Analysis and Economic Evaluation of the Use of Recycled Polyamide Powder in Masonry Mortars

Due to the considerable amount of waste plastics and polymers that are produced annually, the introduction of these waste products in construction materials is becoming a recurrent solution to recycle them. Among polymers, polyamide represents an important proportion of polymer waste. In this study,...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Salas García, Miguel Ángel, Pérez Acebo, Heriberto, Calderón Carpintero, Verónica, Gonzalo Orden, Hernán
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Burgos (UBU)
Repositorio:Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Burgos (RIUBU)
OAI Identifier:oai:riubu.ubu.es:10259/7652
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10259/7652
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Polyamide
Waste material
Waste polyamide
Mortar
Lightweight mortar
Compressive strength
Sustainable material
Ingeniería civil
Construcción
Materiales de construcción
Arquitectura
Civil engineering
Building
Building materials
Architecture
Descripción
Sumario:Due to the considerable amount of waste plastics and polymers that are produced annually, the introduction of these waste products in construction materials is becoming a recurrent solution to recycle them. Among polymers, polyamide represents an important proportion of polymer waste. In this study, sustainable and lightweight mortars were designed and elaborated, substituting the aggregates by polyamide powder waste. Mortars were produced with various dosages of cement/aggregates, and the polyamide substitutions were 25, 50, 75, and 100% of the aggregates. The aim of this paper is to determine the density and the compressive strength of the manufactured mortars to observe the feasibility for being employed as masonry or rendering and plastering mortars. Results showed that with increasing polymer substitution, lower densities were achieved, ranging from 1850 to 790 kg/m3 in modified mortars. Mortars with densities below 1300 kg/m3 are cataloged as lightweight mortars. Furthermore, compressive strength also decreased with more polyamide substitution. Obtained values in recycled mortars were between 15.77 and 2.10 MPa, but the majority of the values (eight out of 12) were over 5 MPa. Additionally, an economic evaluation was performed, and it was observed that the use of waste polyamide implies an important cost reduction, apart from the advantage of not having to manage this waste material. Consequently, not only the mechanical properties of the new recycled materials were verified as well as its economic viability.