MECHANICAL Properties of WASTE PET FIBER- REINFORCED CEMENT BOUND aggregate MIXTURES

In many countries, cement bound granular mixtures (CBGMs) have been widely used in semi-rigid pavement as base/subbase layers to ensure better load-carrying capacity. However, due to their brittleness, CBGMs are susceptible to cracking under repeated traffic loading, which eventually accelerates pavement deterioration. To address this problem, this investigation was carried out to study the early age mechanical properties of CBGMs reinforced with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fibers in terms of unconfined compressive strength (UCS), indirect tensile strength (ITS), bulk density, ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV), static and dynamic modulus of elasticity, toughness, and ductility. Four fiber contents (0, 0.5, 1, and 1.5% by the volume of aggregate) were used. It was found that the inclusion of PET fiber reinforcement has significantly improved the tensile strength, toughness, and ductility by 19%, 203%, and 8.3 times, respectively. Moreover, it was noticed that incorporating PET fibers up to 1% resulted in a slight increase in compressive strength by 7.43%. Both bulk density and UPV, on the other hand, were declining due to PET fiber inclusion. Based on the outcomes of this study, CBGMs reinforced with PET fiber content of 1% are sustainable, cost-effective and environmental-friendly promising solutions