Comparative studies on the compressive strength of pavement blocks made from different geological materials with plastic additives and cement pavements for use in road construction

Abstract

Effective plastic waste management has been of immense concern to environmentalist especially due to its non-biodegradable nature. The research was therefore aimed at using waste plastic materials as binding groundmass in place of cement thereby reusing plastic waste for socio-economic benefit. This will proffer a good solution to the environmental menace posed by indiscriminate disposal of plastic waste and the ecological challenges posed by the ever-increasing use of plastics. Plastic wastes (LDPE type) and PETs were melted at temperatures between 180˚C-250˚C and mixed in different proportions with granite dust, sand and clay to produce sample paver blocks and cement paver blocks. Sample blocks’ specimens were subjected to compressive, water absorption and oven tests. The sample blocks were also activated with H2SO4 acid of pH value 6 to simulate the ruggedness posed by acidic soil condition. Compressive tests were carried out on the paver blocks (activated with acid) at interval of 10 days up to 100 days respectively. Based on these tests, comparison was drawn on the effect of acidic condition on the compressive strength of plastic derived paver blocks against concrete paver blocks in terms of durability, sustainability and viability. Results showed higher strength and durability from the compressive test, low water absorption rate and high resistance to corrosion for plastic paver blocks over cement pavers in the order Plastic/Granite > Plastic/Sand > Plastic/Clay pavers. It could therefore be concluded, that plastic paver blocks are a better and sustainable alternative to cement blocks in the construction of more rigid roads.