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Effect of recycled polypropylene fiber on high strength concrete and normal strength concrete properties
October 2021
DOI:10.12989/amr.2021.10.4.267
Authors:

Ahmed Branci Taieb Ammar Yahia Karim Ezziane

Touahri Hassiba Benbouali University of Chlef Université de Sherbrooke Hassiba Benbouali University of Chlef

Citations (7) References (37) Figures (7)

Abstract and Figures

An experimental study was undertaken to evaluate the performance of recycled

polypropylene fiber (RPF) in concrete. The RPF materials were recycled from woven bags Discover the world's
research
and used in concrete at various volume fractions corresponding to 0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.3%.
Two different classes of strength, corresponding to normal and high strength concrete,
25+ million
were investigated. Fiber was used as substitution of coarse aggregate in concrete. The members
dosage of fiber was used at relatively lower dosages to avoid altering fluidity and to limit
the reduction in coarse aggregate content. On the other hand, a commercial polypropylene 160+ million
fiber (PPF) was used at equivalent dosages than RPF for comparisons purposes. Test publication
results indicated that optimized RPF volumes can secure comparable mechanical pages
performance than those obtained with commercial PPF. On the other hand, the use of both 2.3+ billion
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fiber types resulted in lower compressive strength (10 to 20%), higher flexural strength (up citations
to 27%), and lower elastic modulus (by 16%). Furthermore, the use of RPF type reduced the
drying shrinkage (6 to 10%) of normal and high strength concrete types and increased the
permeable pore void of both concrete types.

+2

ariation of ariation of flexural Chemical and Physical Mixture

compressive… strength for NS… physical… properties of bo… proportioning of…

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Advances in Materials Research, Vol. 10, No. 4 (2021) 267-284

https://doi.org/10.12989/amr.2021.10.4.267 267

Effect of recycled polypropylene fiber on high strength concrete

and normal strength concrete properties
Ahmed Touahri 1a, Taieb Branci 1b, Ammar Yahia 2c and Karim Ezziane∗3
1
Civil Engineering Department, University Hassiba BenBouali of Chlef, Algeria
2
Civil Engineering Department, University of Sherbrooke, Canada, J1K 2R1
3
Geomaterials Laboratory, University Hassiba BenBouali of Chlef, Algeria

(Received June 4, 2020, Revised October 5, 2021, Accepted October 25, 2021)

Abstract. An experimental study was undertaken to evaluate the performance of recycled polypropylene fiber
(RPF) in concrete. The RPF materials were recycled from woven bags and used in concrete at various volume
fractions corresponding to 0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.3%. Two different classes of strength, corresponding to normal and
high strength concrete, were investigated. Fiber was used as substitution of coarse aggregate in concrete. The dosage
of fiber was used at relatively lower dosages to avoid altering fluidity and to limit the reduction in coarse aggregate
content. On the other hand, a commercial polypropylene fiber (PPF) was used at equivalent dosages than RPF for
comparisons purposes. Test results indicated that optimized RPF volumes can secure comparable mechanical
performance than those obtained with commercial PPF. On the other hand, the use of both fiber types resulted in
lower compressive strength (10 to 20%), higher flexural strength (up to 27%), and lower elastic modulus (by 16%).
Furthermore, the use of RPF type reduced the drying shrinkage (6 to 10%) of normal and high strength concrete
types and increased the permeable pore void of both concrete types.
Keywords: compressive strength; elastic modulus; flexural strength; high strength concrete; permeable
pore void; recycled polypropylene fiber; shrinkage

1. Introduction

Polypropylene fibres (PPF) have been applied for the concrete reinforcement for many years
(Bentur and Mindess 2019, Zheng and Feldman 1995, Merli et al. 2020). They have been widely
used to reinforce concrete as an alternative to steel fibers. The PPF possess high chemical and
biological resistance including very good resistance in concretes alkaline environment (Segre et al.
1998). Conventionally polypropylene fibers are used in concrete at relatively low contents, 0.1 to
0.3% by volume, as a secondary reinforcement to control and reduce the plastic shrinkage cracking
of concrete. They are hydrophobic due to their chemical structure, which leads to reduce bonding
with the cement, and negatively affecting its dispersion in the matrix. The bonding strength
between fibers and matrix can be developed by fiber surface treatment (Donghwan et al. 2004).

∗Corresponding author, Professor, E-mail: [email protected]

a
Ph.D. Student, E-mail: [email protected]
b
Professor, E-mail: [email protected]
c
Professor, E-mail: Ammar.Yahia@USherbrook e.ca

Copyright © 2021 Techno-Press, Ltd.

http://www.techno-press.org/?journal=amr&subpage=5 ISSN: 2234-0912 (Print), 2234-179X (Online)
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268 Ahmed Touahri, Taieb Branci, Ammar Yahia and Karim Ezziane

The PPF fibers have been successfully used in cementitious materials to control shrinkage
cracking, to improve material toughness and impact resistance, and to increase significantly the
energy absorption capacity of the material (Song et al. 2005, Nili and Afroughsabet 2010, Karahan
and Atis 2011). Zeiml et al. (2006) and Merli et al. (2020) suggested that there is a great influence
of the amount of polypropylene fibers on the spalling behavior of concrete under fire loading. The
uniformly dispersed fibers strengthen the cement matrix and bridge over cracks, reduce the
cracking sensitivity of the matrix and decrease the crack width (Aly et al. 2008).
Any addition of fibers into a plain concrete mixture affects its properties in both fresh mixture
and hardened composite. Studies show that increase i n fiber content decreases the workability of
the composite due to high specific area of fibers (Zhang and Li 2013). The factor to consider here
is the surface area of the fibers. In addition to the coarse aggregate the mortar must also coat the
fibers. According to ACI Committee 544 (2002), it is advised to increase the mortar fraction and
reduce the coarse aggregate content to accommodate the increase in surface area due to
polypropylene fiber addition. The coarse to fine aggregates ratio in the mix is reduced so that
individual coarse aggregate particles are fully surrounded by a layer of mortar. The exact amount
of coarse aggregate to be reduced in mixes can be calculated using the methodology based on
thickness of mortar layer (Voigt et al. 2004).
Polypropylene fibers have been extensively used as a reinforcement in Portland cement based
materials because of its high toughness and durability; while there was a conflict about the
correlation of the PPF content and the corresponding compressive strength of the concrete.
Although it was stated by Orasutthikul et al. (2017) that incorporation of PPF reduces the
compressive strength of concretes, some researchers (Yin et al. 2016, Vairagade et al. 2012,
Ahmed et al. 2006) reported that PPF in small volume fraction, ranging from 0.05% to 0.5%, has
no or very small effect o n the compressive strength of fibre reinforced concrete. This conflict was
studied by Richardson (2006) and he concluded, because of the cement bond breaking by PPF, the
concrete compressive strength is reduced notably.
Fiber reinforcement using different types of virgin fibers has been extensively studied, and has
generally been observed that the recycled fibers could provide similar reinforcement as virgin
materials. This was demonstrated in studies on recycled synthetic fibers from various sources
including carpet, tires, and plastic containers in comparison with commercially available virgin
synthetic fibers (Wang et al. 2000, Yin et al. 2016). The alkali resistance of RPF fiber was tested in
four different alkaline solutions to study the RPF degradation. The post-cracking performance of
RPF reinforced concretes was also quantified and compared with that of virgin PP fibre reinforced
concretes through the CMOD (Crack Mouth Opening Displacement) test and RPDT (Round
Determinate Panel Test). In this study, two volumes percentages o f fibres were chosen to reinforce
40 MPa and 25 MPa concretes which are the standard grades of concrete used in precast panels
and concrete footpaths, respectively. They concluded that RPF can be used to replace virgin PPF
fibres in the concrete footpaths and precast panels.
The construction industry is the second largest consumer of plastics after the packaging
industry (Addis 2012). Concrete is the most widely used construction material in the world with
production of over 2 billion tons per year (ONS 2018). Therefore, the use of recycled plastics in
concrete provides a huge scope for the re-utilization of waste plastic on an industrial scale. Using
recycled polypropylene fibre (RPF) has the potential to significantly reduce environmental impacts
and extend the applications of recycled plastic products. The advantages of using such RPF
include generally lower cost to process than virgin PPF, and the elimination of the need for waste
disposal in landfills.
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Effect of recycled polypropylene fiber on high strength concrete and … 269

The authors investigated the performance of recycled polypropylene fiber (RPF) when used in
normal and high strength concrete. RPF materials were recycled from used woven bags, cut to 40
mm length like commercial fiber and used at various dosages corresponding to 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3%.
On the other hand, a commercial polypropylene fiber (PPF) was used at equivalent dosages than
RPF for comparisons purposes. An experimental study was carried out to investigate RPF effects
on compressive strength, flexural strength, elastic modulus, permeable pore void and shrinkage
when introduced in concrete formulation.

2. Experimental program

2.1 Materials

All investigated mixtures were formulated using Type I ordinary cement complying with
ASTM C150 (2020) standards. The chemical properties of cement are summarized in Table 1.
Crushed limestone coarse aggregate with a maximum size aggregate of 14 mm and specific gravity
of 2.7 was used. Well-graded natural river sand with fineness modulus of 2.66 and specific gravity
of 2.65 was used for the fine aggregate. The RPF was obtained from worn polypropylene fiber
woven bags. The RPF was used in concrete without any special pre-treatment. The bags wer e just
collected from landfills, manually unwoven, cleaned and cut to an equal length of 40 mm to be
identical to the commercialized Strux 90/40 fiber (PPF); length: 40 mm and aspect ratio: 90. Fig. 1
shows the worn woven bags and the RPF recovered. The PPF has a tensile strength of 620 MPa
and an elastic modulus of 9.5 GPa. On the other hand, the RPF has a tensile strength of 400 MPa
and an elastic modulus of 4.3 GPa, and a specific gravity of 0.74 g/cm³, which satisfy the ACI
Committee 544 (2002). Both Strux 90/40 and RPF fibers had the same length of 40 mm. The Strux
fibers were stiff and have a straight shape, while the RPF was smooth and flat. The physical
properties of both fiber types are summarized in Table 2.
A commercial polycarboxylate admixture Type F conforming to ASTM C494 (2005) having a
density of 1.16 and solids content of 27% was used as a high-range water-reducing (HRWR) to

Table 1 Chemical and physical characteristics of cement

SiO2 (%) 21.0
Al2O3 4.2
Chemical Fe2O3 3.1
characteristics CaO 62
MgO 2.9
Na2O eq. 0.74
50 % passing diameter (D50), µm 19
Blaine surface area, m²/kg 420
Physical
Percent passing 45 µm (%) 17
characteristics
Specific gravity 3.15
LOI (%) 2.5
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270 Ahmed Touahri, Taieb Branci, Ammar Yahia and Karim Ezziane

Table 2 Physical properties of both fiber types

Fiber type
PPF (Strux 40/90) RPF
Specific gravity 0.92 0.74
Modulus of elasticity (GPa) 9.5 4.3
Tensile strength (MPa) 620 400
Melting point (°C) 165 165
Length (mm) 40 40
Aspect ratio 90 66

Fig. 1 Woven bags and recycled poly propylene fiber (RPF) used

produce a workable concrete. The dosage of HRWR was varied between 1.3 and 1.5%, by mass of
cement, to produce concrete mixtures with a slump of 120 ± 20 mm.

2.2 Tests procedures

Normal strength concrete (NSC) and high-strength concrete (HSC) were investigated in this
study. The mixture proportioning of NSC and HSC is summarized in Tables 3 and 4, respectively.
The NSC mixtures were proportioned with a cement content of 320 kg/m3 and a water-to-cement
ratio (W/C) of 0.55. These mixtures were proportioned to secure a 28-day compressive strength of
30 MPa. On the other hand, HSC mixtures incorporated higher cement content of 400 kg/m3 and
were made with a lower W/C of 0.40 to achieve a targeted compressive strength of 50 MPa. The
effect of various fiber contents ranging between 0 and 0.3%, by volume, was used to evaluate
some properties of NSC and HSC. The fibers were used as replacement of coarse aggregate
according to the mortar thickness concept. This concept consists in maintaining constant mortar
thickness layer (tm) covering the solid particles (fiber and coarse aggregate) in the matrix (Voigt et
al. 2004). Also, it was well known that the formulation of fiber concrete is achieved by
substituting an inert material such as sand or coarse aggregates with fibers. This is realized by
volume because of the difference in the densities of the materials. In this study, coarse aggregates
were substituted by polypropylene fiber for rates of 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3% of concrete volume which
are rates very used in practice. The HRWR dosage was adjusted to secure a slump value of 120 ±
20 mm.
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Effect of recycled polypropylene fiber on high strength concrete and … 271

Table 3 Mixture proportioning of investigated NSC concretes

Water Fiber Cement Sand Coarse aggregate
kg/m3
NSC 176 0 320 818 1070
NSC-PPF-0.10 176 0.9 320 830 1053
NSC-PPF-0.20 176 1.8 320 844 1036
NSC-PPF-0.30 176 2.7 320 858 1019
NSC-RPF-0.10 176 0.9 320 839 1044
NSC-RPF-0.20 176 1.8 320 853 1028
NSC-RPF-0.30 176 2.7 320 867 1010

Table 4 Mixture proportioning of investigated HSC concretes

Water Fiber Cement Sand Coarse aggregate
3
kg/m
HSC 160 0 400 770 1078
HSC-PPF-0.10 160 0.9 400 785 1063
HSC-PPF-0.20 160 1.8 400 799 1043
HSC-PPF-0.30 160 2.7 400 813 1027
HSC-RPF-0.10 160 0.9 400 794 1051
HSC-RPF-0.20 160 1.8 400 808 1035
HSC-RPF-0.30 160 2.7 400 822 1017

Concrete mixtures were prepared in 100-L capacity open pan mixer. The mixing sequence
consisted of homogenizing the coarse aggregate and sand for 1 minute before introducing the
cement amount and adding another 1 minute to mixing. The fibers were then spread into the
mixture, and the materials were mixed again for further 1 minute. 2/3 part of the mixing water was
added and mixing continued for 2 minutes. Finally, the HRWR and the remaining mixing water
were added and the mix was mixed for a period of 2 minutes. Ambient temperature during mixing
and testing was maintained at 22 ± 2°C. The HRWR dosage was adjusted to secure a slump
consistency value of 120 ± 20 mm. Following slump adjustment, the unit weight, temperature, and
fresh air content were determined. Concrete cylinders of 100×200 mm were made for compressive
strength and elastic modulus test. 100×100×400 prisms were cast to determine flexural strength
and shrinkage developments. All samples were stored in moist curing according to ASTM C39
(2018) specifications until the testing age. Each value obtained represents the average of three tests
whose coefficients of variation were less than 5% for the various test results. The samples intended
for the shrinkage measurement were kept under laboratory conditions where the shrinkage
represents the average measurement of two test specimens.
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272 Ahmed Touahri, Taieb Branci, Ammar Yahia and Karim Ezziane

3. Test results and discussion

All the investigated mixtures achieved slump of 120 ± 20 mm and an air content of 2 ± 0.5%.
As expected, the incorporation of fiber increased the HRWR dema nd to maintain a given fluidity.
The compressive and flexural strengths as well as elastic modulus values of NSC and HSC
mixtures were calculated as an average of three different measurements.

3.1 Compressive strength

As can be observed in Fig. 2, the incorporation of PPF in NSC mixtures resulted in reducing
compressive strength. The use of recycled polypropylene fiber (RPF) is shown to exhibit similar
behavior than the commercial PPF fiber, especially at low content. However, for higher content
(0.20 and 0.30%), the use of RPF resulted in slightly higher reduction in compressive strength of
NSC compared to HSC. For example, the use of 0.10% and 0.20% PPF result ed in 6% (from 34.6
to 32.4 MPa) and 12% (from 34.6 to 30.4 MPa) reduction in compressive strength, respectively.
However, the use of 0.30% resulted in 20% (from 34.6 to 27.4 MPa) reduction. In the case of HSC
mixtures, the incorporation of 0.20% and 0.30% PPF reduced compressive strength by 10% (from
50.4 to 45.5 MPa) and 15% (from 50.4 to 42.0 MPa), respectively. The correlations presented in
Fig. 2 show a linear decrease of compressive strength according to fiber content used in the
mixture. The NSC strength is reduced by 2.3 and 3.1 MPa for each 0.1% PPF or RPF used
respectively. Whereas for HSC mixtures this decrease is only 2.7 and 2.9 MPa.
The reduction in compressive strength in NSC may be attributed to the relatively higher void
volume and the relatively lower volume of coarse aggregate resulting in lower interlock effect in
fiber reinforced concrete. The addition of fiber creates more Interfacial Transition Zone (ITZ)
which may affect the compressive strength. On the other hand, the lower compressive strength
obtained with RPF compared to PPF fiber can be due to its smooth surface and flat shape. It is well
established that fibers can contribute in increasing concrete strength if they have a modulus of
elasticity greater than that of the matrix. Given the modulus of elasticity of concrete of about 15 to
30 GPa, this condition seems to be difficult to meet with most synthetic fibers (Zheng and

Fig. 2 Variation of compressive streng th for NSC and HSC according to fiber content type
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Effect of recycled polypropylene fiber on high strength concrete and … 273

Feldman 1995). This result is in conformity with that found by Marthong (2019) in which concrete
with polypropylene fibers exhibit 3% to 21% lower compressive strength compared to the control
concrete. On the other hand, some researchers (Chandra et al. 2018, Geok et al. 2020) showed that
PPF fibers have minimal effects on compressive strength and just a slight effect is observed for
low fiber content as compared to the control concrete.

3.2 Flexural strength

According to the flexural strength results shown in Fig. 3, the use of up to 0.30% PPF resulted
in approximately 10% increase in flexural strength, regardless of the concrete type. In the case of
RPF, the reduction is about 10% and 25% for NSC and HSC, respectively. The use of RPF resulted
in relatively higher flexural strength than PPF and this reduction is more pronounced in the case of
HSC. This result can be due to the relatively lower tensile strength and elastic modulus
characteristics of RPF compared to that of PPF.
These results match with previous results (Marthong 2019, Setti et al. 2020) where the relative
increases in flexural strength of fibers concrete specimens are higher about 5-40%. Also, Mazloom
and Mirzamohammadi (2019) reported that the flexural strength of cement composite having
polypropylene fibers increased from 6 MPa to 7.82 MPa resulted by bond strength between the
fibers and the cement matrix. Similar trend was reported by Niranjana et al. (2015) for short
polypropylene fibers where the increase in strength is caused by the better fibers dispersion which
deflects the cracks path and lead to greater energy consumption. Statistical models established
using a central composite design indicate that the fiber content is shown to have the greatest effect
on flexural strength (Hadjoudja et al. 2014).
The improvement provided by the addition of polypropylene fibers is due to the participation of
these fibers in resisting to cracks propagation. Any fiber that crosses a crack creates a bridge
between the two edges. This bridge will allow part of the stress to be transferred from one edge to
the other. Thus, the fibers oppose the crack widening and play the role of a joint which increases
the strength of the concrete after cracking. The RPF and PPF fibers help to sew up the micro-
cracks and delay their propagation, which prevents the appearance of macro-cracks. From this,

Fig. 3 Variation of flexural streng th for NSC and HSC according to fiber content ty pe

274 Ahmed Touahri, Taieb Branci, Ammar Yahia and Karim Ezziane
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Table 5 Comparison of concrete mechanical properties results with PPF and RPF fibers
Compressive Flexural
Reference Recycling source
strength results strength results
Meddah and Sc = 30 MPa (0%) Sf = 8.1 MPa (0%)
Waste PPF from storage bags
Bencheikh (2009) Sc = 29 MPa (0.5%) Sf = 8.1 MPa (0.5%)
Sc = 55.8 MPa (0%) Sf = 6.2 MPa (0%)
Yin et al. (2016) RPF from industrial waste
Sc = 52.5 MPa (0.45%) Sf = 5.4 MPa (0.45%)
Recycled plastic fibres by Sc = 45.9 MPa (0%) Sf = 4.5 MPa (0%)
Yin et al. (2016)
construction industries Sc = 47.7 MPa (0.67%) Sf = 4.3 MPa (0.45%)
Thorneycroft et al. Sc = 53.8 MPa (0%) Sf = 3.26 MPa (0%)
recycled plastic waste
(2018) Sc = 54.4 MPa (1%) Sf = 4.07 MPa (0.45%)

fiber reinforced HSC concrete exhibits better mechanical characteristics after cracking due to the
high adhesion between fibers and concrete compared to NSC concrete (Setti et al. 2020, Yin et al.
2015).
In order to better quantify the flexural strength Sf as a function of the compressive strength Sc,
several attempts were tested. Using least squar es method for the experimental results, two
relationships were found for which the correlation coefficients reached values close to unity. These
relationships can be written for concrete mixture with PPT and RPT as follows

𝑆 = 0.3 𝑆 ..  ; 𝑅 = 0.965 (1)


𝑆 = 0.3 𝑆 ..  ; 𝑅 = 0.921 (2)

The strengths are expressed in MPa and the fiber content of PPF and RPF is expressed in
percentage. The dispersion between the experimental results and predicted by Eqs. (1)-(2)
describes perfectly linear variation with an average difference of 0.25 MPa and 0.48 MPa for
concrete with PPF and RPF fibers respectively.
A significant number of researches are being carried out on the recovery of wastes and their use
as fibers in concrete. This saves the heavy use of virgin fibers and helps to protect the environment.
Table 5 recapitulates some results on the mechanical properties of concrete with PPF and RPF. It is
clear that the recycled fibers are beneficial and lead to close and even high strengths compared to
those of virgin fibers.

3.3 Elastic modulus

The elastic modulus of concrete is a key factor for estimating the deformation of structural
elements. It is frequently expressed as function of compressive strength of concrete (Goncalves et
al. 2007, Herve et al. 2010). As can be observed in Fig. 4, the incorporation of 0.10% RPF in NSC
and HSC mixtures did not have a significant effect on the elastic modulus. However, the use of
0.20 and 0.30% reduced the elastic modulus of NSC by 15.8% and 20%, respectively. In the case
of HSC mixtures, this reduction is about 10%. The use of RPF in NSC resulted in slightly higher
reduction in elastic modulus compared to HSC. This may be attributed to the greater porosity in
NSC compared to that in HSC. On the other hand, the reduction observed with both concrete types

Effect of recycled polypropylene fiber on high strength concrete and … 275

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Fig. 4 Variation of elastic modulus for NSC and HSC according to fiber content yt pe

may be due to lower aggregate content, because fibers were used as a replacement of coarse
aggregates. Also, it was found that the elastic modulus slightly affected by the addition of
polypropylene fiber (Altalabani et al. 2020, Faraj et al. 2019). Also, for concrete containing 1% of
polypropylene fibers this modulus decreased by 28.3% compared with that of control concrete
(Alwesabi et al. 2020); this decrease was attributed to the changes in concrete density.
By using the obtained results, it is easy to express the values of the modulus of elasticity as a
function of the compressive strength Sc and the incorporated fiber ratio RPF. This relationship can
be written as follows

𝑆 .. 
𝐸 = 11 000   ; 𝑅 = 0.975 (3)
10
3.4 Permeable pore void

In addition to mechanical properties, the effect of fiber addition on permeable pore void of
NSC and HSC was evaluated according to the ASTM C642 (2013) specifications. Test results
obtained with RPF mixtures are presented in Fig. 5. The incorporation of RPF in concrete resulted
in a slight increase of the permeable pore void, regardless the class of concrete (NSC and HSC). A
linear increase in permeable pore void is clear on the results of Fig. 5. Each 0.1% RPF fiber used
in the mixture leads to an increase of 2.9% and 5.2% permeable pore void in the NSC and HSC
mixture respectively. The incorporation of 0.10%, 0.20%, and 0.30% of RPF resulted in
approximately 2.3%, 4.5%, and 6.2% higher permeable pore void of NSC, respectively. In the case
of HSC mixtures, higher permeable porosity o f 4.5%, 9.8%, and 13% was observed. These results
are in agreement with available literature (Meddah and Bencheikh 2009). The incorporation of
synthetic fibers in cement-based matrix may disturb the granular skeleton and creates more void
space in the composite material. In the same way, some results (Zeyad et al. 2020, Faraj et al. 2019)
found that polypropylene fibers led to increased porosity at all test ages. This result may be
attributed to polypropylene fibers effect on workability; which led to additional pores on the
concrete mix as compared with the control concrete.
The permeability is one of the intrinsic concrete properties which controls its durability and it is

276 Ahmed Touahri, Taieb Branci, Ammar Yahia and Karim Ezziane
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Fig. 5 Variation of permeable pore void for NSC and HSC according to RPF fiber content

Fig . 6 Relationship between compressive strength and permeability pore void for concrete with RPF fibers

linked to its compressiv e strength. By correlati ng these two experimental results, a linear
relationship has been found which indicates that high strength concrete is the least porous and h as
high durablily. By testing several relationships, we obtained the expression of Eq. (4), where each
10 MPa compressive strength decreases the permeabile pore void by 1%. Fig. 6 illustrates this
variation where the correlation seems perfect.

𝑝 % = 17  0.1𝑆 ; 𝑅 = 0.963 (4)

3.5 Drying shrinkage

Drying shrinkage of concrete depends on relative humidity, temperature, type and quantity of
binder, air content, w/c, ratio of fine to coarse aggregate, type and volume of aggregate, curing

Effect of recycled polypropylene fiber on high strength concrete and … 277

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Fig. 7 Variation of dry ing shrinkag e for NSC mixture according to RPF fiber content

Fig. 8 Variation of dry ing shrinkag e for HSC mixture according to RPF fiber content

method and duration, etc. (ACI-209 2009, Kovler and Zhutovsky 2006). Synthetic fibers are
introduced in concrete to improve plastic shrinkage and reduce the cracking potential of concrete.
Optimum dosages of fiber that allow a trade-off between mechanical properties, and plastic
shrinkage should be incorporated to avoid strength reduction while improving shrinkage resistance.
Drying shrinkage of NSC and HSC mixture incorporating 0.10%, 0.20% and 0.30%, RPF, by
volume, was measured up to 336 days of drying in accordance with ASTM C157 (2017). For each
mixture type and fiber content, three prisms have been prepared and used to follow the evolution
of shrinkage. The drying shrinkage measurements for NSC and HSC are illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8,
respectively.
As can be observed, NSC mixtures developed relatively higher shrinkage that HSC mixtures.
This is may be mainly due to the relatively higher porosity of NSC mixture compared to that of
HSC. The incorporation of RPF resulted in lower drying shrinkage by 6% to 10% depending on

278 Ahmed Touahri, Taieb Branci, Ammar Yahia and Karim Ezziane
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Fig. 9 Variation of drying shrinka ge for HSC and NSC mixtures according to fiber content

the strength of concrete. For example, the use of a lower fiber volume of 0.10% reduced drying
shrinkage by approximately 3% for both concrete types. The use of 0.30% RPF resulted in
reducing drying shrinkage of NSC by approximately 6%. In the case of HSC, higher reduction of
10% wasobserved. It is expected that this reduction may probably lower the total crack area,
maximum crack width and the number of cracks. Also, reduction in drying shrinkage results in
eliminating the need for joints in a concrete slab. This can reduce the overall maintenance cost and
improve structural performance. Further studies will be carried to investigate these issues and
evaluate the effectiveness of using higher dosages and their impact on mechanical properties and
shrinkage of concrete.
Comparison of the drying shrinkage results between ordinary concrete and high performance
concrete illustrated in Fig. 9, shows that at early age the type of concrete has no effect on
shrinkage produced whatever the RPF fiber content. After 28 days, HSC has a markedly reduced
shrinkage compared to NSC. This reduction reaches 20% at later age. This is due to the flexural
strength development and to the adhesion generated between the paste and RPF fibers surfaces
which creates strain strength and prevents shrinkage development. In the same way, Bertelsen et al.
(2019) show that the RPF fibers were also effective in controlling surface cracking and reducing
shrinkage deformation as long as their dosage is high. 2% of RPF fibers leads to similar shrinkage
deformation as 0.2% of PPF fibers. The effectiveness of PPF in reducing drying shrinkage can be
associated wi th the fiber orientation and poor compaction of the mixture. The more the fibers are
aligned in the direction of shrinkage the lower the shrinkage (Zhong and Zhang 2020, Geok et al.
2020).

4. Conclusions

The effect of a recycled polypropylene fiber (RPF) on mechanical properties and drying
shrinkage of normal and high-strength concrete types is evaluated. Test results demonstrate the
usefulness of using RPF in concrete to contribute in reducing the environmental impact of woven
bags and develop cost-effective and sustainable construction materials. Based on the test results

Effect of recycled polypropylene fiber on high strength concrete and … 279

presented in this paper, the following conclusions can be pointed out:

(1) The incorporation of recycled polypropylene fiber (RPF) is shown to exhibit similar
behavior than the commercial polypropylene fiber. Both types of fiber resulted in a 10% to
20% reduction in compressive and flexural strength properties.
(2) The use of 0.30% of RPF resulted in 25% increase of flexural strength for HSC compared
to 9.5% obtained with PPF. For NSC 10% increase was observed for both fiber types.
(3) The use of RPF at volume content of 0.20% and 0.30% reduced the elastic moduli of NSC
by 16% and 20%, respectively. In the case of HSC mixtures, this reduction is about 10%.
This is due to lower elastic properties of RPF and smooth surface compared to PPF type.
 (4) The addition of RPF at 0.30% reduced the drying shrinkage by 6% and 10% of normal and
Download full-text PDFhigh-strengthDownload
concrete types, respectively.
citation Copy link
(5) Normal and high strength concrete types incorporating RPF showed relatively higher
permeable pore void. In the case of 0.30% RPF, the increase is about 6.2 and 13% for NSC
and HSC types, respectively.
(6) Results of this study can help to promote the use of RPF to reduce the environmental
impact of woven bags, and develop less expensive and sustainable construction materials.

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the Algerian Ministry of Higher Education for providing financial
support. The support of civil engineering department of the University of Sherbrooke Canada is
also acknowledged. The authors would like to thank the technicians of “the research laboratory on
alternatives cementitious materials” of the University of Sherbrooke for their technical assi stance
during the experimental investigations.

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CC

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