Effects of Polypropylene Waste Plastic as a Replacement to Coarse Aggregate on Mechanical Behavior of Self Compacting Concrete

In recent years, the usage of recycled plastic aggregates as a replacement to aggregate has been taken into consideration to decrease the environmental effects of both concrete and waste plastics. Recycled plastic aggregate concrete, has come to be recognized as a distinctly promising technology capable of making useful contributions to resource performance in the production industry This thesis outlines an experimental study on the physical and mechanical properties of 0.45 w/b self-compacted concrete (SCC) manufactured using recycled polypropylene (PP) waste plastic as a replacement to natural coarse aggregates. It analyzes the effects of five different percentages (0, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25%) of PP as a replacement to natural coarse aggregates on compressive strength, flexural strength, splitting tensile strength, workability, weight, ultrasonic pulse velocity and flexural toughness of SCC. It also studies the weight loss, pulse velocity, compressive, splitting and flexural strength changes, when specimens are exposed to two different temperatures as100℃ and 200℃. Experimental results show that; SCC mechanical and physical properties decreased with increased PP percentage up to 25%, because the mechanical and physical properties of SCC concretes, incorporated with PP are lower than those of concretes formed with natural aggregate. Polypropylene aggregates at high level (25%), has a positive effect on flexural toughness because they were used in small sizes, which could improve flexibility. Keywords: Self Compacted Concrete, Polypropylene waste plastic, lightweight aggregate, compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, flexural strength, workability, flexural toughness, Heat degradation.