Mechanical, thermal and acoustical properties of concrete with fine Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)

Abstract

This study addressed some important tests for concrete including thermal, acoustic insulation and some mechanical behaviour of concrete containing granular Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) waste as a sand replacement. The PVC waste was collected from a plant of manufacturing PVC doors and windows, was used to replace some of fine aggregate at ratios of 2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, 10%, 12.5% and 15% by weight Properties that studied are thermal conductivity, acoustic insulation slump, fresh density, dry density, compressive strength, flexural strength, and splitting tensile strength. Curing ages of 7, 28, and 56 days for the concrete mixtures were applied in this work. From the results of this study, it is suggested that using of 12.5% fine PVC as a sand replacement by weight can improve thermal insulation to about 82.48% more than concrete without plastic waste Acoustic insulation is about 43.09% more than reference mix and it satisfies the requirement of ACI 213R 2014 for structural lightweight concrete.