Assessing the feasibility of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) as an additive in Sand Bricks.
Abstract
In the recent past, there has been a considerable imbalance between the availability of conventional building materials and their demand. On the other hand the plastic waste is abundantly available and its disposal is a biggest challenge, as repeated recycling of PET bottles pose a potential danger of being transformed to a carcinogenic material and only a small proportion of PET bottles are being recycled. In this work an attempt has been made to manufacture bricks by using waste plastics in range of 55 to 65% by weight of the brick and lake sand in the range of 35 to 45% by weight of the brick and these were mixed (plastic in molten state) to manufacture the plastic-sand bricks. The bricks manufactured possess properties such as a neat and even finishing, with negligible water absorption, efflorescence and satisfactory compressive strength in comparison with the ordinary clay bricks to satisfy the increasing demand of conventional building materials.