Estudo da viabilidade da substituição parcial de areia natural por agregado reciclado de PET nas propriedades mecânicas e de retração por secagem de concretos convencionais

Abstract

Building Industry generates residues and consumes massive amounts of nonrenewable natural resources. Currently, aiming to minimize environmental impacts, there is worldwide concernment to find alternative materials or even recycled materials which might efficiently replace the standard materials in concrete and mortar production. This research seeks to analyze the feasibility to use aggregates of recycled PET in partial supersede of natural fine aggregate with the same mechanical properties and drying shrinkage of regular concrete. Mechanical properties of the experimental concrete will be evaluated through tests of axial compression and tensile bending strength. Properties of durability will be evaluated through time with drying shrinkage test. The study used two percentages of substitution of standard aggregate for PET aggregate, 10% and 15%, that were compared with the performance of reference concrete (100% natural fine aggregate). Mathematically the results of the tests of axial compression and tensile bending strength were not affected by different percentage, but only aging was a significant factor. Drying shrinkage tests show that concrete does not show significant variation. Thus, it can be concluded that the partial substitution of natural fine aggregate for PET aggregate is feasible.