Engineering properties of concrete made with ground melamine-formaldehyde thermosetting plastics as sand replacement'

Abstract

Solid waste which is not properly managed causes serious health and environment hazards. The reuse of waste will assist in the protection of human health and environment. The research work described in this paper aimed at producing concrete with enhanced characteristics by reusing thermoset plastic waste, eg melamine-formaldehyde (MF) as a sand replacement. The laboratory-based program included compressive strength tests carried out on concrete and mortar cubes with various w/c ratios. The sand was replaced at different percentages that ranged from 0% to 60%. The test results indicated that replacing sand with MF has resulted in a lighter weight concrete and mortar with higher compressive strengths. In general the strengths were increased as the percentage of MF was increased to reach maximum values at approximately 30% MF. In comparison with control specimens without MF, the strength …