Materials and Structures (2011) 44:13811387 DOI 10.

1617/s11527-011-9704-2

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Use of plastic wastes as a binding material in the manufacture of tiles: case of wastes with a basis of polypropylene
Athanas Konin

Received: 16 October 2008 / Accepted: 28 January 2011 / Published online: 5 February 2011 RILEM 2011

Abstract This paper aims to study the possibility of using plastic waste as a binding material instead of cement in the manufacturing of roong tiles. The study bears on plastics with a polypropylene basis. Plastic waste is carried to melt and mixed with a varying proportion of sand (variation between 50 and 80% in weight). Five compsitions of tiles characterized by their proportion in plastic waste of 0% (tiles in mcroconcrete), 20, 30, 40 and 50% were studied. The measuremens of physical and mechanical properties show that plastic waste tiles whose proportion in plastic is 40%, give better results than micro-concrete tiles (TP0). Those tiles have a porosity that is below 1% and are practically impervious even after breaking impact tests. ` tudier la possibilite Resume Cet article vise a e chets plastiques comme liant en dutiliser des de substitution du ciment dans la confection des tuiles de tude porte sur les plastiques a base de ` couverture. Le `ne. Les de chets plastiques sont porte a s ` polypropyle lange a une proportion variable de sable s ` fusion et me (variation entre 50% et 80% en poids). Les mesures te caniques montrent que des proprie s physiques et me chets plastiques ayant une proportion les tuiles aux de en plastique de 40% (TP40), donnent de meilleurs sultats que les tuiles en micro-be ton (TP0). Ces re

rieure a 1% et sont ` tuiles ont une porosite infe ables me apre les essais de me `s pratiquement imperme rupture par choc. Keywords Plastic waste Polypropylene Tiles Porosity to water Permeability to water Flexural resistance Abrasion resistance ` Mots cles Dechets plastiques Polypropylene ` ` Tuiles Porosite a leau Permeabilite a leau ` ` Resistance a la exion Resistance a labrasion

1 Introduction Nowadays, the treatment of waste becomes a priority. We can store them after processing or, better, recycle them in a new product. The reuse of plastic waste has increased as recycling technologies have been developed and improved during the last years [16]. However, the amount of plastic waste is still increasing world wide. Taking into account that concrete will continue to be the dominant construction material in the future, several research projects have been conducted on the use of plastics waste in concrete [512]. Most studies have been able to demonstrate that plastic waste can be used as a supplement to aggregates. In any case, the results show that the inclusion of plastic waste eliminates the plastic shrinkage cracking of concrete and reduces the drying shrinkage to some extent

A. Konin (&) Institut National Polytechnique Felix HOUPHOUET BOIGNY, Yamoussoukro, Cote dIvoire e-mail: kathanas@yahoo.fr

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[713]. Some results also show that the tensile strength of concrete is slightly improved [1416]. YazoghliMarzouk et al. [17] found that as the percentage of plastic waste volume in concrete is below 50%, the compressive and exural strength of are not affected. Remadnia et al. [18] investigated the effect of plastic waste as light aggregates on physical properties of mortar. Their results showed that the ow ability and thermal conductivity of the mortar are improved. Recently, Hannawi et al. [19] showed that the use of plastic waste as ne aggregates reduce signicantly the specic weight and ultrasonic wave velocity of the cementitious materials. Although a number of studies have been performed on the reuse of plastic waste in concrete, they were almost based on the use of plastics as a part of aggregates. In this context, the idea is to reuse plastic waste as a binder instead of cement in the manufacture of micro-concrete tiles. The climatic conditions in tropical countries are make micro-concrete or bro-mortar tiles be an advantageous solution of roong both for thermal and acoustic comfort [20]. However, after a decade of production and use of these tiles, the results are not mitigated. Their aesthetic aspect is questioned taking into account their porosity and permeability (darkening of tiles a few months after their pose). The purpose of this article is to show that the use of plastics instead of cement in the manufacture of tiles could constitute a means of recovery of plastic waste and allow the manufacture of tiles that are less porous and less permeable.

2.1.1 Sand It is silica sand rolled granular grade 0/2. The sand must be well graduated and free of any organic matter. Clay content must not exceed 4%. 2.1.2 Plastic waste Plastic waste used is mainly from packaging and other elements with a basis of polypropylene. The reasons which have led to the choice of the material are: It is a thermoplastic, that is to say once molded, it hardens by simple cooling, This material constitutes the most used plastic after polyethylene in the manufacture of plastic packaging in the world [21], In addition, its combustion does not produce any toxic fumes.

Table 1 shows the physical and mechanical properties of this material: 2.2 Formulation of the tiles The compositions of the tested tiles are characterized by their proportion in polypropylene: 0, 20, 30, 40 and 50% in weight. The tile whose proportion is 0% corresponds to the reference tile which is in microconcrete (the binder is a cement CPA CEM I 32.5). The other tiles determined to 20, 30, 40 and 50% are obtained by use plastic waste as a binder (these tiles do not contain any cement). The compositions of the ve tiles are presented in Table 2. The difference between the weight of TP0 and the other tiles is due to the proportion of colorant (30 g) used sometimes in the composition of micro-concrete tiles.

2 Experimental program 2.1 Materials For the manufacture of tiles with plastic wastes, the materials, that are used, are:

Table 1 Physical and mechanical properties of the polypropylene [21] Physical properties Absorption of water (%) Density Index limits of oxygen (%) Melting point (C) Thermal conductivity 0.01 0.9 18 160 0.10.22 Mechanical properties Coefcient of friction Elongation with the rupture (%) Modulate tension (GPa) Abrasion resistance Tensile strength (MPa) 0.10.3 150300 0.91.5 1316 2540

Materials and Structures (2011) 44:13811387 Table 2 Compositions of the tiles studied (for a tile 500 9 250 9 8 mm) Components Cement (g) Plastic wastes (g) Plastic wastes (%) Water (g) Sand (g) Density (g/cm3) TP0 600 0 0 360 1500 2.25 TP20 0 498 20 0 1992 2.05 TP30 0 747 30 0 1743 1.88 TP40 0 996 40 0 1494 1.61 TP50 0 1245 50 0 1245 1.42

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2.3.2 The mixture of materials (Fig. 1b) Once the plastic is liqueed, it must be added to the sand while stirring the mixture so that it may be homogeneous. To prepare a tile, 2 min are necessary to mix the plastics and sand. 2.3.3 The molding (Fig. 1c) Then, the mixture (plastics ? sand) is discharged in the mould, previously coating of vegetable fat to facilitate the withdrawing from the mould. It should be spread out so as to cover the entire mould. This operation must be carried out before the cooling of the mixture (3 min of latency). 2.3.4 The demolding (Fig. 1d) After the pouring of the mixture in the mould, the mould is placed in a basin containing water till the cooling of the mould (T & 38C), which allows to obtain a rigid tile with plastic as a binding material.

2.3 Manufacture of tiles The plastic waste tiles are manufactured according to the procedure described below (Fig. 1): 2.3.1 Melting of plastic waste (Fig. 1a) It is the rst phase of the operation after the weighing of the material. The waste is crushed in order to facilitate the cast and placed in a drum where they are heated up to 160C (melting temperature of polypropylene).

Fig. 1 Operating mode of the manufacture of a plastic waste tile. a Casting of the plastic. b Addition of sand. c Molding of the tile. d Plastic binder tile

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After their withdrawing from the mould, the tiles are kept in ambient air until the day of the test. According to the recommendations of the standard on tiles, ve samples have been used for the determination of physical and mechanical properties. 2.4 Physical and mechanical tests Tests for the determination of the physical and mechanical properties have been carried out on the tiles according to the recommendations of Ivorian standard [22]. For the physical properties, the tests carried out are: Porosity to water test: porosity was measured by total satured water method according to AFPC-AFREM procedure [23]. The initial weight of the specimens were determined (Ma) and then immersed in tanks containing water. The specimens were kept immersed until they reached a constant weight (Mw). After that, they were moved to an oven and maintained at 105C until they reached a constant weight (Md). The porosity to water is calculated as follows: q% 100 Ma Md Mw Ma

height of the impact is evaluated like that, causing the appearance of the rst cracks. Abrasion resistance: initially, the specimens were secured on the rotary platform and a 300 N vertical load is applied. 20 g standard abrasive dust is placed into the rotating table. After every 30 revolutions, the path and the specimens were cleaned and new 20 g standard abrasive dust is placed and the specimens were rotated 90) in the horizontal axis. The specimens were weighed initially at every 4*20 revolutions. The total revolutions were 16*20 revolutions. Thickness measurements of the specimens also have been done from three points. The abrasion volume can be controlled from: DV DM q

where DV: change in volume due to abrasion, DM: mass change, q: density of specimen (g/cm3). The tests were carried out on ve samples of tiles. For TP0 tiles, the age of the tests is 28 days.

3 Results and discussion 3.1 Physical properties Figure 2 gives the results of measures of porosity to water. This gure shows that the porosity to water decreases with the increase in the proportion in polypropylene. However, the values of porosity for TP40 and TP50 samples are fairly close, the gap is less than 5% (Table 3). The results show that all the samples of tiles made of plastic waste have a value of porosity that is very low (less than 5%) while that of the tile in micro-concrete (TP0) is more than 10%. In fact, the process of hydration and hardening based on compounds of cement give materials with a hydrophilic character that is more or less increased according to the content in cement [20]. On the other hand, the plastic is composed of a set of macromolecules linked by strong intermolecular links. Which gives to the materials with a plastic binder basis a very low capacity of absorption of water (cf. Table 1). Which could explain the very low porosity of these tiles.

Permeability to water test: the concave part of the tile is obstructed on both sides by a ange mortar. The basin thus obtained is full of water. After 24 h of exposure to water, there is the state of the underside (wet or not) of the tile. The rate of humidity of the surface is determined as the ratio of area of wet surface on the total surface of the tile,

For the mechanical properties: it relates to the testing of: Flexural strength: the test is carried out on tiles of 250 mm wide. The tile with simple supports lays on two wooden transoms. A weight is suspended at mid-length of the tile. It is possible to obtain the maximum load that may bring the tile, Resistance to impact: the test is carried out with a ball of 200 g in weight. The minimum

Materials and Structures (2011) 44:13811387 Table 3 Average values of porosity to water of tested samples TP0 Average value of porosity to water (%) 10.05 TP20 3.20 TP30 2.76 TP40 0.65

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TP50 0.20

10,00

08,00 06,00 04,00 02,00 00,00 0

10 20 30 40 50

practically as impervious as by-products with a basis of thermoplastic binder [24, 25]. The strong porosity of TP0 tiles and their sensitivity to the phenomenon of withdrawal could justify their permeability to water. Yet, the results obtained with the TP20 and TP30 tiles indicate that the proportion of binder is not sufcient. These samples are not completely waterproof, which also conrms the values of porosity obtained on these tiles. A proportion of 40% at least in plastic gives satisfactory results.
Plastic waste content (%)

Porosity to water (%)

3.2 Mechanical properties The results are presented in Tables 4, 5 and 6 for the tested tiles. Table 4 presents the loads that are admittable to the bending of the different samples. It results from this table that the load that is admittable to the bending increases with the proportion of plastic. However beyond 40%, the values decline (Fig. 4). These results match with previous works [16, 26] which show that the use of a polymer thermoplastic
Table 4 Average values of admittable load in bending of the samples

Fig. 2 Variation of Porosity to water in relation to plastic waste content

50,00

Ratio of surface of humidity

40,00

30,00

20,00

10,00

00,00 0 10 20 30 40 50

TP0 Admittable load in bending (kN) 1.10

TP20 0.80

TP30 1.01

TP40 1.64

TP50 1.30

Plastic waste content (kg/m3 )

Fig. 3 Variation of average surface of moisture in relation to plastic waste content

Figure 3 shows the results of the permeability to water. It assesses the state of humidity of the lower side of the tiles. Thus, it appears that for the TP40 and TP50 tiles, the results are satisfactory at 100%, no trace of humidity is visible on ve samples tested. However, for the other, traces of humidity are perceptible (two tiles out of the ve showed spots of moisture for TP20 and TP 30 tiles and ve tiles out of ve for the TP0 tile). However these spots represent less than 50% of underside of these tiles. These results were predictable because the nature of the plastic made of tiles with a basis of this binder

Table 5 Average values of the impact height of the tested tiles TP0 Minimal impact height (cm) 40 TP20 25 TP30 30 TP40 45 TP50 50

Table 6 Average values of abrasion loss (cm3) TP0 Abrasion loss (cm3) 23.2 TP20 21.2 TP30 21.8 TP40 14.2 TP50 15.6

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01,80

Materials and Structures (2011) 44:13811387

Admittable load in bending (kN)

01,50 01,20 00,90 00,60 00,30 00,00 0 10 20 30 40 50

The proportion of 40% of plastic binder give the best results both physically (porosity and permeability) and mechanically (exural resistance, resistance to impact). Therefore, this gauging is to be used for the formulations of plastic waste tiles, The results of mechanical tests show that TP40 tiles may be used instead of TP0 tiles. The values obtained are relatively better.

Plastic waste content (kg/m3 )

Fig. 4 Variation of admittable load in bending in relation to plastic waste content tic waste content

The use of plastic waste instead of cement in the manufacture of tiles can be considered taking into account this study. However, the tests of traction of heel must be carried out in order to design models of tiles adapted to plastic binder.

(resin) binder allows a gain of resistance of more than 50% compared with the cement concrete as long as the proportion of resin is not excessive. The results of impact tests show that the TP20 and TP30 tiles have values of height very low (less than 40 cm), whereas the other tiles (TP0, TP40 and TP50) have substantially the same impact resistance (Table 5). The low gauging of binder could explain the values obtained on TP20 and TP30 tiles, for the higher gauging, the rigidity of polypropylene makes the plastic binder tiles have a behavior that is virtually identical to micro-concrete tiles. Table 6 presents the abrasion loss of the different specimens. According to the results obtained, TP40 and TP50 tiles showed better abrasion resistance than the other tiles. It can also be observed from Table 6 that the abrasion losses decreased while the plastic waste increased. These results match with the previous works [16] which show that the use of polypropylene ber into concrete allows a gain of abrasion resistance of more than 30% compared with the OPC concrete.

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4 Conclusion The use of polypropylene (basic plastic waste) in the manufacture of tiles gives satisfactory results. The plastic waste tiles have values of porosity that are relatively low, which makes them practically impervious in opposition to micro-concrete tiles. This property could avoid the blackening of these tiles in the course of time and allow the reduction of the slope of coverage in their implementation,

Materials and Structures (2011) 44:13811387 cracking of recycled aggregates mortars. Constr Build Mater 13(1):439447 Toutanji HA (1996) The use of rubber tire particles in concrete to replace mineral aggregates. Cem Concr Compos 18:35139 Aubernon C, De Larrard F (2006) Faisabilite du ren` ` forcement dassises routieres a laide de pneus usages, Revue Eupeenne de Genie Civil 10(10):12651280 Bonnet S (2003) Effet de lincorporation de granulats ` caoutchouc sur la resistance a la ssuration des mortiers, ` XXIeme Prix Rene Houpert Siddique R, Khatib JM (2010) Abrasion resistance and mechanical properties of high volume y ash concrete. Mater Struct 43(10):709718 Hui L, Zhang MH, Ou JP (2006) Abrasion resistance of concrete containing nano particles for pavement. Wear 260(1112):12621266 Yazoghli-marzouk O, Dheilly RM, Queneudec M (2007) Valorization of post-consumer waste plastic in cementitious concrete composite. Waste Manag 27(2):18701876 Remadnia A, Dheilly RM, Laidoudi B, Queneudec M, Use of animal proteins as foaming agent in cementitious concrete composites manufactured with recycled PET aggregates. Constr Build Mater 23(10):31183123 Hannawi K, Prince W, Kamali-bernard S (2010) Effect of thermoplastic aggregates incorporation on physical,

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