Effects of Polyvinyl Chloride as a Partial Aggregate Replacement on Mechanical Properties and Behavior of Self Compacted Concrete

These days, concrete is one of the main construction materials used the world ever. Aggregates are considered the most important component of concrete volume because they account for three quarters of the volume of any normal concrete. All over the world, more than 22 million tons of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) are presently produced per year. Such a large level of PVC production has a negative effect on environmental pollution in the society. For this reason, in this thesis, the waste plastic light weight aggregate PVC was tested examined as a replacement for natural aggregate in six different percentages starting from 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 60%. The study also examined the production of self-compacting concrete (SCC) at a constant water binder ratio of 0.45, using Master Glenium 27 as 1.7% of the mixture and silica fume at 10% of the weight of the cement. The workability of the SCC was tested with L-box, V-funnel flow time and slump flow methods. Results showed that the PVC plastic content successfully achieved SCC until a 60% ratio. They also show that, the use of PVC waste plastic as a partial replacement of natural aggregate has negative effect on the physical and mechanical properties of concrete, including: flexural strength, compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, weight, and ultrasound pulse velocity before and after degradation.