The possibility of using waste PET plastic strip to enhance the flexural capacity of concrete beams

The most widely used material after water is the concrete composite. However, it is commonly accepted that concrete is weak in tension compared to its compression, therefore, conventionally, it is usually reinforced with steel rebars. Recently, reusing of waste plastic materials has become a norm among researchers whom used it in different forms in improving some mechanical properties of the concrete such as impact and tensile strength. However, using PET plastic strips as a replacement of main steel rebars is a novel idea. Therefore, in this study the experimental laboratory work is conducted to investigate the possibility of using waste plastic strips as a replacement of the main reinforcement steel bars to promote the flexural capacity of concrete beams at 28 days. For this purpose, a total number of 10 beams were casted with dimensions of (200mm x 200mm x 1200mm) to investigate the effects of using waste plastic strips in enhancing the bending capacity of the beams. The results showed that the incorporation of the plastic strips can improve the load carrying capacity and toughness of the concrete beams compared to unreinforced concrete beams.