Post-cracking performance of recycled polypropylene fibre in concrete

Macro recycled plastic fibre offers significant environmental benefits over virgin plastic fibre and steel reinforcement. However, as there is limited research on performance of recycled plastic fibre in concrete, it has not yet been widely adopted by the construction industries. In this research, post-cracking performance of different kinds of recycled polypropylene fibres from industrial waste was studied and compared with that of virgin polypropylene fibre in concrete. The diamond-indent recycled fibres showed a good balance of tensile strength, Young's modulus and concrete bonding, thus producing brilliant post-cracking performance. This research proved the feasibility of using recycled fibres as reinforcement in concrete footpaths. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.