Mechanical Properties of Mortar with Low-Density Polyethylene as Sand Replacement and Steel Fibre Additive

Abstract

Malaysia's industrial sector generates a lot of non-biodegradable solid waste. By products of industrialisation including plastic bags, PET bottles, and pulverised waste LDPE, coir must be disposed of. Reusing waste helps reduce pollution, and conserve non-renewable resources. However, the use of LDPE in mortar mixes as a partial replacement for sand adversely affects the compressive strength. In order to mitigate this issue, steel fibre was included as an addition. This study examined the use of LDPE recyclable plastic bags in cement mortar to determine the best proportion of LDPE to steel fibre. The study replaced 0% to 15% of fine aggregates in mortar mixes with LDPE, increasing by 5%. The mortar's density, compressive, and flexural strengths were measured at 7, 14, and 28 days. The experiment indicated that adding 15% of LDPE to cement mortar decreased density (1736 kg/m3), compressive strength (21.61 MPa), and flexural strength (3.562 MPa). From this, it can be concluding that 5% LDPE and 2% steel fiber are the optimum percentage that can be use in the future study.