in water demand of concrete due to fly ash is usually between 5 and
15% when compared with Portland cement only mix. The reduction is large at higher w/c ratio.

II. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The Philippines concrete industry is today consuming about 400 million tonnes of concrete
every year and it is expected, that this may reach a billion tonnes in less than a decade. All the
materials required to produce such huge quantities of concrete, come from the earths crust, thus
depleting its resources every year creating ecological strains. On the other hand, human activities
on earth produce solid wastes in considerable quantities i.e., over 2500 million tonnes per year,
including industrial wastes, agricultural wastes and other wastes from rural and urban societies.
Disposal of such solid wastes involves economic issues as well as ecological and environmental
considerations. The major ecological strain in disposal of solid waste may be due to the presence
of waste plastics in it.
The plastic is one of the recent engineering materials which have appeared in the market all
over the world. Some varieties of naturally occurring thermoplastics were known to Egyptians
and Romans who extracted and used these plastics for various purposes. Plastics were used in
bath and sink units, corrugated and plain sheets, floor tiles, joint less flooring, paints and
varnishes and wall tiles. Other than these, domestically plastics were used in various forms as
carry bags, bottles, cans and also in various medical utilities. There has been a steep rise in the
production of plastics from a mere 30 million kN in 1955, it has touched 1000 million kN at
present. It is estimated that on an average 25% of the total plastic production in the world is used
by the building industry. The per capita consumption of plastics in the developed countries
ranges from 500 to 1000N while in our country, it is only about 2N. There is however now
increase in awareness regarding the utilization of plastic as a useful building material in our
country. These types of usages normally generates more amount of wastes which are to be
disposed off properly.

Environmentally sensitive aware people condemn the use of plastics for amount of pollution
caused by them in disposal. However this is not a serious problem in comparison to the waste
and pollution generated by a host of other industries. The non-biodegradable plastic products
used for soft drink bottles, milk and juice bottles, bread bags, syrup bottles, coffee cups, plastics
utensils etc., can be conveniently recycled into carpets, detergent bottle, drainage pipes, fencing,
handrails, grocery bags, car battery cases, pencil holders, benches, picnic tables, road side posts
etc,. The developing construction field consumes a huge amount of concrete and it leads to the
depletion of natural products and causes environmental pollution.
Plastics are normally stable and not biodegradable. So, their disposal poses problems.
Research works are going on in making use of plastics wastes effectively as additives in bitumen
mixes for the road pavements. Reengineered plastics are used for solving the solid waste
management problems to great extent. This study attempts to give a contribution to the effective
use of waste plastics in concrete in order to prevent the ecological and environmental strains
caused by them, also to limit the high amount of environmental degradation.
Four types of plastic materials were selected to mix along with the concrete: (1) Polythene
Sheet (2) Raw Plastics (3) Road Wastes (4) Plastic Straw to study their behavior in conjunction
with concrete. The properties of the materials used in the present investigations were completely
studied and the optimum mix of the above plastic materials was found based on their
compressive, split tensile, flexural strengths. After finding the optimum mix percentages in
compression, RC columns were cast and tested for its compressive strength. From the
investigation, the road waste mixed concrete was found to take more loads in compression. Raw
plastic mixed concrete as well as plastic straw mixed concrete were also found to give better
strength than the reference RC column.

III.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

1. How to solve the problems in waste about plastics in the Philippines?

2. What material can make out of waste plastics?
3. Can plastic be an raw material in making construction material?
4. What can plastic bottles/PVC (ground) do to make a masonry material more durable?
5. Is this material economical and more durable than an ordinary CHB (Concrete Hollow
Blocks)?

IV.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. To determine the ways in solving about plastic waste problems in the Philippines.
2. To determine if plastics are suitable in making construction material.
3. To determine the characteristics of concrete with plastics additives.
4. To make a construction material such as CHB (Concrete Hollow Blocks) an economical
and more durable material that are used in builbings.

V. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study is significant in a way that it can make the construction suppy help Philippines in
solving problems in waste plastics, and prevent floods in the regions, cities and community that
are highly producing of plasctics waste.
This study can be a reflection to readers who have an insight of Civil Engineering as a
construction theory and building only, but being an investigators and inventors also of material
and also ecologist.
Lastly, this study can be a basis for students looking for responses regarding the
considerations of problems about their community, cities, regions and the whole country.

CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
In recent years there has been an increased use of mixing the Portland cement and GGBS
components directly in the concrete mixer. An advantage of this procedure is that the proportion
of Portland cement and GGBS can be varied at will. The granulated slug can be ground to a
fineness of any desired value, but usually, greater than 350m3/kg. The presence of GGBS in the
mix improves workability and makes the mix more mobile but cohesive. However, the
workability of concrete containing GGBS is more sensitive to variations in the water content of
the mix than is the case with Portland cement only concrete. Mixes containing GGBS are found
to exhibit an early loss of slump. The presence of GGBS in the mix leads to retardation of 30 to
60min at normal temperatures. Silica fume has a very high reactivity with calcium hydroxide,
and this reactivity permits silica fume as a replacement for a small proportion of Portland
cement. Marble powder has higher density and it is assumed that this would improve the
segregation resistance of the self-compacting concrete. Corinaldesi et al. mentioned that high
fineness of marble powder is proved to be very effective in assuming very good cohesiveness of
mortar and concrete. They further showed that marble powder had a very high Blaines fineness
value of about 1.5m2/g with 90% of particles passing through 50m sieves and 50% under 7m.
According to Gupta et al. the value of segregation index increases with the increase in the
amount of marble powder as a replacement of fly ash. Binici et al. found that marble dust
concrete had higher compressive strength than that of the corresponding lime stone dust and
control concrete with equivalent w/c and mix proportion. Batayneh et al. found that glass
containing concrete composites was the most consistent composite than fiberglass within the
selected range of 5 and 20% aggregate substitutes. Rebeiz investigated the strength properties of

unreinforced and reinforced polymer concrete using an unsaturated polyester resin based on
recycle polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic waste. The results showed that the resins based
on recycled PET can be used to produce a good quality of precast concrete. Sikalidis et al.
investigated the utilization of MSW for the production of mortar. Choi et al. investigated the
effects of waste PET bottles aggregate on p, properties of concrete. The waste plastic could
reduce the weight by 26% of normal weight concrete. However, the compressive strength was
reduced up to 33% compared to that of normal concrete. Similarly, the results of Batayeneh et al.
showed the deterioration of compressive strength with an increase in the proportion plastic
content. For the plastic proportion of 20% of sand, the compressive strength was reduced up to
70% compared to that of normal concrete. Recently, Marzouk et al. studied the use of consumed
plastic bottle waste as sand-substitution aggregate within composite materials for building
applications and showed the effects of PET waste on the density and compressive strength of
concrete. It was found that the density and compressive strength decreased when the PET
aggregates exceeded 50% by volume of sand. Jo et al. investigated the mechanical properties
such as compressive strength and flexural strength of polymer concrete using an unsaturated
polyester resin based on recycled PET, which contributes in reducing the cost of the material and
saving energy. Pezzi et al.used plastic material particles incorporated as aggregate in concrete
and evaluated the chemical, physical, and mechanical properties. The results showed that the
addition of polymeric material in fractions <10% in volume inside of cement matrix does not
imply a significant variation of the concrete mechanical features.

CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
RESEARCH DESIGN
ADVANTAGES OF CONCRETE HOLLOW BLOCKS.

substantial strength to the block. Proper curing increase compressive strength of the blocks.

heat or cold in the house. So it keeps house cool in summer and warm in winter.

Structural Advantages

diaphragm respectively, reducing the vulnerability of disastrous damage to the

structure/building, during the natural hazards.

through each masonry element, increased tensile resistance and ductile behaviour of elements
could be achieved. Hence, this construction system can safely resist lateral or cyclic loading,
when compared to other conventional masonry construction systems.

Constructional Advantages
special construction machinery is required for reinforcing the
hollow block masonry.
-skilled labour is required for this type of construction.

construction systems.
-effective disaster resistant construction system, as explained in the
next section.

Standards of CHB (Concrete Hollow Blocks)

Hollow and solid load-bearing concrete masonry units standards:
ASTM C 90 and as Follows:
A. Type II
B. Weight Classifications: lightweight (maximum density of less than 105 PCF) and a
maximum linear drying shrinkage of 0.065% when tested in accordance with ASTM
C 426. Fabricate using lightweight aggregate that strictly conforms to ASTM C
331. Normal weight aggregates, when used in blending with lightweight aggregates
to achieve a smooth, tight texture, shall conform to ASTM C 33.
C. Unit compressive strength not less than 1900 psi average net area to provide system
performance requirement of FM 1500.

The hollow block sizes in the Philippines are the following:

40cm (length) X 20 cm (width) X 4 in (thickness)

40cm (length) X 20 cm (width) X 5 in (thickness)

40cm (length) X 20 cm (width) X 6 in (thickness)

PVC's Physical Properties

PVC, PE, PP and PS are general purpose plastics. The features of the particular plastic are
determined by its chemical composition and type of molecular structure (molecular formation:
crystalline/amorphous structure).
PVC has an amorphous structure with polar chlorine
atoms in the molecular structure. Having chlorine atoms
and the amorphous molecular structure are inseparably
related. Although plastics seem very similar in the
context of daily use, PVC has completely different
features in terms of performance and functions
compared with olefin plastics which have only carbon
and hydrogen atoms in their molecular structures.
Durability
Under normal conditions of use, the factor most strongly influencing the durability of a material
is resistance to oxidation by atmospheric oxygen. PVC, having the molecular structure where the
chlorine atom is bound to every other carbon chain, is highly resistant to oxidative reactions, and
maintains its performance for a long time. Other general purpose plastics with structures made

up only of carbon and hydrogen are more susceptible to deterioration by oxidation in extended
use conditions (such as, for example, through repeated recycling).

RESULTS & DISCUSSIONS

Casting of Test Specimen
Dimensions of the Test Specimens
40cm (length) X 20 cm (width) X 4 in (thickness) CHB
Materials Used
Fine sand
Ground plastic bottles & PVCs
Portland cement
Water
CHB molder
Casting
The mixtures of Type A, B, & C are taken up to the construction supply to be mixed and mould.
After the specified curing period (14 days), the specimens were taken out for testing.
Test Set-up and Testing Procedure
The CHBs (concrete hollow blocks) were placed on the Universal Testing machine. The gauges
were placed on the specified locations. Strain readings were taken with the help of demec gauge.
Load was applied on the specimen gradually. Strain reading and deflections were noted at
predetermined load levels. The load was applied continuously till the failure of the specimen
takes place. The type of failure was noted down carefully.

CONCRETE HOLLOW BLOCKS

.
TYPE A (25% SAND 75% PLASTIC)

TYPE B (50% SAND 50% PLASTIC)

.
TYPE B (75% SAND 25% PLASTIC)