Determination of mechanical and durability properties of waste bricket powder polymer concrete

The evolution of the industrial industry has brought with it significant waste material production. While some of these wastes are used for secondary use in different sectors, the other part causes increased environmental pollution. In this context, the study aimed to present an alternative evaluation perspective of waste by focusing on the production of polymer concrete through the use of waste briquette powder generated during the briquette production process. Within the scope of this study, for the production of polymer concrete samples, the polymerization reaction was initiated by adding methyl ethyl ketone and peroxide (MEKP) into the unsaturated polyester resin, and then the polymer matrix was obtained by adding appropriate amounts of cobalt octoate (6%) to increase the speed of the reaction. Polymer concrete samples were produced by adding waste briquette powder in different proportions of unsaturated polyester resin (0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50%) to the created polymer matrix. Compressive and bending strength, ultra sound transmission rate, unit volume weight and water absorption tests were carried out on the produced samples. The resistance of the samples against sulfate attack was examined by Fourier transform infrared and scanning electron microscopy analyses, as well as the compressive strength test. As a result of the experiments, it was observed that as the amount of waste briquette powder increased, there was a decrease in the ultra sound transmission rate, pressure and bending strength, and an increase in the unit volume amount and water absorption amount. The compressive strength of polymer concrete samples cured under normal conditions for 28 days and samples exposed to sodium sulfate and magnesium sulfate solution for 90 days were compared. It was observed that the compressive strength of the samples exposed to magnesium sulfate increased between 5.13% and 12.58% compared to the normal samples, and the compressive strength of the samples exposed to sodium sulfate increased between 7.22% and 22.69% compared to the normal samples. It was concluded that the coefficient of determination (R2) between ultra sound transmission speed and compressive strength is 0.93.