Effect of recycled facemask fabrics on the mechanical strength of concrete

The quantity of N95 and surgical mask waste is increasing due to COVID-19-related respiratory disease, as millions of people use and throw used masks, primarily in hospitals and now an indispensable part of everyday life. This is the time when we must think about the reuse of these used masks. This paper proposes a method for reusing N95 and surgical masks made with polypropylene fabrics in concrete to enhance the mechanical properties of the concrete. In the proposed method, the fabrics are cut into 20 mm square pieces after disinfection and are directly added to concrete without any additional mechanized methods. The proportions of fabric used were 0.3, 0.5, 0.7 and 1% by weight of the cement along with the M30 mix. All the mixtures were cured for 180 days and tested at appropriate times. All the strength parameters increased after the addition of 0.5% of the fabric, and further addition of the fabric decreased the strength. There is a 15%, 11% and 7.5% increase in compressive strength, split tensile strength and flexural strength, respectively, at 28 days with 0.5% addition of mask fabric pieces by weight of cement. The results of the mechanical properties, such as compressive strength, split tensile strength and flexural strength, have proven its effective reuse for the production of concrete.