A novel material for lightweight concrete production

This paper presents the results of an experimental study on the effects of using recycled waste expanded polystyrene foam (EPS), as a potential aggregate in lightweight concrete. In this study, thermally modified waste EPS foams have been used as aggregate. Modified waste expanded polystyrene aggregates (MEPS) were obtained by heat treatment method by keeping waste EPS foams in a hot air oven at 130 degrees C for 15 min. Effects of MEPS aggregate on several properties of concrete were investigated. For this purpose, six series of concrete samples were prepared. MEPS aggregate was used as a replacement of natural aggregate, at the levels of 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% by volume. The density of MEPS is much less than that of natural aggregate: MEPS concrete becomes a lightweight concrete with a density of about 9001700 kg/m(3). The 28-d compressive strengths of MEPS concrete range from 12.58 MPa to 23.34 MPa, which satisfies the strength requirement of semi-structural lightweight concrete. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.