Cleaner Materials (Sep 2022)

Recycling of waste HDPE and PP plastic in preparation of plastic brick and its mechanical properties

  • Prathik Kulkarni,
  • Vikas Ravekar,
  • P. Rama Rao,
  • Sahil Waigokar,
  • Sanket Hingankar

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 5
p. 100113

Abstract

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Brick is a primary building material that is often utilized in the construction of masonry. Conventionally, brick is made up of dried clay and recently many studies have focused on the use of waste materials as an alternate material to a conventional brick. In the present study thermoplastics like High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) and Polypropylene (PP) are used to manufacture the plastic brick using the physical recycling method. Here, waste plastic from Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) is collected, segregated, cleaned, and melted to manufacture a 190 × 90 × 90 mm modular sized HDPE and PP brick according to IS 1077:1992. In the first phase of work, standard tests are performed to study the physical, mechanical and thermal properties of the plastic brick. In the next phase, a 500 × 110 × 500 mm wall is constructed and the results of the plastic brick wall are compared with a conventional brick wall. The wall was tested using a universal testing machine (UTM) as per IS 1905:1987. It was interesting to observe that the HDPE and PP brick gave a compressive strength of 11.19 N/mm2 and 10.02 N/mm2 which were in good agreement with first-class conventional brick which gave a compressive strength of 10.5 N/mm2. While it is also worth noting that HDPE brick had the highest compressive strength. The ultimate load for the plastic brick wall was 197.50 KN with a shear failure at a 45°, while the conventional brick wall experienced a vertical failure at 153.95 KN load. A fire-resistance test on a plastic brick wall and a conventional brick wall was performed to evaluate if the specifications of Nation Building Code (2005): Part 4: Table 1 were met. It was observed that the plastic brick wall even after 30 min of heating at 4 corners and centre, showed a better temperature difference as compared to the conventional brick wall. The study initiates a new line of research in sustainable plastic waste management.

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