Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101563

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Ain Shams Engineering Journal

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Architectural Engineering

Comparative study of mechanical properties between irradiated and

regular plastic waste as a replacement of cement and fine aggregate for
manufacturing of green concrete
Tao Liu a, Afnan Nafees b, Sherbaz khan b, Muhammad Faisal Javed b, Fahid Aslam c, Hisham Alabduljabbar c,
Jian-Jun Xiong d,⇑, M. Ijaz Khan e,f,⇑, M.Y. Malik g
a
Hunan Provincial Communications Planning, Survey and Design Institute Company Limited, Changsha 410200, PR China
b
Department of Civil Engineering, Comsats University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, Abbottabad, Pakistan
c
Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering in Al-Kharj, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj 16273, Saudi Arabia
d
Hunan Provincial Communications Planning, Survey and Design Institute Company Limited, Changsha 410200, PR China
e
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Riphah International University I-14, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
f
Nonlinear Analysis and Applied Mathematics (NAAM)-Research Group, Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80203, Jeddah
21589, Saudi Arabia
g
Department of Mathematics, College of Sciences, King Khalid University, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia

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

Article history: Concrete and plastic are a major source of environmental contamination and unsustainability. This study
Received 11 July 2021 has been employed to come up with the eco-friendly concrete by using the plastic waste to promote the
Revised 26 July 2021 sustainability. Gamma radiations were used to enhance the micro-structure of plastic waste to increase
Accepted 11 August 2021
the mechanical properties of resulting concrete. The crystallinity and chemical properties of regular and
Available online 02 September 2021
irradiated plastic were studied using x-ray diffraction (Xrd) and x-ray fluorescence (Xrf), respectively.
Enhancement in the crystallinity and chemical properties were observed in the irradiated plastic.
Keywords:
Different compositions by weight were opted for replacement of cement and fine aggregate for both reg-
Regular plastic waste
Irradiated plastic waste
ular and irradiated plastic waste with silica fume and superplasticizers. A set of experiments were per-
High density polyethylene formed on concrete and the effect of plastic waste on the compressive strength and split tensile
Split tensile strength strength of concrete was examined. Untreated replacement of plastic waste has shown to decrease the
compressive strength and anomalous behavior was observed in case of split tensile strength. Both the
mechanical properties were enhanced by replacing the cement and fine aggregates with irradiated plastic
waste including silica fume and superplasticizers. This study contributes towards sustainable develop-
ment of green concrete by lowering the carbon emissions and overcoming the fine aggregate scarcity
problem. Moreover, as plastic is ductile and inclusion of plastic in concrete lowers the overall weight
of the structure; impact of an earthquake is reduced.
Ó 2021 THE AUTHORS. Published by Elsevier BV on behalf of Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams Uni-
versity. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction

Concrete is adored for its strength and durability. That is why it

⇑ Corresponding authors at: Hunan Provincial Communications Planning, Survey
and Design Institute Company Limited, Changsha 410200, PR China (J.-J. Xiong).
E-mail addresses: xiongjianjun2025@126.com (J.-J. Xiong), mikhan@math.qau.
edu.pk (M. Ijaz Khan).
Peer review under responsibility of Ain Shams University.
Production and hosting by Elsevier
serves as the foundation of modern life from ages. This solidity, of
course, is what humankind desired for. Concrete can take our civ-
ilization upwards, up to 100 story high rise building, creating living
space out of the air. But it also effects our environment directly or
indirectly. From last few years, humanity has been willing to
accept this environmental downside in return for the undoubted
benefits of concrete. But the balance may now be tilting in the
other direction. Solidity is a particularly attractive quality at a time

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asej.2021.08.006
2090-4479/Ó 2021 THE AUTHORS. Published by Elsevier BV on behalf of Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
T. Liu, A. Nafees, S. khan et al.
of disorientating change, but like any good thing in excess it can
create more problems than it solves.
The construction activities in almost all the developing coun-
tries increased exponentially. In this century after water concrete
is the widely used material on planet. Beside undoubted benefits
of concrete it has harmful effects on human health too. About 8%
of the total carbon dioxide emission is due to the manufacturing
of structural concrete and it is one of the leading causes of global
warming [1]. 900 kg of carbon dioxide is released to the environ-
ment for manufacturing of every ton of cement [2]. Half of con-
crete’s CO2 emissions is during the manufacture of clinker
(produced by heating limestone and clay minerals in a kiln), the
most-energy intensive part of the cement making process. While
manufacturing cement, it must be heated to very high tempera-
tures to form Clinkers, it is then heated with gypsum at a temper-
ature of 1500◦C to form alite which contributes to the binding
properties of cement. Some research suggests that alite can be
replaced by some other naturally available minerals with the roast-
ing temperature less than that of Alite without compromising
other properties of Alite, this will help in the reduction of carbon
dioxide released hence it promotes sustainability [3].
Similarly, World produces 381 million tonnes of plastic waste
yearly and this is expected to be double in next 10 years. Only
9% of this waste has ever been recycled [4]. Most of the plastic ends
up in landfilling, oceans endangering wildlife. Plastic is widely
used material due to its durability and inexpensive nature, but
the excess use of plastic is an alarming situation for the sustain-
ability. New techniques of recycling the plastic wastes are adopted
nowadays. Recycling one ton of plastic can save 7.4 cubic yards of
landfill [5]. Recycling is increasing due to improved environmental
awareness and economic benefits. With rapid industrial growth
and urbanization there has been an uncontrollable increase in
amount of waste plastics produced every year. This plastic waste
has very adverse impact on environment. To circumvent the pollu-
tion crisis the recycling of plastic waste is carried out nowadays,
but a very small fraction as compared to production can be recy-
cled rest is landfilled [6]. It takes 1000 of years of decompose, also
release toxic gases like Sulphur dioxide and carbon dioxide if we
attempt to get rid of it by burning [7]. All types of plastic used
by humans in daily life eventually becomes waste. Several tons
of these plastic wastes require large areas of land for storage and
cannot be fully recycled at once. Only a very small portion is recy-
cled. Using plastic waste in the construction industry is an environ-
mental solution to minimize the proportion of landfills used in
waste incineration. Presently, coming up with an approach to uti-
lize plastic in construction industry will be of great advantage. The
major input of construction industry is concrete. The scarcity of
raw materials used in the manufacturing of concrete is observed
over last few years due to the high demand. Hence the use of plas-
tic waste in the concrete as a raw material can solve both problems
to an extent. Plastic can be grinded to use as a replacement of fine
aggregate or ordinary Portland cement in concrete to promote sus-
tainable development.
2. Literature review
Various studies have been conducted to promote the use of
plastic waste in the concrete as a replacement of either cement
or fine aggregate. Their mechanical properties were evaluated
and found that replacement of plastic waste with different ratios
exhibits different properties. Nenoi et al. [8] reported that the
use of irradiated plastic waste (IPW) up to 5% as a replacement
of fine aggregate resulted in 23% increase in compressive strength.
Similarly, Rahmani et al. [9] reported 8.86% increase in compres-
sive strength with water-cement ratio of 0.52 and 11.97% increase
2
Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101563
in compressive strength with water-cement ratio of 0.42, for 5%
replacement of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste with fine
aggregate. Nibudey et al. [10] employed plastic fibers from mineral
water bottles by 1% of volume without any processing and noticed
an improvement in compressive strength and tensile strength by
7.35 percent while substituting more than 3% of plastic waste
resulted in a drop in characteristics. Schaefer et al. [11] attempted
to replace the ordinary Portland cement with gamma radiated
plastic waste. They examined 3 different samples: one without
radiation and the other two with low dose of 10KGy and high dose
of 100KGy of gamma radiation. They concluded that by replacing
1.25% of cement by weight with IPW at a dose of 100 kGy can
increase the compressive strength by 1%. Khan et al. [12] studied
the effect of IPW as a replacement of ordinary Portland cement
in the presence of silica fume. It was observed that 10% replace-
ment of irradiated PET with cement reduces the compressive
strength by only 3%. Tensile strength was observed to be same as
conventional concrete.
Recent studies conducted on inclusion of plastic waste with or
without processing in the concrete produces an eco-friendly con-
crete but with the trade of mechanical properties. This study is
employed to regain the strength loss due to the addition of inert
man-made material as a replacement of natural aggregates. Irradi-
ation treatment is opted to treat the plastic waste with gamma
rays of CO-60 to improves its crystalline structure so that it makes
a better bonding with aggregates. Silica fume is added to imparts
pozzolanic properties and to contribute towards strength loss.
Optimum percentage of super plasticizer i.e. 1000 ml/100 kg [13]
is also added to keep the resulting concrete workable by keeping
the water-cement ratio constant. Addition of super plasticizer in
the concrete will also affect its mechanical properties in a signifi-
cant way.
3. Objectives of research
After a detailed literature review it was observed that the inclu-
sion of virgin/regular plastic waste in the concrete as a replace-
ment of cement or fine aggregate effects its mechanical
properties as a loss in strength, but plastic used in the form of
fibers enhance concrete properties at lower percentages. In this
study, plastic waste was first treated with the gamma radiation
to improve its structural properties. This study aimed to evaluate
and compare the mechanical properties of concrete with regular
plastic waste (RPW) and IPW as a replacement of fine aggregate
and ordinary Portland cement. One of the major significances of
this research is to achieve environmentally friendly concrete. Nat-
ural aggregate scarcity and the problem of plastic waste landfilling
may both be resolved. Plastic is a promising material for use in
some areas of construction that might help us address problems
such as the inability to recycle plastic, satisfying sand demand,
and lowering CO2 emissions.
4. Materials used
High density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic waste was sorted out
from a scrap collected from local scrap market. HDPE is commonly
used in the manufacturing of shampoo bottles, mobile oil contain-
ers and water storage containers. The properties of HDPE are men-
tioned in Table 1. The Waste plastic was treated with gamma-
radiations. Prior to treatment it was crushed into flakes of 2 mm-
4 mm. It was grinded using mechanical pulverizer to obtain the
particle size distribution suitable for replacement with fine aggre-
gate and cement. Sieve analysis was then carried out on powdered
waste plastic. The plastic passing through mesh no 200 was
replaced with cement having average particle size of 75–100 mm.
T. Liu, A. Nafees, S. khan et al.
Table 1
Properties of high-density polyethylene.
Property Value Units
Compressive yield strength 2900 psi
Tensile strength 4050 psi
impact Strength 247.2 kJ/m2
% Elongation 213.1 % [15]
Elastic modulus (short-term:1 min) 1.0  103 MPa
Service life >50 years
Thermal conductivity 0.29 kcal/m.hr°C
Retained one was used for replacement with fine aggregate. Type-1
(Ordinary Portland cement) was as used a binding material under
specification of ASTM C150/150 M. Fine aggregate occupies 70–
80% of concrete in both fresh and hardened state. Lawrencepur
Sand is used in this research having fineness modulus 2.47 deter-
mined by sieve analysis following ASTM C136, and specific gravity
of 2.60 evaluated by pycnometer apparatus under ASTM C128.
Coarse aggregate of fineness modulus of 7.52 and maximum size
aggregate of 19 mm is used in this study following ASTM C33. Sil-
ica fume used in the research was purchased from a chemical store
at Rawalpindi following the standard specification of ASTM C 1240.
The SiO2 content is 87% and having the specific are of 15 m2/g men-
tioned on the manual.
5. Gamma radiation treatment of HDPE
Gamma radiation treatment of plastic polymers causes chemi-
cal and physical changes in its micro-structure. This technique is
becoming common for the medical products sterilization and foods
irradiation for the purpose of preservation. Cobolt-60 (Radioactive
isotope) is the most used source of gamma radiation worldwide
[16]. Rays are supplied in the form of electron beam having the
energies in the range of 1.173 and 1.332 MeV(Mega Electron Volts)
[17]. The half-life of Co-60 is about 5.27 years [18]. Gamma radia-
tion from a source of radio nuclei of Co-60 was used for the treat-
ment of HDPE. The plastic polymer was treated at a dose rate of
50Gray/min for a total cumulative dose of 100 kGy. The sample
of 60 kg was divided into 4 Bags of 20 kg and wrapped in plastic
bag by machine to make it airtight. The radiations cause the
crosslinking among the chain structure of polymer and enhance
the crystallinity of polymer. The effect of radiation was studied
by x-ray diffraction. This process of cross linking increase the crys-
tallinity of the polymer chain resulting in improved HDPE proper-
ties [19]. The resulting HDPE after cross linking has 20 times the
environmental stress crack resistance to normal HDPE, and 10
times more molecular weight. The impact and tensile strength of
treated HDPE is also increased by 5 times [20]
6. X-ray diffraction of regular and irradiated plastic waste
Mechanical behavior of material under different loading condi-
tions can be predicted from its structural information, which can
be explored using X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique. In this study,
XRD analysis was performed on RPW and IPW to observe the
impact of gamma radiations. Size of the Sample placed in the x
ray diffractometer operating at voltage of 20-40Kev(Kilo Electron
Volt) was 2 mm-4 mm in the form of flakes. Sample placed in
the apparatus was exposed to rays having wavelength of 1.5418Å
(Angstrom), sample rotated with synchronization such that each
particle of the material should be subjected to rays. Graph was
plotted between the intensities and rotation angle to check the
crystallinity of sample. The degree of crystallinity is directly pro-
portional to the peak area. Exact value of degree of crystallinity
can be determined by integrating the areas of all the curves [21].
Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101563
Fig. 1 shows the Crystallinity of RPW, while Fig. 2 represents the
crystallinity of HDPE after treatment. It is clearly observed from
Reference the graphs that the gamma radiation enhanced the microstructure
[14] of waste plastic and make it more crystalline resulting in better
[15] mechanical properties. The chemical composition from XRF analy-
[15] sis is shown in Table 2.
[16]
– 7. mix proportioning
[16]
Materials used in the research were locally available and their
properties are mentioned in above section. Mix design calculations
were carried out for concrete with compressive strength of 3000
psi by keeping the water-cement ratio of 0.50–0.55 for assuring
the slump value of 3 in.. The concrete mix quantities are in
kg/m3 and their designation are shown in Table 3 and Table 4.
Concrete mix proportion of 1:1.86:2.45 by mass was used in the
research. Two different types of mix were prepared. In first mix,
cement was replaced by RPW and IPW with different proportion
including 1%, 2%, 3%, 5 %and 7% by weight of cement. In second
mix, fine aggregate was replaced by RPW and IPW following the
same proportions. Concrete cylinders of 6  12in were casted
and tested for 3, 7 and 28 days of curing.
8. Results and discussion
8.1. Conventional concrete
Conventional concrete cylinders with no plastic waste and silica
fume were casted and tested for 3,7 and 28 days. Their results were
used as a reference for further study. Table 5 represents the com-
pressive strength and split tensile strength values for the concrete
cylinders without the replacement of plastic waste and silica fume.
Compressive strength of 20.54 MPa and split tensile strength of
3.42 MPa were used as standard value for 28 days of curing period.
8.2. Formulation of compressive strength
8.2.1. Compressive strength of RPW as replacement of cement
RPW without any processing was replaced with cement with
different proportions of 1%, 2%, 3%, 5% and 7%. Mix design quanti-
ties for replacement of plastic waste with cement in kg/m3 are tab-
ulated in Table 3. Fig. 3 shows the compressive strength value for 3,
7 and 28 days of curing at different percent composition of RPW. At
first, slight decrease in compressive strength was observed but
after 3% replacement the decreasing trend became sharp. For 1%
replacement the decrease in strength was observed to be 2.72 %,
for 3% replacement decrease in strength was 2.96% and for 7%
replacement the strength decrease was witnessed to be 9.98%.
Plastic being an inert man-made material does not possess any
pozzolanic properties therefore the decreasing trend was detected.
However, some of the strength can be regained by using the opti-
mal quantities of super plasticizer and silica fume RPW is preferred
for non-structural use or for the structure with minimum compres-
sive loads. Table 6 shows the experimental values of compressive
strength for different composition at different curing ages.
8.2.2. Compressive strength of IPW as replacement of cement
Gamma radiated plastic waste was used as a replacement of
cement to regain the strength loss observed in the replacement
with RPW, which was mainly due to reduction in the content of
binding material. The improved crystalline structure due to gamma
radiation helps in making bond with aggregates to have better
mechanical properties. Fig. 4 shows the values of compressive
strength evaluated by testing the concrete cylinders with different
percentages of IPW at different curing ages using compression test-
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T. Liu, A. Nafees, S. khan et al. Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101563

Fig. 1. Crystalline and amorphous characteristics of virgin HDPE.

Fig. 2. Crystalline and amorphous characteristics of Irradiated HDPE.

Table 2
Chemical composition of OPC, SF, IPW, RPW.

Chemical Composition (mass % of oxide) CaO SiO2 Al2O3 MgO SO3 TiO2 K2O Fe2O3 Na2O Zn H2O
Binder Type
OPC 65.2% 19.2% 5.2% 3.4% 1.5% – 0.62% 2.4% 0.3% – –
Silica fume 0.25 96% 0.25% 0.56% 0.12% 0.56% 0.5% 0.25% 0.02% 0.6%
Regular Plastic 4.87% 64.3% <0.01% <0.01% 14.76% 5.0% 1.89% 4.12% <0.01% 1.7% –
Irradiated Plastic 5.24% 68.6 % <0.01% <0.01% 13.47% 5.91% 2.02% 3.26% <0.01% 0.71% –

OPC = Ordinary Portland cement, SF = Silica Fume, RPW = Regular plastic waste, IPW = irradiated plastic waste.

Table 3
Mix design quantities in kg/m3 for Replacement of cement with Regular Plastic Waste.

Quantities in kg/m3
Mix ID Replacement Super Plasticizer W/C Ratio Fine Aggregate Coarse Aggregate Water Content Cement content Plastic Waste Silica fume
(ml/kg)
CCP0SF0 0 0 0.50 816 928 202 404 0 0
RPW1SF2 1% 10 0.50 816 928 202 391.88 4.04 8.08
RPW2SF4 2% 10 0.50 816 928 202 379.76 8.08 16.16
RPW3SF6 3% 12 0.50 816 928 202 367.64 12.12 24.24
RPW5SF10 5% 14 0.50 816 928 202 343.3 20.20 40.40
RPW7SF14 7% 15 0.50 816 928 202 319.16 28.28 56.56

4
T. Liu, A. Nafees, S. khan et al. Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101563

Table 4
Mix design quantities in kg/m3 for Replacement of Fine Aggregate with Regular Plastic Waste.

Quantities in kg/m3
Mix ID Replacement Super Plasticizer (ml/kg) W/C Ratio Fine Aggregate Coarse Aggregate Water Content Cement content Waste Silica fume
RPW0SF0 0% 0 0.55 852.73 928 202 367.27 0 0
RPW1SF2 1% 10 0.55 844.21 928 202 359.93 8.52 7.34
RPW3SF6 3% 12 0.55 827.15 928 202 345.24 25.58 22.03
RPW5SF10 5% 12 0.55 810.10 928 202 330.55 42.63 36.72
RPW7SF14 7% 14 0.55 796.04 928 202 312.86 59.69 51.41
RPW10SF17 10% 14 0.55 767.46 928 202 304.84 85.27 62.43
RPW15SF20 15% 14 0.55 724.83 928 202 293.82 127.90 73.45

Table 5
Compressive strength and split tensile strength of conventional concrete.

Compressive strength in N/mm2 Split Tensile strength in N/mm2

3 Days 7 Days 28 Days 3 Days 7 Days 28 days
Conventional Concrete 7.60 13.35 20.54 1.54 2.38 3.42

8.2.3. Compressive strength of RPW as replacement of fine aggregate

Fig. 3. Compressive strenght for RPW_cement.
ing machine. Experimental values showed an increase in compres-
sive strength till 5% replacement. When the percentage of IPW was
increased by 5%, slight decrease in strength was observed.
Decrease of 3.6% in compressive strength was observed for 7% of
IPW. Maximum increase in strength of 9.6% was observed at 3%
replacement. The compressive strength values given in the Table 7
shows the increase in compressive strength values as compared to
RPW, Hence Gamma radiation treatment is found to be significant
to achieve green concrete without compromising its mechanical
properties. By 5% replacement of cement with IPW we can reduce
20.20 kg/m3 of cement which will be a huge contribution to
sustainability.
Sand is one of the raw materials used in the manufacturing of
concrete. Due to its less availability and high demand world is fac-
ing scarcity of sand which causes damages to rivers, wreaking
havoc on coastal ecosystems, and even wiping away entire islands.
Fine aggregate occupies 70–80% of the volume of concrete. By lim-
iting the use of sand in concrete we can overcome the problem of
scarcity of sand. In this study cylinders were prepared by replacing
plastic waste with fine aggregate with percentages of 1%, 3%, 5%,
7%, 10% and 15%. Mix design quantities for replacement of fine
aggregate with RPW and IPW are shown in Table 4. Compressive
strength tended to rise for the first percentage replacements and
subsequently decreased for larger replacements of plastic waste.
Compressive strength value obtained for 5% replacement was same
as that of conventional concrete. Maximum increase in strength of
4.3% was observed at 1% replacement. 12% decrease in strength
was observed at replacement of 10% and 18% decrease was
observed for 15% replacement of fine aggregate with RPW at
28 days of curing period. We can replace 5% of RPW with fine
aggregate without effecting compressive strength. This replace-
ment can save 42.63 kg/m3 of sand. Fig. 5 shows the compressive
strength of concrete resulting from the replacement of fine aggre-
gate with RPW.
8.2.4. Compressive strength of IPW as replacement of fine aggregate
IPW as a replacement of fine aggregate showed an increasing
trend till 7% of replacement. An increase of 13.14 % in compressive
strength was recorded for 7% replacement of IPW. A decrease of 7%
in strength was observed for maximum replacement of 15%. By
replacing 15% of fine aggregate, we can save 127.90 kg/3 of sand.
As compared to RPW, IPW has enhanced properties. Improved
mechanical properties of IPW are justified by the XRD analysis. Sil-
ica fume content and addition of super plasticizer also played an
important role in enhancing the strength of resulting concrete.

Table 6
Compressive strength and split tensile strength for Replacement of cement with Regular Plastic Waste.

Mix ID Slump Value in mm. Compressive strength in N/mm2 Split Tensile strength in N/mm2
3 Days 7 Days 28 Days 3 Days 7 Days 28 days
CCP0SF0 86.36 7.60 13.35 20.54 1.54 2.38 3.42
RPW1SF2 81.53 7.57 13.06 19.98 1.55 2.42 3.46
RPW2SF4 80.26 7.55 13.02 19.95 1.59 2.47 3.52
RPW3SF6 78.49 6.87 12.37 19.93 1.57 2.46 3.46
RPW5SF10 75.69 6.29 11.88 18.93 1.52 2.38 3.41
RPW7SF14 76.32 5.75 11.61 18.49 1.48 2.32 3.29

5
T. Liu, A. Nafees, S. khan et al. Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101563

Fig. 4. Compressive strength for IPW cement. Fig. 5. Compressive strength for RPW_FA.

Table 9 shows the mix ID and numerical value of compressive and

split tensile strength at different curing ages with different percent
composition mentioned along horizontal axis. Fig. 6 shows the
compressive strength trend with different replacements of IPW
with fine aggregate.

8.3. Formulation of split tensile strength

8.3.1. Split tensile strength of RPW as replacement of cement

Due to the high tensile properties of plastic waste polymer used
in the research, the split tensile strength of concrete cylinders
showed an increasing trend. Keeping the value below 5% as
replacement of cement with RPW, split tensile strength value
was observed to be same as that of conventional concrete.
Decrease in tensile strength was recorded by further increasing
the percent composition of replacement. Maximum increase in
tensile strength of 3% was observed for 2% replacement of cement
with RPW. The Mix ID and the numeric values of split tensile
strength for curing period of 3, 7 and 28 Days are shown in Table 6.
Graphical representation of split tensile strength values with dif- Fig. 6. Compressive strength for IPW_FA.
ferent compositions are shown in Fig. 7.

representation of values of split tensile strength against different

8.3.2. Split tensile strength of IPW as replacement of cement
IPW further enhanced tensile behavior as compared to RPW.
Increasing trend till maximum replacement of 7% was detected.
1% increase in tensile strength was observed for 7% replacement
while maximum increase of 13.7% was observed for 5% replace-
ment of cement with IPW at 28 days of curing. Mix design quanti-
ties in kg/m3 for the replacement of plastic waste with cement and
their designation are mentioned in Table 3. Experimental values of
split tensile strength calculated by performing the test on cylinders
in compression testing machine are shown in Table 7. Graphical
percent composition of IPW is shown in Fig. 8.
8.3.3. Split tensile strength of RPW as replacement of fine aggregate
Replacement of fine aggregate with RPW showed anomalous
behavior. For 1%, 3%, 5% and 7% of replacement, decreasing trend
was observed, but for 10% replacement the split tensile strength
was observed to rise. By further increasing the percentage content
it again showed the decreasing trend. 20% decrease in split tensile
strength was observed for 15% replacement of fine aggregate with

Table 7
Compressive strength and split tensile strength for Replacement of cement with Irradiated Plastic Waste.

Mix ID Slump Value in mm. Compressive strength in N/mm2 Split Tensile strength in N/mm2
3 Days 7 Days 28 Days 3 Days 7 Days 28 days
CCP0SF0 86.36 7.60 13.35 20.54 1.54 2.38 3.42
IPW1SF2 76.20 8.24 14.21 21.54 1.73 2.55 3.55
IPW2SF4 76.30 8.55 15.12 21.66 1.84 2.63 3.71
IPW3SF6 78.49 9.04 15.25 22.51 1.99 2.70 3.78
IPW5SF10 72.39 7.94 13.48 20.76 2.15 2.76 3.89
IPW7SF14 68.58 6.87 12.97 19.80 1.55 2.37 3.43

6
T. Liu, A. Nafees, S. khan et al. Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101563

Fig. 9. Split Tensile strength for RPW_FA.

Fig. 7. Split Tensile strength for RPW_Cement.

of 4.34% was recorded at 15% replacement. The enhanced strength

was due to the presence of IPW. Experimental values of split ten-
sile strength for replacement of fine aggregate with IPW with dif-
ferent compositions at different curing period are tabulated in
Table 9. Fig. 10 shows the trend wise behavior of split tensile
strength. Concrete itself is strong in compression but weak in ten-
sion. Introduction of IPW will not only help in producing green
concrete but will also impart better resistance to tensile loads. This
will certainly allow to minimize the steel area of concrete to resists
tensile stresses. Irradiated plastic concrete proved to be resilient
and capable of withstanding multiple loads and provide better
resistance to tensile stresses as compared RPW or conventional
concrete.

8.4. Minimizing the dead load of structural concrete

Structural lightweight concrete has an in-place density of 1442

Fig. 8. Split Tensile strength for IPW_Cement.
RPW at 28 days of curing. Table 8 shows the experimental results
of split tensile strength at different curing ages with different
replacement ratios while the graphical representation is shown
in Fig. 9.
8.3.4. Split tensile strength of IPW as replacement of fine aggregate
IPW as a replacement of fine aggregate enhanced split tensile
strength till 10% replacement. The increase in strength was
observed to be 20.65 % for 10% replacement and a slight decrease
to 1842 kg/m 3, whereas the density of normal weight concrete
ranges from 2243 to 2403 kg/m3. Plastic is a lightweight material
so by using plastic in the concrete we can decrease the unit weight
of concrete. For the 10% replacement we have the unit weight of
1812 kg/m3. So the Resulting concrete can be classified as light
weight concrete.
Commonly, reducing weight of a structure is a crucial target in
the construction industry. Plastic waste is a lightweight material
and the replacement of natural aggregate with a lightweight mate-
rial leads to a decrease in concrete unit weight. There are numer-
ous advantages of lightweight concrete including cost-
effectiveness, time-efficiency and high thermal insulation response
of the building. Earthquake forces are known to be linearly depen-
dent on the self-weight of built structures; thus, impact of an
earthquake is reduced when this self-weight decreases [22,23]

Table 8
Compressive strength and split tensile strength for Replacement of Fine aggregate with Regular Plastic Waste.

Mix ID Slump Value in mm. Compressive strength in N/mm2 Split Tensile strength in N/mm2
3 Days 7 Days 28 Days 3 Days 7 Days 28 days
CCP0SF0 86.36 7.60 13.35 20.54 1.54 2.38 3.42
RPW1SF2 78.74 8.62 14.63 21.43 1.80 2.66 3.66
RPW3SF6 75.69 8.12 13.88 20.68 1.67 2.45 3.57
RPW5SF10 77.42 7.57 13.71 20.60 1.48 2.47 3.51
RPW7SF14 79.21 6.78 12.58 19.06 1.49 2.25 3.13
RPW10SF17 80.68 6.16 11.81 18.07 1.36 2.17 3.20
RPW15SF20 80.12 4.90 10.71 16.79 1.20 2.05 2.93

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T. Liu, A. Nafees, S. khan et al. Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101563

Table 9
Compressive strength and split tensile strength for Replacement of Fine aggregate with Irradiated Plastic Waste.

Mix ID Slump Value in mm. Compressive strength in N/mm2 Split Tensile strength in N/mm2
3 Days 7 Days 28 Days 3 Days 7 Days 28 days
CCP0SF0 86.36 7.60 13.35 20.54 1.54 2.38 3.42
IPW1SF2 78.74 8.02 13.68 21.51 1.82 2.69 3.68
IPW3SF6 75.69 8.28 14.53 21.80 1.88 2.84 3.88
IPW5SF10 77.42 8.89 14.97 22.17 2.00 3.13 4.06
IPW7SF14 79.21 9.11 15.60 23.24 2.15 3.25 4.21
IPW10SF17 80.68 7.76 13.60 19.79 2.24 3.31 4.44
IPW15SF20 80.12 6.76 12.93 19.05 1.68 2.41 3.52

concrete is slightly affected due to the high tensile strength of plas-

tic polymer itself.
Gamma radiation treatment of plastic waste improved the crys-
tallinity of material by cross-linking. Dose of 100 KGy of Radioac-
tive nuclei of CO-60 was used to cause enough cross-linking
among the polymeric chain of high-density polyethylene waste.
Crystallinity of regular plastic was 54% while the crystallinity of
IPW was increased to 70% studied by X-ray diffraction technique.
By using IPW as a replacement of cement or fine aggregate, the
strength loss was regained due to the improved micro-structure.
Utilization of IPW in concrete not only get rid of plastic waste
but also produced concrete with better mechanical properties.
On the other hand, reduction of cement content in concrete also
contribute to lesser CO2 emission into the environment.
Lowering the footprints of CO2 by reducing the content of
cement in concrete. For 5% replacement of ordinary Portland
cement with IPW 1.07% increase in compressive strength and
13.7% increase in split tensile strength was observed. 5% replace-
ment will reduce 20.20 kg/m3 of cement making the resulting
mix sustainable.
Fig. 10. Split Tensile strength for IPW_FA.
Overcoming the problem of scarcity of sand by replacing fine
aggregate with plastic waste. For 7% for Fine Aggregate with IPW
13.04 % increase in compressive strength and 23.09% increase in
split tensile strength was evaluated. 7% replacement reduce
59.69 kg/m3 of sand.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-

cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgement

The authors extend their appreciation to the Deanship of Scien-

Fig. 11. Fresh Concrete density of Regular plastic waste.
Fig. 11 represents the value of fresh concrete density including pro-
portions of RPW. The decrease in density was observed by increas-
ing the percentage composition of plastic waste. 19.84% decrease
in unit weight of concrete was observed for 7% replacement of
cement with plastic waste.
9. Conclusion
RPW can be used as a replacement of cement or fine aggregate
to reduce the CO2 content and to overcome the problem of scarcity
of sand with the trade of mechanical properties of resulting con-
crete. Such concrete can be used for the non-structural purposes
or structure will small compression and temporary loads. As com-
pared to the compressive strength, the tensile strength of plastic
tific Research at King Khalid University, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia
for funding this work through research groups program under
grant number R.G.P-1/88/42.
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