Mechanical Properties of Polypropylene Fiber Reinforced Concrete

The challenge of managing solid waste in the urban area is on the increase and the accumulation of this waste is posing serious harm to the environment and its inhabitants. Polypropylene, PP is one of the non-biodegradable solid wastes that is heavily produced and disposed in Nigeria. This paper investigates the potentials of using waste from polypropylene fibers as reinforcement to increase tensile strength of concrete. Concrete specimens were produced at 1:2:4; cement, sand and granite batching by weight respectively. Polypropylene fibers were added to the concrete mix in three different volume fractions of 0.2%, 0.4% and 0.6% of specimen mass respectively. Some of the casted cubes were produced without polypropylene fibers to serve as control. The experimental investigations on polypropylene fiber reinforced concrete showed that, the inclusion of fibers in concrete production affects mechanical properties of concrete, such as tensile, flexural and compressive strength. The tensile strength increased as the volume fraction of fiber increases. The modulus of rupture which indicates the flexural strength reached the peak for 0.2% volume fraction of fiber. Also, there is an increase in average compressive strength for 0.2 % volume fraction of polypropylene fiber. However higher percentage volume fraction of polypropylene fiber reduced the compressive strength of concrete.