Impact behavior of structural elements in concrete reinforced with PET grids

• Concrete reinforced with polyethilene terephthalate (PET) obtained with simple cuts from waste plastic bottles.
• Concrete slabs specimens reinforced with PET strips.
• The plate specimens have been subjected to impact force.
• Comparison between the behavior of non-reinforced and reinforced slabs.

Recycling of waste materials is one of the most important problems in the future to be solved in all possible ways. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), for example, is a waste material that could be reused as concrete reinforcement.In the present article the results of impact tests performed on reinforced concrete specimens with fibers made from waste PET bottles are reported. The fibers have been obtained by simply cutting the bottles and have been utilized as discrete long reinforcement of specimens in concrete in substitution of steel bars. A test set-up and slab specimens have been designed and manufactured for the impact tests.The tests provided interesting results regarding the impact strength of PET reinforced concrete, suggesting a possible use of this material, in particular for those cases frequently subjected to shocks and impact forces, such as road and, especially, airport pavements, wharfs, etc. The reinforcement with PET has the advantage to be less corrosive and less expensive than reinforcement consisting of steel wire nets and carbon or glass nets.

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