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CHAPTER 1

INTRUDUCTION

1.1 Introduction
Plastic waste is serious threat to the environment and their disposal is a major problem
in solid waste management. Different plastic products like plastic polyethylene bags,
High density polyethylene, Low density polyethylene and Polyethylene terephthalate
bottles are widely used and cause major impact to the environment. To overcome this
issue many efforts were taken to recycle and reuse of plastics waste. On the other hand
concrete is the most widely used construction material is facing problem due to
unavailability of construction material of cement, sand and coarse aggregate. Various
experimental investigations were made to check the effective use of plastic waste
partially in concrete with respect to various properties of strength, workability,
durability and ductility of concrete.
A major challenge with plastic waste is that it may consist of mixed organic (food
remains) and inorganic fractions, which makes it a complex stream to recycle.
However, a possible solution would be to use it as aggregates in concrete for various
applications where contamination of plastic waste would not make any significant
difference to the concrete properties. With global production of more than 5.3 billion
cubic meters per year, there may be a huge potential for using recycled plastics in
concrete. Consequently, significant use of waste plastics as aggregate in concrete may
further reduce the amount of unrecycled plastic waste. However, while a large variety
of plastic types such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polylactic acid (PLA),
polypropylene (PP), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC),
low-density polyethylene/linear low-density polyethylene (LDPE/LLDPE),
polystyrene (PS), and other resins are available on the market, research has shown
that not all of them are suitable for use as aggregates in concrete. Resin-based types
of waste plastic and PET have been reported to have the highest rate of use for concrete
production.

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In most cases, waste plastics have been used in concrete either as fine or coarse aggregate.
Although utilization of this type of waste in concrete is beneficial from an environmental
point of view, its engineering (e.g., mechanical and thermal) properties are essentially
different from natural aggregates (Table 1). It is also worth noting that the properties of
recycled waste plastic concrete depend on the pre-treatment given to the waste plastic. The
bond strength of plastic aggregates and the cement paste could be significantly influenced
by the treatment.

Table 1. Some properties of common plastic materials and cementitious materials

Another recyclable polymer candidate for mass production of fibers is the high-density
polyethylene (HDPE) whose physical and chemical properties are most similar to those of
PP. Among these properties is also a low bond strength between HDPE and concrete but,
with textured or ribbed surfaces, HDPE fibres were first shown by Kobayashi to increase
ductility and the post- cracking flexural toughness of concrete achieving almost identical
mechanical properties (including the impact resistance) to the equivalent concretes
reinforced with PP and high-modulus poly- ethylene fibres . However, this early
application did not lead to the wider acceptance of HDPE fibres in construction. Later,
Bhavi et al. Made concrete specimens with 0.2–1.0% volume fractions of HDPE fibres cut
from waste plastic containers. Their results from the strength tests indicated that the use of
HDPE fibres in a volume of 0.6% can enhance the compressive, tensile, flexural and
impact strengths of concrete by up to 15%, 23%, 22% and 200%, respectively (with only
modest gains from increasing the fibre volumes to 0.8% and 1.0%). Consequently, a need
for more research on the properties and benefits of using HDPE FRC has been highlighted

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by Yin et al. in the most recent review on the subject of concrete reinforced with
polymer/synthetic fibres.

Potential to create new value in circular economy through the production of recycled HDPE
plastic fibres exists due to the large quantities of readily available post-consumer waste
such as dis- posed pipes, food containers, toys, computer cases and car parts. The recycled
HDPE fibres could be most economically produced from these stocks through one of the
industrially established extrusion processes. This describes the experimental work that
examined the effects of the recycled HDPE fibres on the mechanical and serviceability
properties of concrete, such as compressive and tensile strength, drying shrinkage, water
permeability and formation of the plastic shrinkage cracks. The starting conjecture is: if
the simply extruded low-value recycled HDPE fibres can improve mechanical properties
of concrete and its durability, then any subsequent advances in their (commercial)
production could lead to the more durable and sustainable concrete structures.

1.2 Mechanical properties

Mechanical properties are the most important parameter defining its suitability for practical
application and some of them are below.

1. Grades of concrete

Concrete is known by its grade which is designated as M15, M20 etc. in which letter M
refers to concrete mix and number 15, 20 denotes the specified compressive strength (fck)
of 150mm cube at 28 days, expressed in N/mm2. Thus, concrete is known by its
compressive strength. M20 and M25 are the most common grades of concrete, and higher
grades of concrete should be used for severe, very severe and extreme environments.

2. Strength of concrete

Like load, the strength of the concrete is also a quality which varies considerably for the
same concrete mix. Therefore, a single representative value, known as characteristic
strength is used.

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3. Characteristic strength of concrete

It is defined as the value of the strength below which not more then 5% of the test results
are expected to fall (i.e. there is 95% probability of achieving this value only 5% of not
achieving the same)

4. Tensile strength of concrete

The estimate of flexural tensile strength or the modulus of rupture or the cracking strength
of concrete from cube compressive strength is obtained by the relations

Fcr = 0.7 fck N/mm2. The tensile strength of concrete in direct tension is obtained
experimentally by split cylinder. It varies between 1/8 to 1/12 of cube compressive
strength.

5. Creep in concrete

Creep is defined as the plastic deformation under sustained load. Creep strain depends
primarily on the duration of sustained loading. According to the code, the value of the
ultimate creep coefficient is taken as 1.6 at 28 days of loading.

6. Shrinkage of Concrete

The property of diminishing in volume during the process of drying and hardening is
termed Shrinkage. It depends mainly on the duration of exposure. If this strain is prevented,
it produces tensile stress in the concrete and hence concrete develops cracks.

7. Modular ratio

Short term modular ratio is the modulus of elasticity of steel to the modulus of elasticity of
concrete.

Short term modular ratio = Es / Ec

Es = modulus of elasticity of steel (2 x 10 5 N/mm2)

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Ec = modulus of elasticity of concrete (5000 x SQRT(fck) N/mm2)

As the modulus of elasticity of concrete changes with time, age at loading etc the modular
ratio also changes accordingly. Taking into account the effects of creep and shrinkage
partially IS code gives the following expression for the long term modular ratio.

Long term modular ratio (m) = 280/ (3fcbc)

Where, fcbc = permissible compressive stress due to bending in concrete in N/mm2.

8. Poisson’s ratio

Poisson’s ratio varies between 0.1 for high strength concrete and 0.2 for weak mixes. It is
normally taken as 0.15 for strength design and 0.2 for serviceability criteria.

9. Durability of concrete

Durability of concrete is its ability to resist its disintegration and decay. One of the chief
characteristics influencing durability of concrete is its permeability to increase of water and
other potentially deleterious materials.

The desired low permeability in concrete is achieved by having adequate cement, sufficient
low water/cement ratio, by ensuring full compaction of concrete and by adequate curing.

10. Unit weight of concrete

The unit weight of concrete depends on percentage of reinforcement, type of aggregate,

amount of voids and varies from 23 to 26 kN/m2. The unit weight of plain and reinforced
concrete as specified by IS:456 are 24 and 25 KN/m3 respectively.

1.2 plastics waste in concrete

The rapid urbanization and industrialization all over the world has resulted in large
deposition of waste polymer materials. The world’s annual consumption of plastic
materials has increased from around 5 million tons in the 1950s to nearly 100 million tons
in 2001. Plastic waste materials consist of surplus, obsolete, broken, old plastic furniture,
different household plastic materials, equipment, anti-static packaging materials and

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devices made of plastic. These polymer wastes are almost non-degradable in the natural
environment even after a long period of exposure.

Thirty kilograms of waste plastic of fabriform shapes was used as a partial replacement for
sand by 0%, 10%, 15%, and 20% with 800 kg of concrete mixtures. All of the concrete
mixtures were tested at room temperature. These tests include performing slump, fresh
density, dry density, compressive strength, flexural strength, and toughness indices.
Seventy cubes were molded for compressive strength and dry density tests, and 54 prisms
were cast for flexural strength and toughness indices tests. Curing ages of 3, 7, 14, and 28
days for the concrete mixtures were applied in this work. The results proved the arrest of
the propagation of micro cracks by introducing waste plastic of fabriform shapes to
concrete mixtures. This study insures that reusing waste plastic as a sand-substitution
aggregate in concrete gives a good approach to reduce the cost of materials and solve some
of the solid waste problems posed by plastics.

1.2.1 Advantages of usage of plastics waste in concrete

Plastic has become an inseparable and integral of our lives. Plastic have been used in
packaging, automotive and industrial application, medical delivery systems, artificial
implants and other uses. With so large and verifying application, plastic contributes to
increasing of volume in the solid waste stream. The waste plastic collected from solid
wastes is contaminated, assorted mixture of a variety of plastics. This make their
identification, segregation and purification become very hard to do. Advantages of using
waste or recycled plastics are

1. It will help on reducing the municipal solid wastes being land filled and it became and
alternative to pressure-treated lumber that leaches toxic chemical into water. There is many
type of waste and recycled plastic that been used in concrete mix. The most common waste
or recycled plastic is virgin polypropylene, recycled plastic

2. The productive use of waste materials is one of the ways to alleviate some of the
problems of solid waste management. There are several benefits of using waste materials.
It helps people save and sustain industrial resources for which it is impossible to renew, as
well as having an effect on decreasing the environmental pollution.
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3. Environmental and economic reasons, currently there has been a growing trend for the
use of the industrial wastes or the by-products as supplementary materials or as an
admixture in the production of composite cement and concrete. Using industrial by-
products in concrete will lead us to have sustainable concrete design and a greener
environment.

1. 3 Usage of HDPE wastes in Concrete

HDPE is a semi-crystalline thermoplastic polymer, which belongs to the polyolefin group

and is manufactured through the polymerization of ethylene, with the help of catalysts.
HDPE is one of the most important plastics. Packaging and construction industries were
particularly responsible for driving growth. HDPE is the polyethylene grade with the
highest rigidity and the least amount of flexibility. It is well suited for a wide range of
applications, like trash canisters, and a multitude of everyday household goods, such as
small bottles and clothespins. This light-weight, non-toxic material is easily recyclable and
serves increasingly as an alternative for less environmentally friendly substances.

HDPE is defined by a density of greater or equal to 0.941 g/cm3. HDPE has a low degree
of branching and thus stronger intermolecular forces and tensile strength. HDPE is a very
common plastic. It is used in a variety of applications. Plastic toys, liquid containers, milk
and cream bottles, detergent and cleaner bottle and thousands of consumer goods are made
out of HDPE. the bottles that have been cut then sieved to get the passing size between
4.75 mm to 20 mm. The dry materials such as cement, sand, HDPE and aggregate were
mixed until the entire constituent mix uniformly. The water were gradually added and
mixed. Each specimen is produced by using the same method, only the proportion of
replacement materials were difference. The ratio 1:2:4 were used in concrete mixture which
1 for cement, 2 for sand and 4 for aggregate with the water cement ratio of 0.55 by mass.
Concrete is produced with replacement of 0%, 10%, 20% and 30% of HDPE plastic as
coarse aggregate. 45 of cubes concrete size 100 mm x 100 mm x 100 mm each were cast
in accordance to relevant standard

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CHAPTER 2

CONCRETE REINFORCED WITH RECYCLED HDPE

PLASTIC FIBRES

2.1 Experimental programme and materials

The experimental programme described in the following sections consisted of 266 tests on
cubes, cylinders, prisms and blocks cast with seven different concrete mixes (one control
plain concrete mix and six FRC mixes with HDPE fibres).

2.1.1 Concrete

As the HDPE fibres were produced from recycled stock with no guaranteed engi- neering
properties, the initial aim was to test their influence on concrete of the low- to-moderate
compressive strength (near the ‘‘C 25/30” class) using the mix defined in Table 2.1 with
the target slump of the fresh mix 75 mm.

2.1.2 HDPE fibres

HDPE is a synthetic polymer known for chemical inertness when in contact with most
acids and alkaline substances. Its molecules are continuous chains of ðCH2Þn methylene
atomic groups with the typical lengths 5 *105 to 107. These molecular chains are three-
dimensional with other chains of ðCH2Þ groups branching from the main line; each ending
with a saturated ðCH3Þ methyl group as denoted in Fig.2.1. HDPE has the higher strength
to density ratio than other polyethylenes due to the longer primary and shorter secondary
chains which makes its production more expensive.

The origin of the recycled plastic for HDPE fibres available for this work is the mixed
stock including various post-consumer waste, mainly home appliances. The fibres were
produced with diameters Ø 0:25 mm and Ø 0:40 mm and their aspect ratios
(length/diameter) were 92 and 75, respectively. Their chemical purity (with traces of PP)

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was verified by the X-ray diffractometry using Bruker D8 detector. Fig. 2.2 shows the
natural look and the scanning electron microscope (SEM) image of the extruded sample
fibres. The characteristic temperature points of the recycled HDPE were obtained from the
differential scanning calorimetry (using Mettler-Toledo DSC 1 calorimeter) and the
resulting heat vs. temperature flux graph is shown in Fig.2.3 the melting and ignition
temperatures for the recycled HDPE, 129 ○C and 487○C are, as expected, somewhat lower
than the values typical for PP (Table 2.2).

A complete non-linear tensile elongation curve for recycled HDPE is obtained from the
direct tension tests of the continuous strands from which the fibres were cut (Fig. 2.4-a).
The stress-strain values plotted in Fig. 2.4-b refer to the original cross- section of the
strands before it was reduced due to the effect of tensile contraction at higher loads.
Characteristic values are also listed in table 2.2 alongside the typical corresponding
properties of poly-propylene. Due to the amorphous nature of the polymer, the transition
from elastic into plastic state is gradual with the yield and the ultimate strength of recycled
HDPE being noticeably below the usual strengths of the new PP or the engineering grade
HDPE. The same observation is made about the elastic modulus estimated from the
experimental tensile stress-strain data: value of Er:HDPE = 0:50 GPa and about half of the
typical values of the elastic modulus of commercially available PP or the engineering grade
HDPE plastics. Therefore, while the mechanical properties of HDPE are degraded by
recycling process and the physical properties remain similar to those of the new HDPE,
they overally remain lower than the typical engineering properties of new PP.

Fig. 2.1. Molecular chain structure of HDPE , ðH2C ¼ CH2Þn

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Fig 2.2 fig 2.3

Fig. 2.2 .Ø0:25 mm HDPE fibres: a) actual look (mm scale); and b) SEM 52
Magnified image of a single fibre.

Fig. 2.3. Heat flux graph for the recycled HDPE polymer.

Fig.2. 4. Tensile testing of the recycled HDPE: a) experimental setup (0:40 mm strand
shown); and b) the resulting tensile stress-strain curve

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Table 2.1 Details of the plain concrete mix

Table 2.2 Physical properties of recycled HDPE compared with those of the typical new
HDPE and polypropylene (PP).

Table 2.3 Fibre reinforced concrete (FRC) mixes.

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The following list of concrete specimens (for each of seven mixes) outlines the scope of
the experimental testing programme:

● 18 cubes (size 100 mm) to evaluate development of the compressive strength of concrete
until the 90 days of age;

● 3 cylinders (size Ø 100 mm;h ¼ 200 mm) for determination of the elastic mod- ulus and
cylinder compressive strength (28 days of age),

● 6 cylinders (size Ø 100 mm;h ¼ 200 mm) for the split tensile strength tests (28 and 90
days of age).

● 3 cubes (size 150 mm) for the water permeability tests of concrete at the age of 45 days

● 2 prisms (size 500 × 100 × 100 mm) – one for determining the flexural rup- ture modulus
from the three-point bending test (at the age of 28 days) and the other for the four-point
bending tests to obtain flexural load-deflection ductility curves (at the age of 60 days);

● 5 prisms (size 250 × 50 × 50 mm) for continuous free drying shrinkage measurements,

● 1 block (dimensions 560 × 350 × 100 mm) for the restrained plastic shrink- age crack
formation, ASTM C1579

The tests on cubes, cylinders, prisms and blocks were carried out over the 90 days period.
Due to the different nature of these tests, the measuring equipment, testing protocols and
instrumentation adopted for each test are briefly described in the corresponding section
discussing the experimental results.

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2.2. Experimental results and discussion

2.2.1. Mechanical properties of concrete

For all seven mixtures, the experimentally determined elastic modulus, Ec, characteristic
compressive cube and cylinder strengths, the cylinder split tensile strength, and flexural
tensile strength (rupture modulus),from the 28 and/or 90 days old concrete specimens are
listed in Table 4. The development of the cube compressive strengths is additionally plotted
versus time in Fig.2 5.

The results confirm that the presence of HDPE fibres has no clear influence on the elastic
modulus and compressive strength of concrete. Regardless of the amount and the diameter
of the added fibres, early compressive strength of plain concrete remained higher than that
of several FRC mixtures but, beyond 28 days of age, the values became nearly identical
between plain and fibre reinforced concrete.

When comparing FRC to the plain concrete, there was no substantial increase in the
cylinder split tensile strength as gains below 10% were recorded at both ages of tested
concrete of 28 and 90 days. The static flexural rupture modulus, (estimated from the load-
controlled three point bending tests prisms) was 3 to 14% higher for FRC than for plain
concrete at the age of 28 days but the results from a larger number of specimens would
be needed to provide statistical relevance to any claim that the static tensile strength of
concrete is increased by HDPE fibres.

Table 2.4. Mechanical properties for seven concrete mixture

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Fig. 2.5. Development of the cube compressive strength.

2.2.2 Post-cracking flexural strength of concrete

Load-deflection plots and the effect of the recycled plain HDPE fibres on the post-cracking
flexural capacity and ductility of the 500 mm long prisms subjected to the four-point
bending. The loading was applied through the displacement-controlled power ram at the
rate of 1 mm/min.

While all prisms reached similar peak flexural loads in the region of Fcr = 15:0 ÷ 16:0 kN
when the corresponding deflections (over the 300 mm spans) were around 0:45 ÷ 0:50 mm,
marginally higher loads were achieved with the smaller Ø1 ¼ 0:25 mm diameter fibres.
The post-cracking (residual) load levels, RL, achieved on prisms with Ø1 0:25 mm fibres
are in the region of 25–45% of Fcr; these values are also higher than the residual load
capacities achieved on prisms with the Ø1 ¼ 0:40 mm fibres which were between 13% and
32% of Fcr. As expected, the larger residual to peak load capacity ratio, RL=Fcr, was
always achieved with the higher volume of added fibres. The post-cracking load level, RL
is nearly constant within the deflection range dt < 5 dcr where dt is the total deflection at
the mid-point of the simply supported prism and dcr = 0:50 mm is the deflection
corresponding to the peak crack-opening load, Fcr. This is of significance in constitutive
modelling for the non-linear FE analysis of HDPE FRC elements when the tension-
stiffening effect of cracked concrete needs to be taken into consideration.

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2.2.3. Water permeability of FRC

Concrete is a porous material whose durability is intrinsically affected by its permeability.

Factors such as the increase of the fineness of cement and aggregate and the lowering of
the water/ cement ratio, W=C, can reduce the permeability of concrete making it more
resistant to the deteriorating processes like the carbonation or the freeze-and-thaw action.
To assess the influence of HDPE fibres on the permeability of concrete, three 150 mm
cubes from each mix were cured for 14 days and left to dry on room temperature until the
age of concrete was 45 days. Following the Euronorm 12390:8 procedure, the cubes were
then subjected to the constant 5 bar water pressure applied against the wire-brushed side
for the duration of 72 h.

The averaged results of the standard water permeability tests provided the height of the
water penetration, Hw, (measured after the cubes were split at the end of the 72 h test) and
the volume of the water intake from the calibrated tanks, Vi. In all cubes with HDPE fibres,
water permeability, as considered through the depth of penetration, was reduced in
comparison to the plain concrete cubes in the range from 35% to 80% with the improving
trend as the amount of added fibres increased from 0.40% to 1.25%. A characteristic
difference in the water absorption, The results of the water permeability tests provide the
basis for the claim that simply extruded and recycled HDPE fibres greatly improve
durability of concrete.

2.2.4. Plastic shrinkage cracking

One of the recognized benefits of adding synthetic fibres into the concrete mix is reduction
of plastic shrinkage cracking that develops whenever the boundaries of RC elements
resist free shrinkage. As a consequence of the early hydration processes, water evaporation
through the surface and the associated shrinking, cracks appear before concrete has
hardened enough to resist the developing tensile stresses. This can have considerable
economic impact at the maintenance stages whenever surface repairs of the concrete plastic
shrinkage cracks are required for aesthetic or structural reasons.

The effectiveness of the recycled HDPE fibres against the plastic shrinkage cracking was
assessed on concrete specimens defined by ASTM C1579-13 standard .
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The tests demonstrated how the plastic shrinkage cracking in FRC with even a moderate
amount of 0:40 1:25% (by volume) plain HDPE fibres is reduced by as much as 70 to 80%;
a performance matching that of steel FRC. The result is made possible because the modulus
of elasticity of HDPE and concrete is still about the same during the early stages of
hydration and their stiff- ness is sufficient to resist formation of cracks. As this action also
reduces the loss of moisture through the surface of concrete.

2.2.5. Free drying shrinkage

Drying shrinkage of concrete is associated with the loss of capillary water during hardening
of the hydrated cement paste. While the effectiveness of fibres in reducing shrinkage and
cracking is expected to be greater under restrained conditions during the first 24 h after
casting, the free drying shrinkage is also important feature for its implications on the
serviceability and maintenance of reinforced and prestressed concrete structures. Five 250
mm long prisms were cast for each mix to monitor free drying shrinkage during a period
of 90 days after casting. For every set of 5 shrinkage prisms per mix, three different water
curing times (immediately after casting) were: 3 days for one prism, 7 days for the next
two and 14 days for the remaining two prisms. Other factors that influence shrinkage such
as the indoor temperature (T = 22 ○C), environment humidity (Hi 55%), type of cement
and water/cement ratio remained constant. The duration of water curing seemed to produce
little difference between plain and HDPE fibre reinforced concrete while the largest
reduction in the free shrinkage

2.2.6 Durability of HDPE fibres in concrete

From the fresh concrete mixes for all seven series, the average of the pH readings taken
about 90 min after the addition of water was 12.4. Assuming that the pH value of hardened
concrete would not be lower, the ability of HDPE FRC to preserve any advantageous
mechanical properties depends on the resistance of fibres to alkalinity. SEM images of the
fractured surfaces of concrete with the Ø 0:25 mm and Ø 0:40 mm HDPE fibres still
embedded in 90 days old concrete. The surface of the HDPE fibres themselves is without
detectable signs of chemical deterioration and the visible damage appears to be only the
result of the surface friction as fibres were pulled out from concrete when the speci- mens

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failed during testing. Fundamental weakness of the simply extruded HDPE fibres: they do
not adhere strongly to concrete and, when subjected to tension or other deformation while
bridging the cracks, the fibres are easily pulled out. In contrast to the commercially
available PP fibres that underwent chemical treatment to develop hydrophilic properties,
the bond strength of these recycled HDPE fibres comes only from friction with the
surrounding concrete.

The initial promising results of this study open the door to several potential applications of
HDPE in reinforced concrete civil structures such as on-the-ground slabs, bridge decks and
water- retaining walls. However, further experimental research is necessary to confirm that
the effectiveness of HDPE fibres in improving the performance of concrete can be
consistently achieved

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CHAPTER 3

CONCLUSION

3.1 Conclusion

In an attempt to promote sustainability in construction, the presented study focused on the

mechanical properties of concrete reinforced with recycled HDPE fibres. It was found that
the main benefit of adding HDPE fibres to the mix is concrete with the improved
serviceability properties. The following is the summary of the main conclusions and
possible lines for further research:

 The tensile strength and the modulus of elasticity of HDPE fibres produced from
the recycled sources are lower than those of the engineering grade HDPE but they
still improved a number of serviceability properties of concrete.
 The compressive strength and modulus of elasticity of concrete are not improved
by the addition of HDPE fibres. The marginal increases of 3 to 14% to the peak
tensile strength over the plain concrete and 6% to the air content in the fresh
concrete mix need to be confirmed by further experimental evidence.
 Flexural toughness is one of the key advantageous properties of HPDE FRC over
the plain concrete; as 0.75–1.25% of added HDPE fibres (by volume) can maintain
a constant post-cracking tensile capacity of concrete at the level of 30–40% of the
peak flexural capacity.
 HDPE fibres reduced water permeability of concrete by a notice- able magnitude
of 17–42% when the depth of water penetration is measured. This proves that
HDPE FRC will be more durable in exploitation than the plain concrete.
 Even a small amount of added HDPE fibres was shown to significantly reduce the
early plastic shrinkage cracking of concrete as the reduction in crack widths of more
than 50% was achieved with the volume of 0.40–1.25% HDPE fibres.
 Reduced water permeability and plastic shrinkage cracking of concrete reinforced
with HDPE fibres also mean that it will be more durable than the equivalent plain
concrete.

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 The experimental data confirmed the starting hypothesis about the potential of
recycled HDPE fibres to add new economic value to the construction of RC
structures and elements like, for example, bridge decks, industrial ground slabs and
water- retaining infrastructure.

3.2 About the journal

Title: “Mechanical properties of concrete reinforced with recycled HDPE plastic fibres”

Authors: Ninoslav Pešic , Stana Zivanovica, Reyes Garcia , Panos Papastergiou

Issue date: the current journal was Received 10 January 2016 .Received in revised form 9
April 2016 & Accepted 11 April 2016 at University of Warwick, School of Engineering,
and Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom

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[3] N.L. Rahim, S. Sallehuddin, N.M. Ibrahim, R.C. Amat, M.F. Ab Jalil, Use of plastic
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