LATERITE, PLASTIC, FLY ASH AND SAND COMBINATION AS A NOVEL COMPOSITE MATERIAL IN CONSTRUCTION APPLICATIONS

Civil Engineering

Natural aggregates sources are depleted due to high demand in construction industry. Therefore, researchers are exploring the use of alternative materials to preserve natural resources while recycling the disposed waste. Similarly, waste plastic has become a critical environmental issue. Hence, the present study introduces a composite material with laterite, sand, chemically unmodified Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) and fly ash (FA) admixture. Initially X-ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis was conducted for laterite, FA and sand to identify major mineral phases. Four sample series have prepared by keeping one component constant at a time. Prepared sample bricks were tested with slandered Compressive Strength (CS) in both dry and wet conditions and water absorption (WA) analysis. XRD analysis of FA and laterite have confirmed the presence of crystalline silica and kaolinite as major phases respectively and sand has responsible peaks for quartz and feldspar as obvious. The high CS in wet and dry conditions has recorded for the series which has the constant PEP weight percentage of 35%. Higher PEP content more than 35% weight percentage, leads for the higher plasticity that is preventing the obtain of breakeven point. Though the building materials with higher plasticity is suitable for the constructions in seismically active areas, there is a potential risk since the highly flammable nature of the polymers. However, the highest CS in wet and dry conditions has recorded for the combination of 35% of PEP, 25% FA and 20% of both laterite and sand. Hence, it can be presented as favorable and novel combination for the production of bricks in construction applications.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.