Construction and Building Materials 230 (2020) 116992

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Characterization of processed lightweight aggregate and its effect

on physical properties of concrete
Fahad K. Alqahtani a,⇑, Idrees Zafar b
a
Department of Civil Engineering, King Saud University, P.O. Box 800, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia
b
Department of Civil Engineering, Al Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, P.O. Box 5701, Riyadh 11432, Saudi Arabia

h i g h l i g h t s

Processed light weight aggregates were developed using different techniques.

Physical properties of produced concrete were examined.

Thermal resistance and deformation properties of produced concrete were improved.

Reduction in density and compressive strength of produced concrete was observed.

Analytical models were proposed for processed light weight aggregate concrete.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The plastic because of its lightweight and flexibility to adopt the required shapes has led in an enormous
Received 6 April 2019 increase in production of plastic products during recent years. To minimize the negative environmental
Received in revised form 28 August 2019 impacts of plastic waste, many industrial sectors have tried to recycle and utilize the plastic waste.
Accepted 15 September 2019
Among the other sectors, concrete industry can be considered as one of the alternatives such as to use
the recycled plastic as aggregate replacement in concrete. A processed lightweight aggregates (PLA)
has been manufactured using the plastic waste and other local materials using a compression moulding
Keywords:
press technique. The detailed characterization of the PLA was also conducted. In addition, the effect of
Processed lightweight aggregate
Physical properties
PLA incorporation on the physical properties of concrete along with effect of curing temperature on
Thermal conductivity the compressive strength was also tested. The addition of manufactured aggregate in concrete has
Thermal curing increased the Poisson’s ratio, thermal conductivity values while the density, and compressive strength
were found to be reduced as compared to control mix. It was also noticed that PLA concrete can be cured
at temperatures up to 30 °C, without significantly affecting compressive strength. The PLA has shown the
prospective to be used in lightweight concrete applications.
Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The production of plastic products has increased enormously
during the last few decades. The increase is mainly due to the
increase in the number of individuals utilizing the plastic products
Abbreviations: RA1, pumice lightweight aggregate; RA2, Lytag aggregate; PLA,
processed light weight aggregate; NA, natural coarse aggregate; RM0, reference
concrete made using normal coarse aggregate; RM1, reference concrete made using
pumice lightweight aggregate; RM2, reference concrete made using Lytag aggre-
gate; MP1, concrete containing 25% by volume of Processed light weight aggregate;
MP2, concrete containing 50% by volume of Processed light weight aggregate; MP3,
concrete containing 75% by volume of Processed light weight aggregate; MP4,
concrete containing 100% by volume of Processed light weight aggregate.
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: bfahad@ksu.edu.sa (F.K. Alqahtani), izhussain@imamu.edu.sa
(I. Zafar).
per day. In addition, the plastic because of its lightweight and flex-
ibility to adopt the required shapes has become one of the most
common material for packing and storage for many industries.
On the other hand, the percentage of the waste plastic successfully
recycled in still on the lower even for the developed countries [1,2].
The residual amount of plastic waste is causing the negative envi-
ronmental impacts. Recently many attempts have been made to
effectively utilize the plastic wastes in different sectors to reduce
the negative impacts of disposed or burnt plastic waste.
Concrete is one of the most common construction material used
all over the world and its production in expected to increase further
in the coming years because of the population growth and urban-
ization. The increased demand for the concrete will cause an
increase in the production of all the ingredients of concrete includ-
ing the aggregates that forms about 60–70% of the concrete volume.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2019.116992
0950-0618/Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
2 F.K. Alqahtani, I. Zafar / Construction and Building Materials 230 (2020) 116992

The generation of the aggregates by utilizing the natural resources
in huge quantity is also imposing negative impacts on the environ-
ment. In this regard, there is a need for the economic and environ-
mental friendly alternative aggregates for the concrete. One of the
alternative ways is to manufacture synthetic aggregates by utilizing
the waste products like plastic waste that will greatly affect the
environmental impacts of plastic industry and moderate the prac-
tice of using natural aggregates for the preparation of concrete.
The application of plastic in concrete has been mainly in the
form of either shredded or manufactured plastic aggregates. In last
few decades many experimental studies have been done to exam-
ine the change in the characteristics of concrete containing either
shredded plastic or manufactured aggregate in place of natural
coarse aggregate (NA) or fine aggregate [3–11]. It was observed
that the fresh properties of the concrete made with shredded poly-
ethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic and fine aggregates were
found to decrease with the increase percentages of PET and fine
aggregates [3,4,6,10]. It was also noticed that the compressive
strength and flexural strength of concrete reduced when the
replacement ratio of PET was increased [12–14]. In addition, it
was also observed that the 5% replacement of aggregates made
from the waste un-washed PET bottles (WPET) caused a minor
reduction in compressive strength and splitting tensile strength
of resulting concrete [15]. Furthermore, few studies have reported
higher values of drying shrinkage and water absorption values for
the concrete containing the natural lightweight aggregate [16–18].
The literature review of the plastic made aggregates has shown
that few studies have focused on manufacturing the plastic aggre-
gates such as plasmatex, plasmega, synthetic lightweight aggre-
gates (SLAs) and Waste plastic lightweight aggregate (WPLA) by
using different types of plastic and local filler materials like fly
ash, granulated blast furnace slag and river sand [19–25]. Further-
more, it was also noticed that among the polyethylene based plas-
tic products i.e. low-density polyethylene (LDPE), linear low-
density polyethylene (LLDPE), and high-density polyethylene
(HDPE), LLDPE is the one on which least research has been done
[26–28]. In addition, it was also noticed that the physical proper-
ties of concrete containing the plastic based aggregates such as
Poisson ratio and thermal conductivity along with the effect of cur-
ing temperature on the strength development has been studied to
a lesser extent as compared to other properties.
In the light of this a processed light weight aggregates were
manufactured by using the LLDPE and three types of fines i.e. red
dune sand, fly ash and quarry fines [29–30]. The current paper
focuses on the productions details and methods used in manufac-
turing the processed light weight aggregate. The characteristics of
the produced light weight aggregate including shape and texture,
particle size distribution, fineness modulus, bulk specific gravity,
water absorption, aggregate air content and ash tests were pre-
sented and compared with the existing literature. In addition, the
physical properties of the concrete prepared by using the pro-
cessed light weight aggregate with different replacement ratio
along with the effect of thermal curing on the strength develop-
ment was also studied and compared with the reference concrete
mixes. Furthermore, the thermal conductivity of the processed
light weight aggregate was also measured and estimated using
the existing analytical correlations.
2. Production of processed light weight aggregate
2.1. Materials
2.1.1. Recycled plastic waste
In the current study, recycled plastic was one of the primary
materials used as a binder in the manufacturing of processed light
weight aggregate. Recycled plastic (LLDPE) was used in three dif-
ferent forms: shredded, granulated and powdered, as shown in
Fig. 1. The three types of plastic were supplied by a local supplier
after passing through a treatment process. The treatment process
starts by collecting the plastic, followed by purifying, shredding,
melting and pelletizing, before it is powdered into its final form.
The physical, mechanical and thermal properties of LLDPE are pre-
sented in Table 1 [31–33].
Table 1 shows that the percentage of water absorption for
LLDPE plastic is quite low. In addition, the density, specific gravity,
melting temperature ultimate tensile strength and modulus of
elasticity for LLDPE were also reported in Table 1.
2.1.2. Filler materials
The main fillers used in the current study include red dune sand
(RS), fly ash (FA) and quarry fines (QF). ASTM standard test proce-
dures were followed to determine the specific gravity and absorp-
tion for all the filler types [34]. The specific gravity was found to be
2.3, 2.71 and 2.62 for fly ash, quarry sand and red dune sand
respectively. The absorption percentage was observed to be
0.38% and 1.52% for red dune sand and quarry sand respectively.
In addition, the particle size distribution of fillers was conducted
using a laser particle size analyser as shown in Fig. 2.
Table 1
Physical, mechanical and thermal properties of LLDPE [31–33]
Property Value
Density (kg/m3) 918
Specific Gravity 0.93–0.96
Water absorption (%) 0.005–0.010
Melt temperature (°C) 190–215
Ultimate tensile strength (MPa) 20.7–44.8
Young’s modulus of elasticity (GPa) 0.621–0.896

Shredded LLDPE Granulated LLDPE Powdered LLDPE

Fig. 1. Different forms of LLDPE plastics used in the current study.

 F.K. Alqahtani, I. Zafar / Construction and Building Materials 230 (2020) 116992 3

100 The median size distribution (D50) of all fillers was noted to be
9.5 mm, 19.2 mm and 215 mm for fly ash, quarry sand and red dune
90
sand respectively. Fly ash particles appeared to be was the finest
Cumulative percenttage passing (%)

80 RS among the three types of fillers while red dune sand seemed the
QF coarsest.
70 Scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) imaging and energy dis-
FA
60 persive X-ray (EDX) were also performed to observe the
microstructure and element analysis of FA, QF and RS. Table 2 illus-
50 trates the EDX element analysis of these fillers, while the SEM
40 images are shown in Fig. 3. Table 2 indicates a prominent presence
of oxygen, carbon, calcium and silicon, with a low content of other
30 elements such as aluminium in RS while, oxygen, silicon and alu-
20 minium were the major elements found in FA. Additionally, the
main elements in QF were calcium and oxygen. The SEM images
10 indicated that the majority of RS particles have an irregular shape,
0 having a size of 250 mm. The SEM also confirmed that the FA and
0 100 200 300 400 500 QF have smaller particles in which the FA comprised irregular
Particle size (µm) spherical particles (10–20 mm) compared with the angular parti-
cles (>20 mm) observed in the QF.
Fig. 2. Particle size distribution of fillers (RS, FA and QF).

2.2. Techniques used for manufacturing of processed lightweight

Table 2
Elemental contents of filler particles determined by EDX. aggregate

Element Percentage in each filler (%)

Few attempts were made with different techniques in order to
RS FA QF optimize the manufacturing technique used for effectively produc-
C 35.9 – – ing the processed lightweight aggregate. Initially, the aggregates
O 33.4 57.73 56.29 were produced by using the ‘‘heating mixer”, but difficulty was
Na 0.04 – –
found in melting the plastic and also in the crushing process.
Mg 0.06 – –
Al 1.04 21.40 6.97 Therefore, it was decided to use another thermal technique i.e. ‘‘ex-
Si 14.54 20.21 7.15 trusion process”. This technique was successful compared to the
K 0.7 0.66 0.2 first technique. However, it was still difficult to produce processed
Ca 13.7 – 28.77 lightweight aggregate with different particle shapes and sizes since
Ti 0.01 – –
the aggregates produced were in the form of thin cylinders. Thus, a
Fe 0.5 – 0.6
new technique was required in order to achieve the aim of the cur-

RS FA

a b

QF

c
Fig. 3. Microstructure analysis of (a) RS (b) FA and (c) QF.
4 F.K. Alqahtani, I. Zafar / Construction and Building Materials 230 (2020) 116992

rent study. The processed light weight aggregate was finally pro-
duced by mixing recycled plastic together with filler through the
‘‘compression moulding press” process. A detailed description of
each technique’s process is illustrated below.

2.2.1. Heating mixer technique

The first attempt for manufacturing the processed light weight
aggregate was made with an asphalt mixer machine as it provides
heating during mixing. This allows plastic to soften and easily bond
with filler particles, producing a homogeneous mixture. In addi-
tion, this technique was selected since it was used to develop
plastic-asphalt composite as reported by Partanen et al. [35].
The cube of the composite obtained using the heating mixer
technique along with final shape of the lightweight aggregate pro-
duced having different particle sizes are shown in Fig. 4(a) and (b).
However, the heating mixer technique was not found to be effec-
tive and practically possible because of the seepage of heat from
the boundary of the mixer.
Fig. 5. Processed light weight aggregate produced using extrusion process.
2.2.2. Extrusion technique
The second attempt for manufacturing the processed light
weight aggregate was done by using extrusion technique. The temperature for 1hr. Finally, the sheet/slab produced was crushed
extrusion process was selected because it had been used in differ- using a crushing machine to produce the final shape of the aggre-
ent studies to manufacture similar plastic based aggregates [19]. gates as shown in Fig. 6.
The shredded LLDPE plastic and RS fillers were loaded into the Using this method, LLDPE plastic particles were mixed at 30%
extruder through the feeding zone. Subsequently, the molten mix- and 50% (by weight) with RS, FA or QF, to make the processed light-
ture was extruded in the form of a molten straight rod through weight aggregates. Overall, six different types of processed light-
towards the water cooling tank. The molten rod converted to solid weight aggregates (PLA) were manufactured based on the above
state as soon as it touched the water and finally, the solid rod was mixing proportions, as presented in Table 3. These samples were
cut into the final shape as shown in Fig. 5 using a cutter machine. identified by a sample name in the format PxYA: where Px defines
the proportions of plastic to filler; Y identifies the filler type; and A
2.2.3. Compression moulding press technique symbolizes the aggregate. For example, P1FA can be explained as
Finally, a compression moulding press technique was selected follows: P1 means 50% LLDPE to 50% filler; F stands for fly ash fil-
to overcome the issues faced in the first two attempts as it had ler; and A represents the aggregate.
the dual function of performing heating and pressing simultane-
ously [36]. The novel technique for manufacturing the processed
lightweight aggregates has been patented in Alqahtani et al. [29]; 3. Characteristics of processed lightweight aggregate
where the lightweight aggregates were successfully manufactured
using a compression press. 3.1. Shape and texture
A homogenized mixture was poured into a flat mould and was
placed between the two heated platens of the press machine and The shape and texture of an aggregate are one of the main
heated at 175 °C under a pressure of 1.5 MPa for 15 min. After full parameters affecting the workability and strength properties of
melting of the recycled plastic and subsequent encapsulation of the resulting concrete [37,38]. The shape and surface textures of PLA
filler, the obtained sheet/slab was removed and air cooled at room particles were evaluated based on qualitative examination using

Fig. 4. Using heating mixer technique (a) Cube of composite (b) Final shape of produced aggregates.
 F.K. Alqahtani, I. Zafar / Construction and Building Materials 230 (2020) 116992
Fig. 6. Aggregates produced using compression press technique (a) P2FA and (b) P1FA.
optical microscopic investigation. It was observed that the aggre-
gates produced using RS, FA and QF was sub-angular, sub-
rounded and sub-angular respectively, irrespective of the plastic
to filler proportion. However, the surface textures were observed
to be partially rough, smooth and rough for the aggregates manu-
factured with RS, FA and QF respectively, regardless of the amount
of plastic and filler in the aggregate matrix.
In addition, it was noticed that the shape of the PLA manufac-
tured in this study were different from the plastic aggregates
(Table 4) reported in the literature [22,25,39]. Similarly, the texture
of produced lightweight aggregates was also different from those
aggregates produced by Swan and Sacks; Slabaugh et al. [25,40].
These differences are valid and they can be related to the difference
in the manufacturing method, type and amount of both plastic and
filler used. In addition, the optical microscope images for all the
aggregates series are shown in Fig. 7.
3.2. Particle size distribution
Aggregate particle size has a vital effect on both fresh and hard-
ened concrete properties. Accordingly, in this study, sieve analysis
was conducted for the PLA and the particle size distribution with
regard to maximum and minimum standard limits of normal and
lightweight aggregates specified in ASTM C33/C33M-16 and ASTM
C330/C330M-14 are presented in Figs. 8 and 9 respectively [41,42].
From Fig. 8, it was noticed that majority of the PLA series did
not satisfy the normal weight aggregate particle size distribution
requirements, except for those aggregates made with FA. However,
when compared with the standard limits of light weight aggre-
gates (Fig. 9) it was observed that majority of the PLA series lie
within the limits specified in ASTM C330/C330M-14 with a differ-
ence varying from 26% to 41% from upper sieve size and lower
sieve size respectively. In addition, it was also observed that the
natural pumice lightweight aggregate (RA1) used for the compar-
ison purpose shifted on the lower side as compared to the standard
limits of light weight aggregates as shown in Fig. 9. The variation
between the particle size distribution for different PLA series is
because of the difference in the type of fillers.
3.3. Fineness modulus
The fineness modulus of the aggregates is usually used to iden-
tify the degree of the fineness of the aggregate which would ulti-
mately affect the workability of the concrete [43,44]. A large
value of fineness modulus is a strong identification for the coarse
material and vice versa [45]. The results of fineness modulus for
all the series of PLA are shown in Fig. 10, as compared with NA
5
and RA1. It was observed that the fineness modulus of PLA made
with 70% RS was 8% higher than that of NA. However, with the
same percentage (i.e 70%) of FA and QF, the resulting PLA series
did not show significant increase in the fineness modulus values.
It was noticed that the values of fineness modulus were found to
be lower than that of reference lightweight aggregate for all the
PLA series. Furthermore, it was also observed that the largest fine-
ness modulus value was of 6.4 was found for P1RA series while the
lowest value was found for P2QA series as 5.84. In addition, the
results indicate that the fineness modulus for all the PLA series
decreased by less than 3% with the increase in filler percentage
from 50 to 70%. Thus, the increase in filler percentage in the PLA
matrix had no significant effect on the fineness modulus of the pro-
duced aggregate series.
3.4. Bulk specific gravity
The specific gravity of an aggregate is the ratio between the
weight of the aggregate to the weight of water that occupies the
same volume [46]. The bulk specific gravity is a significant prop-
erty since it is used to calculate the volume of an aggregate in a
concrete mix. The results of the bulk specific gravity of PLA mea-
sured in oven dry state with reference to NA and RA1 are shown
in Fig. 11. It was observed that the specific gravities of PLA were
less than those of NA and RA1 except for P2RA which yielded mar-
ginal increase of about 5% as compared to RA1. The percentage
decreases in the bulk specific gravity of PLA varied from 15 to
43% and from 43 to 69% as compared to those of RA1 and NA,
respectively.
The decrease in the specific gravity of PLA was due to the low
specific gravity of the LLDPE plastic (i.e. 0.9) in the PLA matrix.
Additionally, the maximum and minimum specific gravity was
achieved by P2RA (i.e. containing RS) and P1FA (i.e. containing
FA), respectively, since the RS had higher specific gravity than FA.
Finally, the present study’s results show that PLA is lighter than
those plastic based aggregates developed in previous studies
[19,21,22,24]. In those studies, the specific gravity ranged from
0.9 to 1.9 for different plastic based aggregates.
3.5. Water absorption
The water absorption of an aggregate plays a significant role on
the quality of concrete as well as the total amount of water needed
in the mix [47]. The results of water absorption for all the PLA ser-
ies are presented in Fig. 12. It was observed that the water absorp-
tion of PLA is less by 47 to 85% than that of RA1 whereas the water
absorption of the same aggregates is higher by 1.8 times to 6.6
6 F.K. Alqahtani, I. Zafar / Construction and Building Materials 230 (2020) 116992

Table 3
Composition of processed light weight aggregates.

Sr. No. Group Designation Plastic Type Plastic Percentage Filler Type Filler Percentage
1 Group 1 P1RA LLDPE 50 RS 50
2 P1FA LLDPE 50 FA 50
3 P1QA LLDPE 50 QF 50
4 P2RA LLDPE 30 RS 70
5 P2FA LLDPE 30 FA 70
6 P2QA LLDPE 30 QF 70

Table 4
Comparison between the properties of PLA and plastic based aggregates produced in previous studies.

Type of Aggregate Properties of Aggregate Reference

Nominal Maximum Particles shape and texture Unit weight Specific Absorption
Particles size (mm) (kg/m3) Gravity (%)
P1RA 10 Sub angular and partially rough 600 1.2 2.71 Current study
P1FA 10 Sub rounded and smooth 537 0.81 6.11 Current study
P1QA 10 Sub angular and rough 510 1.08 5.95 Current study
P2RA 10 Sub angular and partially rough 750 1.48 2.75 Current study
P2FA 10 Sub rounded and smooth 540 1.17 9.17 Current study
P2QA 10 Sub angular and rough 529 1.19 9.81 Current study
WPLA – Spherical/ smooth 1390 – 0 Choi et al. (2005) and
Choi et al. (2009)
SLA (80:20 fly ash: HDPE) – – – 1.9 – Kashi et al. (1999)
SLA (0:100 fly ash: HDPE) 9.5 Angular/ smooth – 0.91 0.3 Jansen et al. (2001)
SLA (35:65 fly ash: HDPE) – 1.09 1.2
SLA (80:20 fly ash: HDPE) Rounded edges/rough – 1.60 19.3
SLA (80:20 fly ash: PS) 2.36 Firm to noticeably deformable – 1.68 3.48 Swan and Sacks (2005)
SLA (80:20 fly ash: LDPE) – 1.53 8.14
SLA (80:20 fly ash: HDPE) – 1.56 3.46
SLA (80:20 fly ash: MP) – 1.60 7.49
SLA (0:100 fly ash: MP) >4.56 Firm to noticeably deformable – 0.92 1.39 Slabaugh et al. (2007)
FSLA (0:100 fly ash: MP) – 0.30 13.22
SLA (10:90 fly ash: MP) – 0.87 2.28
FSLA (10:90 fly ash: MP) – 0.32 8.50
SLA (30:70 fly ash: MP) – 0.88 2.28
FSLA (30:70 fly ash: MP) – 0.38 8.57
SLA (50:50 fly ash: MP) – 0.77 5.60
FSLA (50:50 fly ash: MP) – 0.82 2.76
SLA (70:30 fly ash: MP) – 0.96 2.15
FSLA (70:30 fly ash: MP) – 1.04 2.13
Plasmatex 14 Irregular/ honeycombed – 1.52–1.6 2.1–4.2 Phillips and Richards (2004)
Plastic waste >5 Angular shape and smooth 1200 – 0 Koide et al. (2002)

times than that of NA. In general, it was observed that the increase
in the filler percentage in the PLA matrix pushed the value of water
absorption for PLA series to increase. This increase is accredited to
the high porosity of composite due to less binder, as well as the
high degree of water absorption of fillers, compared with the lim-
ited absorbent capacity of plastic. Similarly, different studies
attributed this increase to the increase in the porosity of synthetic
aggregate due to the increases in the fly ash content [21,22]. In
addition, the water absorption of the PLA series is in agreement
with those reported in previous works [19,22,24,40].
3.6. Unit weight
The density of the aggregate mainly controls the density of con-
crete, since it represents the largest quantity of the concrete’s com-
ponents. The results of the dry density (oven dry density) for all the
PLA series are shown in Fig. 13 in comparison with NA and RA1.
The results showed a reduction in the dry density of PLA series
ranging from 14 to 27%, and from 45 to 63% as compared to RA1
and NA respectively; except for P2RA which had a marginal
increase as compared to RA1. This reduction is due to the lighter
weight of the inert materials such as plastic. Another reason is
related to the increase in void percentages either between the
aggregate particles or within the aggregate particles. In addition,
an increase in the filler amount in the PLA matrix caused an
increase in the dry density of the resulting aggregate series. Simi-
larly Jansen et al. (2001) and Kashi et al. (1999) found that the den-
sity of synthetic aggregate increased with the increase in the fly
ash ratio due to the lower weight of plastic compared to filler
[21,22]. Additionally, the results revealed that the maximum dry
density was achieved by the aggregates series manufactured with
70% RSF, since the RSF had the peak density among all the fillers.
Furthermore, the current study’s results indicate that the density
of the PLAs was lower, in a range varying between 37.5 and 63%,
as compared with aggregates developed in different works
[25,40,48]. Overall, the dry densities of the PLAs (Group 1) satisfied
the maximum requirements (i.e. 880 kg/m3) of ASTM
C330/C330M-14 for structural lightweight aggregate suggesting
its possible utilization in the structural applications [42].
3.7. Aggregate void content
The voids between aggregate particles are generally controlled
by the shape and size of the particles where poorly graded aggre-
gate yields a higher percentage of voids [49]. Subsequently, the
amount of voids influences the cement paste demand since more
voids need more paste to fill them [38]. In this regard, the mea-
sured voids content for all the PLA series with reference to NA
and RA1 are presented in Fig. 14. It was noticed that the void per-
centage of PLA series is higher than that of NA and RA1 with the
 F.K. Alqahtani, I. Zafar / Construction and Building Materials 230 (2020) 116992 7

Fig. 7. Optical microscope images for (a) P1RA (b) P1FA (c) P1QA (d) P2RA (e) P2FA (c) P2QA.

P1RA P1FA P1QA

P2RA P2FA P2QA
P1RA P1FA P1QA RA1 Min Limit RA1 Max Limit RA1
P2RA P2FA P2QA
100
NA Min Limit NA Max Limit NA
100 90
Cumulative Percentage Passing (%)

90 80
Cumulative Percentage Passing (%)

80 70

70 60

60 50

50 40

40 30

30 20

20 10

10 0
0 5 10 15 20
0 Particle Size (mm)
0 5 10 15 20
Particle Size (mm)
Fig. 9. Particle size distribution curves for PLA and RA1.

Fig. 8. Particle size distribution curves for PLA and NA.

exception of P1FA. On average, the increase in voids’ percentage in

NA RA1 P1RA P1FA P1QA P2RA P2FA P2QA
the PLA series was found to be 5% and 39% as compared to RA1 and
6.6
NA respectively. In addition, the air void results showed an increas-
ing trend varying from 4 to 60% for PLA series due to the increasing 6.4
ratios of RS, FA and QF from 50 to 70%. Although the difference
Finess modulus

between the percentage of air voids for PLA series and RA1 is not 6.2
significant, however, the difference in the percentage of water
absorption is mainly because of the repellent nature of plastic par- 6
ticles that lower the water absorption values for PLA series as com-
5.8
pared to RA1 as shown in Fig. 12.
5.6
3.8. Ash test
5.4
Aggregate Series
The ash content test was conducted to assess the efficiency of
the mixing and manufacturing process for the production of PLA. Fig. 10. Fineness modulus of PLA compared to NA and RA1.
This was evaluated by determining the amount or percentage of fil-
ler existing after firing the plastic during the test, as shown in Representative samples were taken from the corners and the
Fig. 15, in accordance with test procedures explained in ASTM middle of three different aggregate sheets of P1RA series. The find-
D2584-11 [50]. ings of each sheet showed an error estimate of less than ±5%. Thus,
8 F.K. Alqahtani, I. Zafar / Construction and Building Materials 230 (2020) 116992

NA RA1 P1RA P1FA P1QA P2RA P2FA P2QA for the current study because it includes 70% red dune sand during
3 its manufacturing and red dune sand is abundantly available in the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and free of charge, and therefore it is the
2.5 ideal material to be used as filler in this regard. Additionally, by
Bulk Specific Gravity

using red dune sand, the environmental and economic problems

2 associated with the sand storms would also be resolved to some
extent. The fine aggregate used for the preparation of concrete
1.5 specimens was normal weight fine aggregate comprising 65% red
sand and 35% crushed sand. The properties of the coarse aggregates
1
and fine aggregates used in the current study are shown in Table 5.
The materials used for making the concrete were all tested and the
0.5
specifications were found to be within the specified limits of
0 respective ASTM standards.
Aggregate Series The concrete specimens were prepared with a constant water to
cement ratio of 0.5. Seven concrete series were casted i.e. RM0,
Fig. 11. Bulk specific gravity of PLA compared to NA and RA1.
RM1, RM2, MP1, MP2, MP3 and MP4. RM0 was prepared by using
the natural normal weight aggregate; RM1 consisted of R1A while
RM2 consisted of R2A. The MP1, MP2, MP3 and MP4 concrete
NA RA1 P1RA P1FA P1QA P2RA P2FA P2QA series were prepared by replacing 25, 50, 75 and 100% of the nat-
20 ural light weight aggregate on volumetric basis with PLA in this
study respectively. The PLA were produced by using LLDPE and
16 red dune sand in the proportions of 30 and 70% respectively. ASTM
C192/C192M-16a was used for preparing, casting and curing of
Absorption (%)

concrete specimens [51]. It should be noted that, an average of

12
three samples was taken at each age test as specified in the ASTM
C192/C192M-16a in order to ensure good repeatability of the con-
8 crete’s results. The average of three results yielded a variation
within ±5% of the mean values. The detailed mix proportions for
4 the concrete mixes are shown in Table 6.

0 4.2. Methods and tested parameters

Aggregate Series

Fig. 12. Water absorption of PLA compared to NA and RA1. In the current study, the major physical properties of concrete
containing the processed lightweight aggregates produced in this
study at different proportions were investigated in addition to
NA RA1 P1RA P1FA P1QA P2RA P2FA P2QA the compressive strength and effect of thermal curing on
compressive strength development at different temperatures for
2000
the above-mentioned concrete mixes. ASTM C39/C39M-16 was
used to estimate the compressive strength of concrete while BS
1600 EN 12390-7:2009 was used to conduct the dry density test
Dry Unit Weight (Kg/m3)

[52,53]. In addition, Poisson’s ratio of concrete under compression

1200 was assessed in line with test procedures explained in the ASTM
C469/C469M-14; where a cylinder specimen of 100 by 200 mm
was used [54]. The specimen was fixed in the compressometer;
800 where two linear variable displacement transformer (LVDT) wires
were connected to the data acquisition instrument to record the
400 change in the length along both the axis associated with load
increase. Similarly, the compression machine was also connected
to the same instrument to record the applied load.
0
Aggregate Series
NA RA1 P1RA P1FA P1QA P2RA P2FA P2QA
Fig. 13. Dry unit weight of PLA compared to NA and RA1.
60
these results prove that the mixing and manufacturing method
50
used for the PLA production yields adequate mix proportions
between plastic and filler with respect to the planned proportions.
Voids (%) (OD)

40

4. Mix proportions and experimental procedures 30

4.1. Preparation of concrete specimens 20

10
In the current study, the three different coarse aggregates were
used to prepare concrete i.e. natural coarse aggregate (NA), natural
0
pumice lightweight aggregate (RA1) and commercially available Aggregate Series
synthetic aggregate i.e. Lytag aggregate (RA2), to compare the
properties of concrete prepared with P2RA. P2RA was selected Fig. 14. Void content of PLA compared to NA and RA1.
 F.K. Alqahtani, I. Zafar / Construction and Building Materials 230 (2020) 116992 9

48.56% 49.5% 72.5% 59.29% 51.5% 42.79%

55% 72.34% 55.58%

31% 49.5% 67.36% 53.87% 53.24% 39.85%

S1 S2 S3
Fig. 15. Ash percentages for three samples (S1, S2 and S3) of P1RA.

Table 5
Properties of coarse and fine aggregates used in this study.

Test Coarse Aggregate Fine Aggregate

NA RA1 RA2 Crushed sand Red sand
Apparent Specific Gravity 2.69 1.41 1.91 2.77 2.64
Dry Unit weight (kg/m3) 1554 697 889 1599 1589
Void Content (%) 37.79 50 39.02 38.14 39.20
Absorption (%) 1.48 18.6 16.82 1.67 0.28
Fineness Modulus 5.83 6.5 – 3.89 1.54

In this study, thermal conductivity was estimated for a concrete
slab dimensioning 50  50  5 cm, using the guarded hot plate
technique in accordance with ASTM C177-13 [55]. The thermal
conductivity was measured in surface saturated dry (SSD) and
dry states. After achieving the SSD state the sample was then
placed in the measurement system and was insulated from four
sides using insulation foam to prevent heat flow from the periph-
ery. The heat flow was continuously measured and recorded using
programme software (i.e. Lambda 2010 software) until heat flow
became constant. The same procedure was used for measuring
the thermal conductivity of the concrete specimen, however, the
specimen was oven dried and air cooled for 72 h and 1 h respec-
tively before placing the specimen in the apparatus.
Furthermore, the effect of temperature curing on the compres-
sive strength was investigated using a concrete cube having the
dimensions of 50  50  50 mm. Therefore, concrete specimens
were prepared using the same procedures used in the compressive
strength tests. However, after demoulding the specimens the cur-
ing was done in a controlled curing tank at two different tempera-
ture levels (i.e. 30 ± 2 °C, 40 ± 2 °C) until the day of testing. Finally,
these values were compared with 28-day compressive strength
measured at standard curing (i.e. 20 ± 2 °C).
was observed that generally the replacement of processed light
weight aggregate caused a decrease in the dry density of the con-
crete specimens as compared to the normal weight concrete. How-
ever, there was no significant change observed in the dry densities
of concrete specimens containing the natural light weight, com-
mercially available light weight or light weight aggregate manu-
factured in the current study. The maximum variation between
the densities of MP1, MP2, MP3 and MP4 series was within the 5%.
The results of compressive strength had indicated a decreasing
trend with increase in the replacement ratio of PLA as compared to
NA, R1A and R2A. The values of compressive strength were found
to be 27, 20, 19, 12 MPa for MP1, MP2, MP3 and MP4 series respec-
tively. In addition, it was observed that at 100% replacement of PLA
the compressive strength of the resulting concrete series (MP4)
decreased by 72.5% and 62.1% as compared to RM0 and RM1 refer-
ence series. The reduction in the compressive strength of the MP
mixes is related to the weak resistance of the interfacial transition
zone against loads because of the weak bonding between PLA and
the cement matrix. The decrease in the compressive strength of MP
series can also be related to the hydrophobic nature of the plastic
existing in the PLA matrix, which prevents good bonding as
reported in the previous studies [8,10].

5. Effect of aggregate replacement on physical properties of
concrete
5.1. Dry density and compressive strength
The relationship between the measured dry density and com-
pressive strength for all the concrete series is shown in Fig. 16. It
5.2. Effect of aggregate replacement on Poisson ratio
The results of the Poisson’s ratio of the concrete containing PLA
at different replacement ratio along with other concrete series in
shown in Fig. 17.
As shown in Fig. 17, there was an increase of 9–41% (0.02–0.1)
in the Poisson’s ratio of MP mixes compared with that of RMI, as

Table 6
Mix Proportions for all the Concrete Series.

Concrete type Slump (mm) Total water Free water Cement Fine aggregate Coarse aggregate
(kg/m3) (Kg/m3) (Kg/m3) (Kg/m3)
R1A (Kg/m3) PLA (Kg/m3) R2A (Kg/m3) NA (Kg/m3)
RM0 110 244.0 225 450 770 – – – 784
RM1 220 296.2 922 352 – –
RM2 245 302.3 759 – – 452
MP1 195 282.5 918 264 95 –
MP2 189 269.6 913 176 189 –
MP3 181 255.6 909 88 284 –
MP4 170 241.1 906 – 378 –
10 F.K. Alqahtani, I. Zafar / Construction and Building Materials 230 (2020) 116992

RM0 RM1 RM2 MP1 MP2 MP3 MP4 RM1 RM2 MP1 MP2 MP3 MP4
3000
0.7
2500 0.6
Dry density (kg/m3)

0.5

Poisson's Ratio
2000 y = 1.0822e-0.048x
0.4 R² = 0.85
1500
0.3
1000
0.2
500 y = -0.0186x + 0.8163
0.1
R² = 0.82
0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 0 10 20 30 40
Compressive strength (MPa) Compressive strength (MPa)
Fig. 16. Relation between dry density and compressive strength for all the concrete Fig. 18. Relation between Poisson’s ratio and compressive strength for all the
series. concrete series.

In addition, the relation between the Poisson’s ratio and com-

RM2 RM1 MP1 MP2 MP3 MP4
pressive strength was predicted the using the linear equation and
0.7
exponential equation and compare the R2 for the best fit curve. The
0.6 proposed linear equation (Eq. (1)) and exponential equation (Eq.
(2)) are shown below:
Poisson's ratio

0.5
y ¼ 0:0186x þ 0:8163 R2 ¼ 0:82 ð1Þ
0.4

0.3 y ¼ 1:0822e0:048x R2 ¼ 0:85 ð2Þ

0.2 where  stands for the 28-day compressive strength of the pro-
cessed light weight aggregate concrete.
0.1
The percentage difference between the values estimated by the
0 equations and experimental data are represented in Table 7. It was
Concrete Series observed that Eq. (2) has shown less variation between the exper-
imental and estimated values as compared to the linear represen-
Fig. 17. Results of 28-day Poisson ratio of MP series as compared to RM1 and RM2 tation (Eq. (1)) between the Poisson’s ratio and compressive
series.
strength of different light weight concretes.

the replacement level was increased from 25 to 50%. While, 5.3. Effect of aggregate replacement on thermal conductivity
increasing the replacement level from 75 to 100% yielded an
immense increase of 134–154% (0.32–0.37) in the Poisson’s ratio Thermal conductivity measures the ability of material to trans-
values. Additionally, MP4 had an increase of 144% (0.36) in the val- fer heat. Therefore, a material with low thermal conductivity can
ues of Poisson’s ratio than those of the RM2 series. It should be provide high insulation. The effect of the PLA addition on the ther-
noted that the generally the maximum value for the Poisson’s ratio mal conductivity was only performed for the MP4 series to observe
is 0.5, the vales greater than 0.5 (MP3 and MP4) should be treated the effect of total replacement of PLA on the thermal conductivity
just as the ratio of ratio of longitudinal and transverse strains of the resulting concrete. The results of thermal conductivity for
rather than Poisson’s ratio. The results of the Poisson’s ratio for MP4 (concrete comprising 100% PLA) series as compared to the
MP series is generally in broad agreement with the findings of concrete containing 100% RA (RM1) is shown in Fig. 19.
Kou et al. (2009), observing an increase of 57% in the Poisson’s ratio It was noticed that the values of thermal conductivity at the ini-
due to the increase in plastic particles’ replacement from 0 to 45% tial time (i.e. 0 h) for MP4 and RM1 mixes was almost 2–4 times
[8]. However, the percentage increase in the Poisson’s ratio of MP higher than that measured at later periods (i.e. 7–10 h) except
series is higher than the findings of Jansen et al. (2001); who
reported an increase in the Poisson’s ratio ranging from 20 to Table 7
30% at total replacement of coarse aggregates with plastic based Percentage difference in model predictions for the Poisson’s Ratio.
aggregate [22]. The relation between the compressive strength
Concrete type Percentage difference between the
and Poisson ratio for all the concrete series is shown in Fig. 18. It predicted and experimental results
was observed that as the replacement level of PLA is increasing
Eq. (1) Eq. (2)
the strength of concrete is decreasing while the value of Poisson’s
ratio is increasing indicating to the ductile behavior of concrete at RM1 5.5 1.5
RM2 16.0 9.5
lower compressive strengths.
MP1 21.5 14.4
Overall, the increase in the Poisson’s ratio of MP series is a MP2 30.7 21.9
strong identification for its ductile behavior (i.e. gradual failure) MP3 17.3 22.4
which can be linked with the high plasticity or ductility of plastic MP4 2.8 0.27
that exists in the PLA matrix, as reported by Kou et al. [8].
 F.K. Alqahtani, I. Zafar / Construction and Building Materials 230 (2020) 116992 11

4 of concrete with densities extending from 1500 to 2350 kg/m3

[58].
RM1
3.5
K ¼ 0:0864e0:00125q
(Saturated)
ð3Þ
Thermal conductivity (W/m.K)

3
K ¼ 0:0236e0:0023q ð4Þ
MP4
(Saturated)
2.5
K ¼ 0:0625e0:0015q ð5Þ

2 where q stands for the dry density of the processed light weight
RM1 (Dry)
aggregate concrete in kg/m3 while K is thermal conductivity values
1.5 obtained in W/mK.
The results of the thermal conductivity values for the light
1 MP4 (Dry)
weight concrete containing PLA aggregates corresponding to vari-
ous densities values are as shown in Fig. 20.
It was observed that the experimental values for MP4 had
0.5
shown more deviation from the values estimated by all the three
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Time (hr) equations as compared to RM1 which had shown almost the same
values as predicted by ACI 213 R-03 equation [60].
Fig. 19. Results of 28-day thermal conductivity of MP4 and RM1 series in saturated
and dry conditions.
5.4. Effect of curing temperature on strength development

for MP4 (Dry) which had a marginal difference of 0.8%. Addition- The effect of different curing temperature on the 28-day com-
ally, MP4 had 17% (0.14 W/mK) and 49% (0.27 W/mK) higher pressive strength of MP series with reference to RM1 is shown in
thermal conductivity than RM1 at the saturated and dry condi- Fig. 21. It was noticed that the 28-day compressive strength
tions, respectively. Nonetheless, the thermal conductivity of MP4 decreases with increases in the water curing temperature.
were either within or lower than those values reported elsewhere;
where lightweight aggregate concrete (i.e. Lytag concrete) or nor-
Gomes et al. (2017) Asadi et al. (2018)
mal weight concrete (i.e. density  2300 kg/m3) yield a thermal
ACI committee 213 R-03 Experimental (dry)
conductivity of 0.80 and 1.63 W/mK, respectively. The low ther- Experimental (saturated)
Thermal Conductivity K (W·m-1·K-1)

mal conductivity of RM1 is most likely related to the porous struc- 2

ture of its aggregate together with the existence of entrapped air in
its voids, as observed by Al-Jabri et al. [56]. Moreover, the ultimate 1.6
thermal conductivity of RM1 and MP4 in a saturated condition was
72% and 36% higher compared with that measured in a dry condi- 1.2
tion respectively, as shown in Fig. 19. This was expected because
the decrease in moisture of the sample reduces its conductivity; 0.8
which is in agreement with the findings of Khan (2002), who
observed an increase of 70% in thermal conductivity of saturated 0.4
samples compared with those of dry samples [57].
Overall, these results suggest that MP concrete could potentially 0
be used in lightweight applications where low density and high 1700 1750 1800 1850 1900
insulation features are required. This yields a novel lightweight Density (kg/m³)
concrete with an enhanced insulation property which ultimately
would reduce the cost and energy associated with heating and Fig. 20. Estimated values of thermal conductivity for MP series.

cooling activities.
The thermal conductivity of the concrete is influenced by the
different factors, i.e. pore structure, amount of cementitious mate- MP (20 ºC ) MP (30 ºC ) MP (40 ºC )
rial, density, degree of saturation and temperature. Many research- 40
ers have expressed thermal conductivity of concrete and mortar as
Compressive strength (MPa)

a function of its density [58]. In the current research also the exper- 35
imental data of thermal conductivity and density for all the speci-
30
men series was plotted and also the values of thermal conductivity
were estimated for other replacement levels of PLA by using three
25
different equations proposed by Gomes et al. (2017), Asadi et al.
(2018) and ACI committee 213 R-03 as cited by Demirboǧa and 20
Kan (2012) [58–61]. Eq. (3) was proposed by ACI committee 213
R-03 for predicting the thermal conductivity values of light weight 15
concrete [60]. Gomes et al. (2017) proposed the Eq. (4) for the pre-
diction of the thermal conductivity values of concrete mortar spec- 10
imens based on its dry bulk density [59]. In addition, Asadi et al. 0 25 50 75 100
Replacement Ratio (%)
(2018) conducted a detailed review study on the 185 experimental
studies related to the thermal conductivity of different concretes Fig. 21. Results of 28-day compressive strength of MP series at curing temperatures
and mortars and proposed Eq. (5) [58]. Asadi et al. (2018) of 20, 30 and 40 °C.
suggested to use Eq. (5) for estimating the thermal conductivity
12
For instance, the increase in curing temperature from 20 to
30 °C and from 20 to 40 °C reduced the 28-day compressive
strength of the MP mixes by 2–8% and 9–17% respectively; in com-
parison with 7 and 13% for the RM1 at the same temperatures
levels. The decrease in the percentage of compressive strength
for MP series from 20 to 30 °C rise in curing temperature is almost
similar or even less as compared to that of the reference mix. This
decrease can be explained by the fact that the increase in curing
temperature accelerates the strength gained at the early curing
period (i.e. up to 7 days), which ultimately leads to a poorer
microstructure containing large pores. This observation is consis-
tent with those reported elsewhere [62–64]. In summary, the pre-
sent study’s results confirm that MP can be cured at temperatures
up to 30 °C, without significantly affecting compressive strength.
Additionally, the experimental results of the strength gain to
find the relation between the replacement ratio and compressive
strength at different curing temperatures i.e. 20 °C, 30 °C and
40 °C as shown in Fig. 22.
For curing temperature of 20 °C:
y ¼ 0:1854x þ 35:014
For curing temperature of 30 °C:
y ¼ 0:1727x þ 32:962
For curing temperature of 40 °C:
y ¼ 0:173x þ 31:198 R2 ¼ 0:93
where x stands for the replacement percentage of the processed
light weight aggregate
The Eqs. (6)–(8) showed good agreement with the experimental
data as represented by the R2 values. In addition, the Eqs. (6)–(8)
were also used to estimate the 28-day compressive strength of
the concrete specimen containing PLA at different proportions
and cured at 20 °C, 30 °C and 40 °C respectively. The percentage
difference between the values estimated by the equations and
experimental data are represented in Table 8. It was observed that
the equation proposed for higher curing temperature i.e. 40 °C has
showed the minimum variation as compared to the experimental
data. For the same concrete mix and given replacement ratio, the
maximum variation between the predicted and experimental of
compressive strength values was observed at the lower curing
temperature i.e. 20 °C.
40
MP (20 ºC )
MP (40 ºC )
Linear (MP (30 ºC ))
35
Compressive strength (MPa)
30
25
y = -0.1727x + 32.962
R² = 0.9414
20
15
10
0 25
Fig. 22. Relation between the 28-day compressive strength at different replace-
ment at curing temperatures of 20, 30 and 40 °C.
F.K. Alqahtani, I. Zafar / Construction and Building Materials 230 (2020) 116992
Table 8
Percentage difference in model predictions for the compressive strength at different
curing temperatures.
Concrete type Percentage difference between the predicted and
experimental results
Eq. (6) (20 °C) Eq. (7) (30 °C) Eq. (8) (40 °C)
MP1 12.9 6.5 0.10
MP2 28.7 21.7 12.7
MP3 11.1 5.3 4.1
MP4 37.3 30.7 15.8
6. Conclusions
The manufacturing details of processed light weight aggregates
are presented in the current study along with their material and
production processes, including the detailed investigation on the
properties of the processed light weight aggregate. In addition,
the effect of processed light weight aggregate at different replace-
ment ratios on the physical properties of concrete were also anal-
ysed. The effect of thermal curing on the strength development and
thermal conductivity was also presented. The major outcomes of
R2 ¼ 0:92 ð6Þ the current experimental study are itemized below.

The processed light weight aggregate was successfully manu-
2 factured by using compression moulding press technique. The
R ¼ 0:94 ð7Þ
characterization of processed light weight aggregates was con-
ducted and found the manufactured aggregates to be analogous
to the natural and commercially available light weight
ð8Þ aggregates.

The density and compressive strength of the concrete were
found to have decreased as the replacement percentage of PLA
was increased. The constant relationship was observed between
the density and compressive strength of the processed light
weight concrete irrespective of the replacement ratio. The
decrease in the density and compressive strength can be related
to the hydrophobic nature of the plastic existing in the pro-
cessed light weight aggregate matrix which prevents good
bonding between cement and aggregates.

The processed light weight aggregate concrete showed an
increase in the Poisson’s ratio values as compared to the refer-
ence mixes. An increase of 9–41% was observed when the
replacement level was increased from 25 to 50%, as compared
to the natural light weight aggregate concrete. While, increasing
the replacement to 100% yielded an increase of 144% in the
Poisson’s ratio values as compared to the Lytag aggregate con-
crete. The increase in the Poisson’s ratio by incorporation of
processed light weight aggregates is mainly because of the high
plasticity or ductility of plastic that exists in the aggregate
MP (30 ºC ) matrix.
Linear (MP (20 ºC ))
Linear (MP (40 ºC ))
It was noticed that the values of thermal conductivity of pro-
cessed light weight aggregate concrete at 100% replacement
y = -0.1854x + 35.014
R² = 0.9222 ratio increased by 17% and 49% as compared to the natural light
weight aggregate concrete for saturated and dry conditions,
respectively. Moreover, it was observed that values of thermal
conductivity decreased with time up to 10 h for all the concrete
mixes and the ultimate thermal conductivity of natural light
weight aggregate concrete and processed light weight aggre-
gate concrete in a saturated condition was 72% and 36% higher
compared with that measured in a dry condition respectively.
y = -0.173x + 31.198
The increase in the curing temperature from 20 °C to 30 °C and
R² = 0.9319 from 20 to 40 °C reduced the 28-day compressive strength of
the processed light weight aggregate concrete by 2–8% and 9–
50 75 100 17% respectively; in comparison with 7% and 13% for the natural
Replacemen Ratio (%) light weight aggregate concrete at the same temperatures
levels. It was also noticed that processed light weight concrete
can be cured at temperatures up to 30 °C, without significantly
 F.K. Alqahtani, I. Zafar / Construction and Building Materials 230 (2020) 116992
affecting compressive strength. In addition, the analytical mod-
els for estimating the effect of thermal curing on the strength
development of processed light weight concrete at different
replacement percentages were also proposed.

In the light of above results the processed light weight aggre-
gate has shown its prospective utilization in lightweight con-
crete applications especially where low density and high
insulation features are required.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declared that there is no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgement
The authors are grateful to the college of Engineering research
centre and deanship of scientific research at King Saud University
(KSU), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for their finical support for the
research work presented in this article. The authors also extend
their appreciation to the laboratory staff of KSU for their full assis-
tance during laboratory work.
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