The Effectiveness of Utilizing Polypropylene Fiber and Superabsorbent Polymer Derived from Waste Diapers in Evaluating the Mechanical Strength of Concrete

Abstract

In current times, a significant proportion of landfilling activities are attributed to the haphazard disposal of diapers used for infant waste management. In order to mitigate the adverse environmental impact of disposable waste diapers, a potential approach to consider is the utilization of polypropylene fiber (PPF) and superabsorbent polymer (SAP) from disposable shredded waste baby diapers (SWDs)  as substitutes in concrete, thereby replacing a certain amount of conventional materials. This study utilized three varying percentages (0.1%, 0.3%, and 0.5%) of PPF, each with a consistent size of 3~4 X 70mm, in conjunction with SAP at a constant percentage of 0.5%. A number of 152 concrete specimens were made in order to conduct various testing, including compressive strength tests, split tensile strength tests, flexural strength tests, shrinkage tests, ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) tests, jackhammer tests, and sorptivity tests.  It has been discovered that for SWDs mix concrete, 0.1% of PPF produces less reduction (4%) in compressive strength test compare to plain concrete. However, 0.1% of PPF gives 9%, 21% higher value than the plain concrete in the flexure and split tensile test, respectively. The utilization of fiber content in concrete has been found to have a beneficial influence on the occurrence of plastic shrinkage cracks during shrinkage testing. It has been shown that augmenting the percentages of fiber content can effectively reduce the extent of crack formation. The incorporation of 0.1% fiber resulted in a reduction of crack width by approximately 36% when compared to plain concrete. This trend persisted as additional fibers were added. According to the data analyzed from tests, though inclusion of PPF in concrete decreases the compressive strength, however 0.1% inclusion of PPF gives the optimum result in all other tests.