Long-Term Performance of Recycled Plastic Fiber in Reinforced Concrete Structures
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54536/ajcec.v2i1.6242Keywords:
Crack Resistance, Durability, Fiber-Reinforced Concrete, Life-Cycle Assessment, Mechanical Properties, Recycled Plastic Fiber, Reinforced Concrete, Shrinkage, Sustainability, Waste ManagementAbstract
Concrete is the material on which the world infrastructures are built; however, its construction and maintenance exhibit severe structural, economic, as well as environmental challenges. The simultaneous influx of plastic waste has stimulated the search of collaborative solutions that will positively influence the material durability and sustainability. Recycled plastic fibres (RPFs) can be used to strengthen concrete, where they are derived not only out of post-consumer polymers like polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polypropylene, and high-density polyethylene, etc. Long-term research includes laboratory and field research, large-scale durability tests, microscopic research, and life-cycle assessment (LCA), thus providing a strict analysis of long-term behavior of RPF-reinforced concrete.The findings show that the best RPF dosages, which are relative to about 1% of the cement mass, make significant contributions to the flexural and compressive strength, decrease in the shrinkage and crack width, and resistance to chemical attack and freeze-thaw cycles. In addition, in comparison with the traditional concrete, the LCA yields significant decreases in embodied energy and greenhouse gas emissions. The present paper supports the strategic use of RPFs in high-performance sustainable civil infrastructure, highlighting the fact that they have the potential to revolutionize the waste management process and structural integrity at a global level through the synthesis of available literature, experimental practices, regulatory guidelines, and future research needs.
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