Strength and durability performance of masonry bricks produced with crushed glass and melted PET plastics

Due to the seriousness of environmental pollution as well as the high energy-demand associated with the production of construction materials. This study presents the rational approach towards exploiting the conversion of wastes to energy-efficient construction material. The current study deals with the development of waste masonry bricks produced from PET plastic waste (PPW) and recycled crushed glass (RCG). The bricks were produced through varying ratios of 20 %, 30 %, and 40 % of the dry mass of RCG. The produced waste masonry bricks (WMB) were tested for series of compressive and tensile strengths to evaluate the load-bearing capacity of the WMB under compression and tension in compliance with South African National Standard SANS 227. The bricks (WMB) were tested for durability through complete submersion in sulphuric acid solutions at different molarities of 4.60E-02 M, 3.60E-03 M, 5.20E-04 M, and 2.30E0−5 M, respectively. Further, durability tests were conducted through sodium sulphate solution wetting and drying over 8 cycles. Subsequently, after the wetting and drying cycles, the WM-bricks were tested for compressive and tensile strength, to evaluate the performance of the WMB in acidic as well as severe alkaline environments. The test results showed that the WM-bricks recorded an average of 70.15 % and 54.85 % of tensile and compressive strength increase compared to conventional clay bricks strength values. The splitting tensile strength of the WM-bricks is relatively high than that of the conventional bricks for the given compressive strength. The drying and wetting cycle in acidic solution caused a slight reduction of 12.4 % of the mass of the clay bricks, whereas no loss of mass was observed in WMBs due to hydrophobic and deformability characteristics of the RCG and scrap plastic. The relationship between the tensile and compressive strength of the WM-bricks has straight proportionality beyond the optimum strength index. The findings further demonstrated a reasonable methodological approach towards the conversion of wastes into green-efficient masonry bricks that complies with SANS 227 for load-bearing structures like retaining wall, multiple story building.