Professional Documents
Culture Documents
h i g h l i g h t s
a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
Article history: In this study the performance of concrete reinforced with fibres produced from waste non-biodegradable
Received 24 November 2015 plastic, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), has been thoroughly investigated. The novelty of the study, to
Received in revised form 17 January 2016 the authors’ knowledge, consists in the fact that fibres have been employed as directly shredded from col-
Accepted 19 January 2016
lected waste plastic bottles, with no processing through, e.g., plastic melting and fibre spinning.
Moreover, a comprehensive investigation has been herein undertaken, which ranges from the identifica-
tion of the mechanical behaviour of the fibres to the assessment of their bond with the matrix and of the
Keywords:
early age and hardened state properties of the recycled PET fibre reinforced concrete.
Fibre reinforced concrete
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET)
Different types of shredded recycled PET fibres, straight and deformed, together with different fibre
Waste recycling lengths, 30 mm and 50 mm, have been assessed, for varying percentage addition in concrete. The tensile
Mechanical characteristics properties and pull out characteristics of the fibres have been determined. The effects of fibres in mitigat-
Plastic shrinkage ing plastic and restrained drying shrinkage cracking were then assessed and, finally, the compressive
Restrained shrinkage strength and the flexural performance of the fibre concrete were determined. The cracking potential of
fibre-reinforced mortar thin slabs was also assessed.
The use of shredded recycled PET fibres in concrete has been shown to lead to interesting improve-
ments in performance for various fibre concrete characteristics and offers a potential alternative for this
material.
Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2016.01.029
0950-0618/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
30 R.P. Borg et al. / Construction and Building Materials 108 (2016) 29–47
The environmental problems related to the management of features a lower elastic modulus than the reference plain matrix,
numerous different types of waste have led to assess the possibility decreasing with increasing the fibre content.
of their use as constituents in the concrete. Commonly employed The difference in results obtained by the two studies can be
waste materials include fly ash, silica fume, dusts from quarry attributed to the fact that different material processing of the
and fillers and recycled aggregates from construction and demoli- PET fibres affected their intrinsic fibre properties. It is likely that
tion waste. Fibres derived from waste include metal fibres from the fibres used by Ochi et al. [9] had a lower elastic modulus, which
recycled tires, natural fibres from agribusiness and different types in turn would have effectively restrained the tensile stresses with
of recycled plastics [1–5]. little deformation, thus allowing higher compressive loads to be
The ever-increasing awareness to provide alternative uses for reached [11]. Coherently with the aforementioned assumptions,
recycled waste materials, especially in the construction field, the highest increases were measured by Ochi et al. [9] for the less
pushed forward the idea of making use of one of the most common strong concretes.
consumer plastics used – polyethylene terephthalate (PET) – to Pelisser et al. [12] observed that a slight increase in the com-
produce fibres for FRC. This would provide a sustainable alterna- pressive strength after 28 days took place in the samples having
tive for this non-biodegradable material, that of being re-used PET fibres whilst a decrease was observed after 150 days, indicat-
instead of being taken to recycling facilities for processing. ing degradation signals of the PET fibres in an alkaline environ-
In Europe alone, more than 60 billion PET bottles were recycled ment, as also confirmed by dedicated studies [13].
in 2012. More than 52% of all post-consumer PET bottles were col- With reference to flexural toughness performance, Ochi et al.
lected for recycling. This collection rate is much higher than the [9] performed four-point bending test on 100 100 400 mm
target rate of 22.5% as stipulated by the waste directive for plastics. unnotched prisms. They measured remarkable post-cracking resid-
This helps recycling plants to work more efficiently and experience ual strength and toughness increase, with respect to the parent
a higher utilization rate at their plants. Uses for recycled PET (R- plain matrix, comparable to the one obtainable with other types
PET) include fibres, which are the largest end-product for such of industrial fibres [14], as also confirmed by the deflection harden-
material, used in clothing and textiles industry. RPET is also used ing behaviour obtained for the highest tested R-PET fibre volume
for the production of clear sheets and strapping tapes, both used fraction (1.5%).
for packaging. In 2008, the passing of EU Regulation 282/2008 on These findings were also confirmed by Pelisser et al. [12] who,
recycled plastic materials and articles intended to come into con- also with reference to flexural performance, highlighted the detri-
tact with foods has meant that all EU member states now allow mental effects of the alkaline environment on the degradation of
R-PET from approved plants to be used in food contact containers the PET fibres. As a matter of fact the performance measured
[6,7]. 150 days after casting resulted worse than the one at 28 days.
Recycled PET (R-PET) is used for a variety of applications. The The joint need to providing an effective recycling solution for
clear, higher grade pellets and flakes are primarily used for the large quantities of post-consumer waste, such as PET bottles, in
food packaging industry whilst flakes which do not make it an island-state community as Malta, and of confirming and widen-
through the final purification process for food contact, or coloured ing the quite scant experimental database available in the litera-
flakes, find a market in hidden or coloured applications. However, ture about the engineering performance of R-PET FRC has
recycling of PET is far from a straight-forward process. Any con- motivated the investigation detailed in this paper.
tamination can result in the downgrading of the material. If mate- To the authors’ knowledge the novelty of this study mainly con-
rials such as PVC, water, dyes and almost any alien plastic are sists in the following two aspects:
mixed with PET, they would reduce its properties and quality for
certain uses and, to a certain extent, can also make it unusable. - fibres are obtained by simply and directly shredding the waste
Due to the rigorous recycling process that PET has to have, every plastic bottles with no need for pre-processing the plastic e.g.
virgin material experiences a fate known as down-cycling, which through melting or heat treatment and subsequent fibre
results in the plastic being used for lesser quality materials when spinning;
compared to its original use [8]. - a comprehensive investigation has been herein undertaken,
Research on the use of R-PET fibres as dispersed reinforcement which encompasses and complements the previously cited
in concrete and mortars has been ongoing for about a decade with investigation in a unified framework. As a matter of fact, this
sporadic studies. Ochi et al. [9] also reported a number of applica- study starts with analysing the properties of the fibres and their
tions of R-PET FRC in Japan, including road construction, tunnels, bond with the matrix and proceeds going on with the assess-
bridge piers and underground storage containers for LNGs. ment of their effectiveness, as a function of their type and
Ochi et al. [9] and Kim et al. [10] investigated the bond beha- dosage, in mitigating plastic and restrained drying shrinkage
viour of R-PET fibres with a concrete matrix, also with reference cracking. Finally the measurement of the flexural performance
to the effects of the fibre surface characteristics. Embossed fibres of the R-PET FRC according to the most recent international code
provided the highest bond strength, followed by crimped and prescriptions (Model Code 2010, EN 14651) has been performed.
straight ones [10]. The effects of fibre surface characteristics on
the bond behaviour also resulted in comparable improvement of This kind of a thorough investigation hardly could be found in
the resistance to plastic shrinkage cracking, mainly for lower fibre the literature so far, referenced studies dealing with either one or
volume fractions. Comparable performance between R-PET and the other single property, and, but for one study [15] on mortar
industrially produced polypropylene (PP) fibres was measured, reinforced with R-PET fibres from shredded bottles, all focused
either with reference to bond [9] or with reference to the reduction on processed PET fibre spinning production.
in the restrained shrinkage cracking potential [10].
As for the effects of the inclusion of R-PET fibres on the com- 2. Experimental programme: materials and testing
pressive strength of R-PET FRC, contradictory results were found
in the literature. While Ochi et al. [9] reported a moderate increase 2.1. Materials
of the compressive strength (from 6% to 13%) for fibre volume frac-
tions up to 1%, the increase diminishing or even turning into a Two different fibre geometries were employed in this research,
decrease for higher fibre volume ratios, Kim et al. [11] reported a straight and deformed. Furthermore, two different fibre lengths
moderate (up to 9%) decrease. Both studies agree that R-PET FRC were examined, 50 mm and 30 mm, for each fibre profile.
R.P. Borg et al. / Construction and Building Materials 108 (2016) 29–47 31
Table 1 Table 3
Tested concrete mixes. Fibre aspect ratios.
Mix No. Description Fibre length Volume percentage Name Fibre length/profile Straight Deformed
1 Control mix – 0% CM 30 mm 33 42
50 mm 55 70
2 Straight fibre 50 mm 0.5% S5-0.5
3 1% S5-1
4 1.5% S5-1.5
5 30 mm 1% S3-1 order to be inserted into the shredder. The obtained 2 mm wide
strips were then further cut to the required fibre length using a
6 Deformed 50 mm 0.5% D5-0.5
7 1% D5-1 guillotine cutter.
8 1.5% D5-1.5 The chosen lengths of fibres for this study were 50 mm and
9 30 mm 1% D3-1 30 mm respectively, focusing primarily on the deformed fibres
with the purpose of including 3 notches for the longer fibre and
2 notches for the shorter fibre (Fig. 2). The notches play a vital role
Table 2 enhancing the effective anchorage of the fibre into the concrete
Materials used.
matrix.
Cement CEM II/A-LL 42.5 R ordinary portland cement clinker Since both the deformed and straight fibres were derived from
content – 80–94% beverage plastic bottles, a statistical evaluation of the fibre geom-
Coarse Maltese derived good quality upper coralline limestone etry was necessarily performed. The developed length of both fibre
aggregate Maximum aggregate size – 12.5 mm types was determined by measuring 360 random samples of each
Water absorption – 1.92%
fibre type using a millimetre rule. A micrometre screw gauge was
Fine aggregate Water absorption – 2.13%
Maximum aggregate size – 5 mm used to determine the fibre cross sectional area. The statistical data
Chemical Glenium 27, produced by BASF construction chemicals collected from the measurement of the different fibre thicknesses
admixture Mix rate: 1 kg of admixture for 100 kg of cement indicate that the thickness for the deformed fibres was 0.205 mm
whilst that of the straight fibres was 0.331 mm, with a coefficient
With these types of fibres, different mixes were prepared, also of variation of 0.077 and 0.143 respectively. From the cross-
considering the effects of fibre volume fraction, according to the sectional area of each fibre, the equivalent diameter of a circle with
matrix shown in Table 1. For the preparation of the control and an area equal to the mean cross-sectional area of the fibre could be
FRC mixes, the materials listed in Table 2 were employed. calculated. Finally, the aspect ratio was calculated by dividing the
Fibres were obtained from recycled PET bottles, using a approximate length of the fibre by the equivalent diameter. The
mechanical shredder (Fig. 1). Bottle segments were first cut in estimated aspect ratios for each fibre types are found in Table 3.
Fig. 2. Different fibres used (straight 3 cm, deformed 3 cm, straight 5 cm, deformed 5 cm).
32 R.P. Borg et al. / Construction and Building Materials 108 (2016) 29–47
Table 4
Mix proportions for the concrete mix variables.
Mix Control S5-0.5 S5-1 S5-1.5 S3-1 D5-0.5 D5-1 D5-1.5 D3-1
Fibre type S S S S D D D D
Fibre length mm – 50 50 50 30 50 50 50 30
Volume fraction % 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 1.0
W/C 0.55 0.55 0.55 0.55 0.55 0.55 0.55 0.55 0.55
Cement kg/m3 409 409 409 409 409 409 409 409 409
Water kg/m3 225 225 225 225 225 225 225 225 225
Fine aggregate kg/m3 900 900 900 900 900 900 900 900 900
Coarse aggregate (12.5 mm) kg/m3 736 723.3 710.6 697.9 710.6 723.3 710.6 697.9 710.6
Superplasticiser kg/m3 4.09 4.09 4.09 4.09 4.09 4.09 4.09 4.09 4.09
Water absorption (24hr) kg/m3 33.30 33.06 32.81 32.57 32.81 33.06 32.81 32.57 32.81
and to avoid the steel grips to cut through the fibres as they were
tightened. The ultimate tensile load was divided by the cross-
sectional area to derive the ultimate tensile stress and percentage
elongation for each sample.
Table 6
Crack weighting.
Fig. 9a. Kraai panel.
Crack width Weighted value
Large (about 3 mm) 3
Medium (about 2 mm) 2
Small (about 1 mm) 1
Hairline (about 0.5 mm) 0.5
Table 7
Mortar mix variables.
it in place whilst casting (Fig. 7). An outer PVC ring, also supported
by washers, was in place so that the concrete mix could be casted
between these two rings. Two strain gauges were glued to the inte-
rior wall of the inner ring directly opposite one another at mid-
height of the ring. Before casting the concrete, the bottom face
was given an epoxy coating so that frictional restraint would be
minimised. This all conforms to the ASTM standard C1581 ‘Stan-
dard Test Method for Determining Age at Cracking and Induced
Tensile Stress Characteristics of Mortar and Concrete under Res-
trained Shrinkage’ [17].
Concrete was poured in two layers, rodded and vibrated in a cir-
cular mould around the steel ring. Once in place, the eccentric
washers were released so that the inner ring was free to move;
the strain gauges were connected to the data logger, reading the
strains on the steel ring every 15 min. The test specimens were
cured in the controlled testing environment for 24 h, after which
Fig. 11c. Load displacement graphs – straight fibres. the outer ring was removed and paraffin wax applied to the top
surface of the test specimen so that it was sealed. The ambient
temperature and relative humidity of the testing environment
was recorded every day, and kept at 22 ± 2 °C and 52 ± 2%, respec-
The rate of water evaporation was monitored by measuring the tively. The test specimen was visually inspected for cracking every
loss in weight of water in an open pan having an area equal to day. Cracking of the test specimen was usually noticed by a sudden
0.1 m2. The pan was placed on a digital scale and logged every decrease in the steel ring strain readings.
30 min in the first 3 h, and then every hour from the third to the
sixth hour. The evaporation from the concrete surface was 2.3.2.3. Compressive strength. Three 150 150 150 mm cubes per
obtained by dividing the mass loss by the surface exposed to evap- each mix were tested on the 3rd, 7th and 28th day from casting.
oration at the respective time interval. The test was conducted in accordance with MSA EN 12390-
2.3.2.1.2. Plastic shrinkage cracking assessment. Cracking was mon- 3:2002 [18].
itored by visual inspection every 15 min in the first 3 h after cast- The cubes were placed in a curing tank at a controlled temper-
ing and then every hour from the third to the sixth hour, at which ature of 21 °C until the day of testing. On the day of testing, the
time the crack was observed to almost stabilize. The time of occur- three cubes were removed from the curing tanks, wiped and
rence of the first crack was noted for all slabs during the experi- cleaned, measured and weighed. These were then placed in the
ments. The specimens were kept in the environmental chamber compression machine, with the rough face facing outwards and
under controlled humidity conditions until 24 h after casting. load was applied at a rate of 0.6 MPa/s until failure. Each cube
The specimen was then inspected and photos of the specimen f was visually inspected and any abnormal failure of the cubes
surface were taken by an optical zoom camera. Magnified images was noted.
were taken with the use of a USB microscope at 10 different inter-
vals along the length of the crack. A crack microscope was also 2.3.2.4. Flexural strength. A three-point bending rig was setup
used to scale a reference point on the concrete specimen. The (Fig. 8a–c) to allow the use of a manually controlled hydraulic
images taken by the USB microscope were then scaled accordingly pump, applying a centre-point load on a simply supported notched
with the use of a CAD program. After all the photos had been prism. A 5 mm wide and 25 mm deep notch was cut at mid-span
scaled, an average width of the crack could be found. through the width of the bottom part of the prism. A CMOD trans-
ducer, connected to a data logger, was used to measure the crack
2.3.2.2. Restrained drying shrinkage test (ring test). The setup con- width at the mid-span notch of the prism. It was slotted into the
sisted of an inner steel ring with four eccentric washers to keep centre of the notch. Two LVDTs, connected to the data logger, were
R.P. Borg et al. / Construction and Building Materials 108 (2016) 29–47 37
Table 8
Mechanical bond characteristics – straight fibres.
Sample Fibre Fibre width Embedded Embedded surface Max load at Failure Mechanical bond Mean bond strength
name thickness (mm) length (mm) area (mm2) failure (N) mode strength (N/mm2) (N/mm2)
(mm)
S10-A 0.351 2 10 47.02 24.000 Pull out 0.51 0.452
S10-B 0.342 2 10 46.84 21.300 Pull out 0.455
S10-C 0.299 2 10 45.98 18.000 Pull out 0.391
Fig. 13. Load displacement curve of sample S10-A. Fig. 14. Load displacement graph of sample D10-A.
38 R.P. Borg et al. / Construction and Building Materials 108 (2016) 29–47
Table 9
Mechanical bond characteristics – deformed fibres.
Sample Fibre thickness Fibre width Embedded length Embedded surface area Max load at failure Failure Mechanical bond strength
name (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm2) (N) mode (N/mm2)
D10-A 0.185 2 10 43.7 55.6 Yielding >1.272
D10-B 0.197 2 10 43.94 63.2 Yielding >1.438
D10-C 0.235 2 10 44.7 71.6 Yielding >1.602
Beyond this point, the fibres continued to resist load, displaying approximately 3.5% and 9.5%, of the straight and deformed
increasing degrees of extension, until failure. fibres, respectively. Beyond this point, the fibres continued to
Figs. 11 and 12a–c show that the fibres behaved elastically resist load up to an ultimate load of approximately 110 MPa,
in the initial stages of loading until the elastic limit was where the percentage extension reached values of higher than
reached. Up until this point, the percentage elongation was 80%.
34.97
Control
0% 27.81
23.05
34.81
0.50% 27.36
21.28
50mm
34.15
1% 28.48
Deformed
22.87
32.17
1.50% 26.87
22.46
34.38
1%
30mm
27.71
Mix
21.31
32.49
0.50% 26.22
19.99
50mm
32.47
Straight
1% 22.81
20.31
31.94
1.50% 25.82
22.7
33.1
mm
30
1% 27.15
23.51
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Compressive strength (MPa)
Fig. 17. Cube compression results.
40 R.P. Borg et al. / Construction and Building Materials 108 (2016) 29–47
12000
10000
Load (N)
8000 S5-0.5
6000 S5-1.5
CM
4000 S5-1
2000
0
-1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
CMOD (mm)
14000
12000
Load (N)
8000 D5-1
6000 D3-1
4000 S3-1
2000 S5-1
0
-1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
CMOD (mm)
8000 D5-1.5
points of sudden deflection within the load displacement curve,
6000 D5-0.5
at these points, the fibre partially slipped within the matrix, but
4000 CM
was still capable of taking more load (Fig. 14). Because complete
2000 D5-1
pull-out of the fibres did not occur it was only possible to deter-
0
-1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 mine a value above which the mechanical bond strength is
CMOD (mm) expected to fall, and not the mean bond strength (Table 9).
Fig. 19. Flexural behaviour of deformed fibre reinforced prisms. 3.2.3. 25 mm embedded length fibres
The straight fibre samples, as shown in Fig. 15a–c, still failed by
pull-out, further confirming the poor bond characteristics obtained
from the 10 mm embedded length tests. The deformed fibres
In the deformed fibres, the higher elongation can be partially achieved their ultimate load, and failed by yielding. As can be
attributed to the initial straightening of the notches, as can be observed in Fig. 16a–c, no slip occurred at any point during the
noted by the initial behaviour of the graphs in Fig. 12a–c [21]. tests [22].
R.P. Borg et al. / Construction and Building Materials 108 (2016) 29–47 41
5.00
4.22
4.21
4.21
4.50
4.12
4.03
3.94
3.71
4.00
3.57
3.51
Residual strength (N/mm2)
3.50
3.00
2.50
2.11
1.99
1.94
1.93
FLOP
1.86
2.00
FR2
1.53
1.47
1.41
1.39
1.32
1.29
1.20
1.50 FR3
1.05
0.93
FR4
0.81
0.81
0.72
0.69
1.00
0.67
0.64
0.59
0.57
0.55
0.48
0.50
0.00
0 0.50% 1% 1.50% 1% 0.5 1 1.5 1
-1.2
40
Rate of evaporation (kg/m2/hr)
-1
CM
Temperature (°C)
35 D5-0.5
-0.8
D5-1
-0.6 D5-1.5
30
S5-1.5
-0.4 D3-1
25 S5-1
-0.2 S5-0.5
S3-1
0 20
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Hours Time in hours
3.3. Compressive strength ranging from 0.5% to 8.5% was observed for both fibre types when
compared to the control mix.
For each concrete mix, three 150 mm cubes were tested at the Upon increasing fibre volume fraction, there is a slight decrease
3rd, 7th and 28th day from casting. The mean compression in compressive strength (more likely because of a steric distur-
strength values for each testing age are shown in Fig. 17. bance effect) which is more pronounced for the highest dosage of
The addition of recycled PET fibres had no beneficial effect on the longest deformed fibres (strongest disturbance effect). The
the compressive strength of the concrete mix. A strength reduction effect of fibre length is not significant at all.
0 90
Control
0.50% 105
50mm
1% 120
Deformed
1.50% 135
1% 100
30mm
0.50% 90
50mm
1% 105
Straight
1.50% 120
mm
30
1% 95
1.40
1.281
1.20
Crack width (mm)
1.00
0.857
0.80
0.797
0.577
0.60 0.504 Deformed
0.507 Straight
0.40
0.401
0.20
0.00
0 0.5 1 1.5
Fibre volume %
Fig. 26. Relationship between fibre volume fraction and crack width.
1.80
1.60
1.40 1.281
Crack width (mm)
1.20
0.957
1.00
0.80 0.644
0.577
0.60 0.507
0.40
0.20
0.00
Deformed Straight Deformed Straight
Control 50mm 30mm
Fibre geometry
5E-05
3E-05
1E-05
-1E-05
STRAIN
-3E-05
-5E-05
-7E-05
-9E-05
-0.00011
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
TIME IN DAYS
Fig. 28. Compressive strain imposed on the ring against time duration.
R.P. Borg et al. / Construction and Building Materials 108 (2016) 29–47 43
6000
(mm2)
3000
2860 1735 DEFORMED
2000
1050
STRAIGHT
1000 1440 495
995
0 354.5
Fig. 31. Relationship between crack area and fibre volume fractions.
900
Fig. 32. Relationship between crack area, fibre type and length.
3.5.2. Time of crack formation was noted to reduce gradually, one strain gage effectively showing
The graph in Fig. 24 shows the time of first crack formation of the reduction of strain more than the other, likely due to one of the
each mix. The control mix and S5-0.5 mix were the first to suffer strain gages being directly opposite the crack. The crack was
from concrete surface cracks at a time of 1 h and 30 min. The observed at naked eye three days later, when a difference of 60
deformed fibres performed better in delaying crack formation by micro strains has been recorded. This behaviour is attributed to
about 15 min. It was also observed that the crack formation was stress relaxation due to the fibres present in the mix.
also delayed by higher volume fractions in the mix in both fibre The D5-1 specimen, containing 1% by volume 50 mm long
types. The shorter fibres performed worse than the longer ones deformed fibres, reached its peak stress after only 10 days and
and, as in both fibre types, the initial crack formed earlier. the strain value reached was low when compared to the other
mixes. However, the strain started to decline really slowly and
3.5.3. Concrete temperature even though it is likely that a number of internal micro-cracks
The concrete temperature is one of the contributing factor in may have developed, no cracks were visually noticed after 28 days
the rate of evaporation and subsequent plastic shrinkage cracking. from casting. This behaviour is linked to stress relaxation and it can
The internal concrete temperature readings were measured at a be concluded that at such fibre volume, the fibres were able to pro-
depth of 50 mm within the concrete. Fig. 25 shows the almost lin- vide enough stress resistance to resist crack formations.
ear increasing temperature for the first 6 h, having an initial tem- Shah and Weiss [27] observed that at low volume fractions,
perature ranging between 22 and 28 °C and an increase of fibres do not alter the strains prior to cracking, however they can
between 9 and 18 °C at the end of the test. A slight increase in alter the behaviour after the crack has formed, resulting in a
the rate of evaporation was observed in the last hour, in mixes con- greater amount of strain transfer across the crack and small crack
taining high fibre volume fractions. widths. Even though the specimen containing low fibre volume
fractions (D5-0.5) took longer to crack, it also achieved a greater
3.5.4. Plastic shrinkage cracking strain prior to cracking, when compared to the control specimen.
Fig. 26 shows the relationship between different fibre volume The authors also observed that specimens containing high vol-
fractions and related crack widths. Deformed fibres, even at 0.5% ume of fibres permit higher strains before a visible crack develops,
by volume, were able to reduce cracks by 37.8% with respect to however small decreases in strain can be observed before visible
the control mix. As the deformed fibre volume increased to 1% cracking occurs.
and 1.5%, the percentage reduction from the control mix was that When comparing the specimens in this study containing high
of 60.4% and 68.7%, respectively. fibre volume fractions, both specimens showed low decreases in
The straight fibres performed slightly less efficiently in restrain- strain, as observed in the literature, with the D3-1 specimen devel-
ing the crack development. The behaviour was noted to be similar oping a crack after 3 days from achieving the highest strains
to the deformed fibre prisms, however, the mean crack widths whereas the D5-1 specimen did not crack after 28 days. It was
were slightly larger and the difference increased as the fibre vol- observed that the one containing the shorter fibres managed to
ume fraction increased. When compared to the control mix, a achieve higher strains than the specimen containing the longer
reduction of 33.1%, 54.9% and 60.6% was observed at fibre volume fibres [27].
fractions of 0.5%, 1% and 1.5%, respectively. This is also coherent with the results by Voigt et al. [28], who
With reference to the effects of fibre length, it can be observed observed that cracking age increased whilst maximum crack width
from the bar chart in Fig. 27, that the performance of shorter fibres decreased with increasing fibre volume in all types of fibres. The
was quite poorer than that of deformed ones, because of the poorer authors also observed that increasing the number of fibres per unit
bond. This is also witnessed by the performance difference for volume resulted into an increased cracking age [20].
straight short fibres, which is about 60% lower than that of longer
ones, whereas for deformed fibres such difference is less dramatic. 3.7. Kraai test
The straight fibres showed the greatest difference in crack
width, with an increase of 65.8% when compared to the result of 3.7.1. Effect of fibre profile and volume
the longer fibres, whilst the deformed fibres showed an increase The graph in Fig. 31 shows the effect of inclusion of fibres at
of 27.1%. increasing fibre volume fractions. A similar reduction in crack area
Results are qualitatively and quantitatively coherent with pre- was observed for both fibre types, with the deformed fibres per-
vious investigations by Naaman et al., with reference to fibre vol- forming slightly better than straight ones, especially at lower fibre
ume fraction and fibre profile type [26]. volumes. Both fibre types provided an increase in crack reduction
with increasing the fibre volume fractions. The highest reduction
3.6. Restrained shrinkage difference was observed for a fibre volume fraction of 0.5%. The
least amount of cracks was observed in the panel containing 1%
As from the measurements of the steel annulus hoop strains by volume 50 mm long deformed fibres, with a reduction of
(Fig. 28) it can be observed that the control mix reached its peak 92.6%, when compared to the control mix.
stress of 60 micro strains at 12 days from casting, after which it
suffered from a series of micro cracks before suffering a sudden 3.7.2. Effect of fibre length
drop in stress of about 40 micro strains. A crack was visually The graph in Fig. 32 shows the effect of fibre length on crack
noticed at that time, shown in Figs. 29a and b. reduction. It was observed that the longer fibres performed better
The D5-0.5 specimen reached its peak strain at 18 days from in both fibre types. There was a slight increase of 17% in crack for-
casting, after which a drop in the strains was measured along the mation in the deformed short fibre panel when compared to the
steel annulus caused by an evident crack in the specimen. The panel with the longer fibres. However, a larger difference was
fibres added into the mix, due to their low quantity, were not able noted with the use of 30 mm straight fibres. There was an increase
to resist the development of the crack (Figs. 30a and b). of 60% in crack area when compared to the panel containing the
The other two mixes (D3-1 and D5-1) showed different beha- longer straight fibres. As described earlier, the shorter fibres have
viour after reaching peak stress. The D3-1 specimen, containing less anchorage than the longer fibres and, coupled also with a
1% 30 mm long deformed fibres, reached the peak at 17 days from smaller aspect ratio, they performed less efficiently than the longer
casting, however there wasn’t a sudden drop. Instead, the strain fibres.
46 R.P. Borg et al. / Construction and Building Materials 108 (2016) 29–47
3.7.3. Crack pattern in both fibre types with an increase in fibre volume fractions,
By observing the crack pattern formed on the mortar panels with the deformed fibres performing slightly better. The great-
(Fig. 33), a difference can be observed with different fibre volumes. est reduction difference was observed up to a fibre volume frac-
As the fibre volume fraction increased, a reduction in the amount tion of 0.5%. A maximum reduction of 92.6% was observed in
of cracks on the surface could be noticed. Maximum crack widths the panel cast with a mortar reinforced with 1% by volume
of 3 mm were measured on the control and low volume fibre frac- 50 mm long deformed fibres, when compared to the control
tion panels, whilst those containing 1% fibre volume had only a mix. Longer fibres performed better than their shorter counter-
couple of hairline cracks. parts, as observed in the other tests. With an increase in fibre
Results obtained in this study are absolutely coherent with the volume fraction, the maximum crack widths were observed to
ones available in the literature by Schembri [22]. Kim et al. [10] undergo a reduction from 3 mm for the control mix to hairline
observed little additional effects beyond the 0.5% fibre volume cracks wide less than 0.5 mm for the panel cast with a mortar
fraction. reinforced with 1% by volume 50 mm long deformed fibres.
- With reference to restrained shrinkage cracking, the mix rein-
4. Conclusions forced with 1% by volume of 50 mm long deformed fibres exhib-
ited the best performance as no cracks were observed after
The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of recycled 28 days. Both the control mix and mix reinforced with 0.5% by
PET fibres, both straight and deformed, in concrete as a waste volume of 50 mm long deformed fibres showed a sudden drop
material by assessing their effect on mechanical properties and in hoop steel ring strains before crack was visually observed
early age performance in concrete specimens. Nine mixes were on the surface of the concrete ring. Both specimens reinforced
tested with two different fibre profiles at three different volume with 1% by volume of 50 mm and 30 mm long deformed fibres,
fractions and two different fibre lengths at a particular volume did not show this sudden drop in the measured steel annulus
fraction and the feasibility of using RPET fibres as reinforcement strain but rather a slow decrease in strain indicating stress
in concrete was successfully assessed, also highlighting the effects relaxation.
of fibre surface finishing and length.
From the obtained results the following conclusions can be
drawn:
References
- The addition of recycled PET fibres leads to a reduction of
[1] F. de A. Silva, N. Chawla, R.D. Toledo Filho, Tensile behavior of high
between 0.5% and 8.5% in compressive strength when com- performance natural (sisal) fibers, Compos. Sci. Technol. 68 (2008) 3438–3443.
pared to the control mix. A higher decrease in strength was [2] F. de A. Silva, B. Mobasher, R.D. Toledo Filho, Cracking mechanisms in durable
observed in both fibre profiles at increasing fibre volume frac- sisal fiber reinforced cement composites, Cement Concr. Compos. 31 (2009)
721–730.
tions. Cubes containing shorter fibres performed slightly better [3] F. de A. Silva, N. Chawla, R.D. Toledo Filho, Mechanical behaviour of natural
when compared to those containing longer fibres. The D5-1.5 sisal fibers, J. Biobased Mater. Bioenergy 4 (2010) 1–8.
suffered the greatest reduction in strength, attributable to low [4] E. Martinelli, A. Caggiano, H. Xargay, An experimental study on the post-
cracking behaviour of hybrid/industrial steel fibre-reinforced concrete, Constr.
workability and poor compaction. Build. Mater. 94 (290) (2015) 298.
- Results from the flexural tests show that the concretes contain- [5] A. Caggiano, H. Xargay, P. Folino, E. Martinelli, Experimental and numerical
ing fibres achieved a higher peak load than the control mix. All characterization of the bond behavior of steel fibres recovered from waste tires
embedded in cementitious matrices, Cement Concr. Compos. 62 (2015) 146–
the tested concretes had similar linear elastic behaviour until
155.
failure, at which point a sudden loss in strength was observed. [6] Plasticsnews.com. (2014, April). Retrieved from Plasticsnews.com: <http://
Post-crack residual strength was dependent on the fibre volume www.plasticsnews.com/article/20130813/NEWS/130819981/europe-recycled-
60-billion-pet-bottles-in-2012>.
fraction, with the higher fibre volumes providing the better
[7] Uses for Recycled PET. (2014, April). Retrieved from Petcore Europe: <http://
residual strength. The deformed fibres provided better residual www.petcore-europe.org/index.php?q=content/uses-recycled-pet-petcore-
strengths due to a better bond, reflected in the fibre failing by column-petplanet>.
yielding, as opposed to the straight fibres, some of which failed [8] M. Ashby, H. Shercliff, D. Cebon, Materials: Engineering Science Processing and
Design, Elsevier, 2007.
by pullout. Concrete mixes containing the shorter fibres [9] T. Ochi, S. Okubo, K. Fukui, Development of recycled PET fiber and its
achieved a slightly lower peak load when compared to the other applications as concrete-reinforcing fiber, Cement Concr. Compos. 29 (2007)
mixes; also a slight reduction in post-crack residual strength 448–455.
[10] J. Kim, C. Park, S. Lee, J. Won, Effects of the geometry of recycled PET fiber
was observed, attributable to the low bond strength and aspect reinforcement on shrinkage cracking of cement based composites, Composites
ratio of the shorter fibres. (2008) 442–450.
- An environmental chamber was used to expose a concrete spec- [11] S. Kim, N. Yi, H. Kim, J. Kim, Y. Song, Material and structural performance
evaluation of recycled PET fiber reinforced concrete, Cement Concr. Compos.
imen to a set of environmental conditions, so as to induce plas- (2010) 232–240.
tic shrinkage cracking. An assessment performed 24 h after test [12] F. Pelisser, O. Montedo, P. Gleize, H. Roman, Mechanical properties of recycled
commencement, on the crack widths developed showed that PET fibers in concrete, Mater. Res. (2012) 679–686.
[13] D.A. Silva, A.M. Betioli, P.J.P. Gleize, H.R. Roman, L.A. Gomez, J.L.D. Ribeiro,
even at low fibre volume fractions, the R-PET fibres managed
Degredation of recycled PET fibres in Portland cement-based materials, Cem.
to restrain crack development. The smallest crack width was Concr. Res. 35 (9) (2005) 1741–1746.
observed in the mix containing the highest amount (1.5% by [14] N. Buratti, C. Mazzotti, M. Savoia, Post-cracking behaviour of steel and macro-
synthetic fibre-reinforced concretes, Constr. Build. Mater. 25 (2011) 2713–
volume) of 50 mm long deformed fibres, featuring a 68.7%
2722.
reduction with respect to the control mix. Longer fibres were [15] L.A. Pereira De Oliveira, J.P. Castro-Gomes, Physical and mechanical behavior
found to be more effective, with the deformed fibres performing of recycled PET fiber reinforced mortar, Constr. Build. Mater. 25 (2011) 1712–
slightly better than their straight counterparts in restraining 1717.
[16] ASTM C1579–06, 2006. Standard test Method for Evaluating Plastic Shrinkage
crack development, both observations being attributed to the Cracking of Restrained FIbre Reinforced Concrete.
better anchorage in the concrete matrix. [17] ASTM C1581, 2004. Standard Test Method for Determining Age at Cracking
- Mortar panels investigating the same effect as the previous and Induced Tensile Stress Characteristics of Mortar and Concrete under
Restrained Shrinkage.
experiment were performed in accordance with the test set- [18] EN 12390-3, 2002. Testing Hardened Concrete. Compressive Strength of Test
up by Kraai. A similar reduction in total crack area was observed Specimens.
[19] EN 14651, 2005. Test Method for Metallic Fibered Concrete.
R.P. Borg et al. / Construction and Building Materials 108 (2016) 29–47 47
[20] P. Kraai, A Proposed Test to Determine the Cracking Potential due to Drying [24] J. Uno, Plastic shrinkage cracking and evaporation formulas, Am. Concr. Inst.
Shrinkage of Concrete, San Jose State University, 1985. Mater. J. 95 (4) (1998) 365–375.
[21] O. Baldacchino, Mechanical and Shrinkage Properties of Recycled PET Fibre- [25] W. Lerch, Plastic shrinkage, ACI J. 53 (1957) 797–802.
Reinforced Concrete, University of Malta, 2014. Supervised by Dr.Ruben Paul [26] A.E. Naaman, T. Wongtanakitcharoen, G. Hauser, Influence of different fibers
Borg. on plastic shrinkage cracking of concrete, ACI Mater. J. 102 (2005) 49–58.
[22] J. Schembri, Recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate Fibres in Concrete, [27] H. Shah, J. Weiss, Quantifying shrinkage cracking in fiber reinforced concrete
University of Malta, 2011. Supervised by Dr. Ruben Paul Borg. using the ring test, Mater. Struct. 39 (2006) 887–899.
[23] ACI Committee 305, 2010. Guide to Hot Weather Concrete ACI 305R. American [28] T. Voigt, V.K. Bui, S.P. Shah, Drying shrinkage of concrete reinforced with fibers
Concrete Institute. and welded-wire fabric, ACI Mater. J. 101 (2004) 232–241.