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Use of recycled waste pet bottles fibers for the

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Article in Composite Structures February 2013
DOI: 10.1016/j.compstruct.2012.09.019

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Composite Structures
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Use of recycled waste pet bottles bers for the reinforcement of concrete
Dora Foti
Polytechnic of Bari, Department ICAR, Via Orabona, 4 70125 Bari, Italy

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Available online 9 October 2012
Keywords:
Waste PET bottles
Fiber-reinforcement
Concrete ductility and durability

a b s t r a c t
In the present paper the results of some tests performed on concrete specimens reinforced with bers
made from waste polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles are reported. The bers have been obtained
by simply cutting the bottles; the bers are then added to the mix concrete or they are used as discrete
reinforcement of specimens and little beams in substitution of steel bars. The tests are to be considered as
an approach to a more extensive investigation on the use of PET as a reinforcing material for concrete and
masonry structures. The results that have been obtained are very interesting, especially regarding the
adherence between PET and concrete, suggesting a possible use of this material in the form of at or
round bars, or networks for structural reinforcement.
2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The problem of recycling waste materials of various kinds, is,
and will be, undoubtedly, one of the problems that will most afict
the society in the future and that we must address and resolve in
all possible ways.
It is necessary that the researchers will nd solutions also original, imaginative and brilliant to the reuse of the waste. With the
scarcity of space for landlling and due to an ever increasing cost,
the attention is towards the reuse of waste as alternative to disposal. Research is always more interested in the use of such products in the concrete mix [1]. This makes the concrete more
economic and, at the same time, there is a reduction of the problem
of the waste.
In the literature there are many applications of plastics for
structural materials [2,3]. The development of these new materials
utilizing recycled plastics is important both for building and plastic
recycling industries. Of course these new materials should be subjected to testing before practical application.
Plastics are largely utilized and therefore contribute to an ever
increasing of the solid waste volume. Among the plastic waste,
polyethylene forms the largest fraction, followed by polyethylene
terephthalate, most known as PET. The last is obtained in large
quantity from plastic bottles utilized as containers of beverages
and mineral water.
In Table 1, a description of PET and its more common uses are
reported.
Nowadays, unfortunately, the recycling rate of PET bottles is
much less than the sales of virgin PET production for common uses.
Tel.: +39 080 5963771; fax: +39 080 5963719.
E-mail address: d.foti@poliba.it
0263-8223/$ - see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2012.09.019

This gap is dramatically increasing, pushing towards nding a solution of this problem and a higher recycle of PET.
Particular interest is stirring, at present, the use of bers obtained from waste PET bottles. A possible application is to utilize
PET bers as reinforcement for concrete to improve its tensile
strength. Concrete, as it is known, is a material with good compressive strength but low tensile strength. This reduced tensile
strength is partly due to the presence of micro and macro cracks
caused by shrinkage of the concrete.
In recent decades, with the aim of giving the conglomerate a
greater tensile strength, it was attempted to add in its mixture bers of various types. The presence of bers improves the tensile
behavior of concrete thanks to the sewing effect that they have
on the cracks [4]. Their action, in fact, is more effective in the
post-cracking phase, preventing and reducing the propagation of
cracks. Concretes with a higher ductility and a reduced shrinkage
cracking are obtained [5]. Ductility is evidenced by a large deformation associated with the ber elongation at break. Unfortunately, the desired results were achieved only to a minor extent.
A drawback, in fact, is the reduced workability of concrete when
adding bers, so that only a reduced quantity of bers could be
added (maximum about 1% by weight of concrete) to get a material
that can be still workable to ll the formworks.
It is also known that, even for reinforced concrete, in the rst
phase the compressive and tensile stresses are primarily absorbed
by the concrete. When the load increases, the concrete cracks increase and the reinforcement in the cracked sections performs its
function, absorbing all the tensile stresses itself. Therefore, with
the aim to avoid or at least delay the appearance of cracks in
the structures, it is important not only to employ conglomerates
of greater compressive strength and, consequently, also of tensile
strength, but to try to limit the occurrence of macro or micro

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D. Foti / Composite Structures 96 (2013) 396404

Table 1
Uses of virgin and recycled PET.
Name of plastic

Description

Some uses of virgin plastic

Some uses for plastic made from recycled waste plastic

Polyethilene
terephthalate (PET)

Clear tough plastic, may be

used as a ber

Soft drink and mineral water bottles,

textile bers

Soft drink bottles, detergent bottles, clear lm for packing, carpet

bers, eecy jackets

shrinkage cracks, which could trigger the most visible cracking

phenomena.
For the reasons outlined above, bers in the concrete mix do not
increase the compressive and tensile strength signicantly; however, they are still useful to limit the cracks, especially those
caused by shrinkage, and also to give the concrete more ductility.
The bers exert an action of sewing the surfaces where the cracks
occur. In other words, they prevent the brittle and sudden fracture
of a material that, depending on the type and quantities of bers
used, may show a further post-peak deformation.
This effect is also present in concrete added with PET bers. The
use of PET bers falls in the attempt to suitably and protably recycle a waste material, produced now in large quantities, obtaining
the bers directly from the bottles, by means of simply cuts, without subjecting them to any special and costly chemical process
[6,7].
Studies have been developed to get the mechanical characteristics of concrete reinforced with PET bers [2]. The density, workability, compressive and tensile strengths and the modulus of
elasticity of the mixture added with PET bers have been investigated [810]. Impact resistance has been investigated as an inuence on concrete of polypropylene bers [11] and recycled
plastics [3] showing an improvement of the impact resistance of
concrete.
Another interesting aspect is the thermal conductivity of concrete reinforced with PET bers. It has been noticed that there is
an increment in the thermal insulation of the concrete both adding
pieces of waste rubber of tires and plastic bers [12] or simply adding plastic bers alone [13]. In [13] PET laments have been extruded by an industrial process; the concrete added with these
bers has shown a better behavior both for its mechanical strength
and ductility.
Anyway, in all the studies cited above, PET has been utilized in
the concrete mix in the shape of short strips. Sometimes the bers
have been obtained after a long and expensive extruding process
from the waste bottles [14], or the surfaces of the bers have been
coated with maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene and then
chopped into the desired ber length [15].
Foti [7] has observed a better behavior of the circular shaped
PET bers; they are obtained without any manufacturing, but with
simple transversal cuts of the bottles deprived of the top and bottom parts. The circular bers perform better than the lamellar ones
because they guarantee a higher concrete-ber adherence also for
high stresses. The lamellar bers, on the contrary, for high stresses
tend to slip off.
In this paper the results of a research on the use of PET as a reinforcing material of concrete is reported. It is part of a wider research in the eld of ber-reinforced concrete obtained with the
use of PET bers. Differently from previous studies of other
researchers, the specimens are made with a concrete mix added
with circular bers the last obtained cutting waste bottles orthogonally to their longitudinal axis. The bers have a width of about
5 mm and are added in higher quantity (1% by weight of concrete)
respect to previous tests. Another series of tests has been performed on little concrete beams reinforced with long PET strips
positioned similarly to reinforcement bars in concrete beams. Results show a high adherence level between PET bers and concrete
with the further aim to utilize round or at PET bars (or networks
in case of plates and slabs) in substitution of steel reinforcement

with the important result to avoid corrosion problems and reduce

the deterioration of concrete structures.
The novelty of this research respect to similar studies on concrete that utilizes PET bers is, principally, that PET has been utilized in two different ways, not found in previous authors:
circular bers added in the concrete mix and long strips for the
reinforcement of structural elements or specimens in substitution
of steel reinforcement. In previous studies waste PET has never
been utilized in these shapes, but only as short strips or laments
in the concrete mix. In addition, in this research PET has never been
subjected to complicate chemical and manufacturing processes,
but bers and strips have been obtained by simply cutting the
waste PET bottles.

2. Experimental program and results

Studies on the use of PET bers for the reinforcement of concrete have been developing at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the Polytechnic of Bari since the midnineties. Both short strips of bers and circular bers have shown
a good sewing effect in the post-cracking phase of concrete.
In the present paper the results of further studies on the use of
PET as a reinforcing material of concrete are reported. In particular,
bending tests have been performed to obtain the ultimate tensile
stress of specimens in concrete reinforced with PET bers. The load
has been applied in the middle of the specimen according to the
static scheme of Fig. 1. The specimens have been subjected to
bending tests by an Instrom L.T.D. equipment, under the same conditions described in Foti [7].
Previously to the tests on the specimens, a series of tensile tests
on bers of PET have been performed following the modalities
shown in Fig. 2a. In Fig. 2b the forcedisplacement plot referred
to one specic test is reported.
The tensile tests on PET bers furnished an average value of the
tensile strength equal to 160 N/mm2 high enough and comparable
with the other bers on the market for ber-reinforced concrete
(FRC) (Table 2).
The testing program consisted of three parts:
(1) Tests on concrete specimens reinforced with circular bers
of PET (1% by weight of concrete), and added with superplasticizers.

Fig. 1. Static scheme of the tests.

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D. Foti / Composite Structures 96 (2013) 396404

Fig. 2. (a) Test set-up for the characterization of the bers; and (b) forceelongation plot of the tensile test on one ber.

Table 2
Mechanical characteristics of different bers for FRC.
Fiber type

Equivalent diameter (lm)

Specic weight (103 kg/m3)

Elastic modulus (N/mm2)

Tensile strength (N/mm2)

Ultimate elongation (%)

Steel
Glass
Polypropylene
Nylon
Carbon
Acrylic

5500
915
20200

9
18

7.84
2.60
0.90
1.10
1.90
1.18

200,000
70,00080,000
50007000
4000
230,000
14,00019,500

5002000
20004000
500750
900
2600
4001000

0.53.5
23.5
8
1315
1
3

(2) Tests on concrete specimens that have the same size of 1)

and have been reinforced with strips of PET obtained with
two overlapping layers of half bottles.
(3) Tests on larger concrete specimens reinforced with four
overlapping layers of PET obtained cutting longitudinally
waste bottles in four parts.
The samples were carefully prepared and stored for aging in
accordance with UNI EN 12390:2009.
2.1. Test (1): Specimens in concrete with the addition of circular bers
Tests on the samples in concrete reinforced with circular PET bers (Fig. 3) were performed both to control their effectiveness
(comparing the results to the tests performed in Foti [7]) and to
determine the inuence of their dosage on the increment of concrete ductility.

The tests rstly conrmed the results already obtained showing

the sewing effect and a larger post-peak behavior before collapse
(see Figs. 4 and 5); secondly, the tests have shown that dosages of
bers greater than 1% by weight of the concrete are hardly practical, even with the use of superplasticizers, because the material becomes no longer easily workable.
Fig. 5 shows the results of the tests previously performed on
PET 0.50% and PET 0.75% together with the results obtained in
the present study on a mixture with PET 1%. The concrete mixtures
utilized are different: for PET 0.5% and 0.75% Composite Portland
concrete of Type II/A-LL (SN EN 197-1:2000) was utilized, while
for PET 1% an industrial ready-made mix concrete was utilized.
Therefore the comparisons obtained in Fig. 5 are interesting
regarding only the recovery of the load as it is not possible to compare the peak values because the concrete mixtures are different.
It is possible to notice that the recovery of the load, in percentage respect to the peak, is faster for the mix with 1% of PET. The

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D. Foti / Composite Structures 96 (2013) 396404

399

Fig. 3. Circular PET bers.

Fig. 4. Loading test on specimens with annular bers and detail of the crack.

drop of the load is about 70% respect to the cracking load for PET
0.50%, 55% for PET 0.75% and about 35% for PET 1%. The results conrm, as expected, that in case of PET 1%, the bers are present in
quantities larger than in the other tested specimens and take up
more easily the load transfered by the cracked concrete.
A measure of the ductility of the different types of concrete is
evaluated through the following coefcient:

lD

Du
Dy

where Du is the maximum deformation at the centerline; Dy is the

deection at the peak load.
The last corresponds to the maximum deection of the concrete
specimen because, before cracking, concrete is the material that

principally absorbs the stresses produced by the applied load.

When the specimen cracks for bending in the most stressed section, the load is then transferred to the bers that are able to
sew the fracture and to deform in the plastic range. lD is therefore
an index of the ductile behavior of concrete reinforced with PET
bers.
Fig. 6 shows the values of lD for the different weight percentages of bers. The value of lD varies from a minimum of 11.73
for PET 1% to a maximum of 37.88 for PET 0.75%. It means that a
high percentage of bers improves the concrete behavior but it
cannot be highly incremented because the circular bers loose
their adherence with the concrete as it becomes less workable,
even adding superplasticizers (that is the case of the tested specimens with 1% of PET).

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Fig. 7 shows the peak values of the applied load, Pmax. However,
it must be noticed that specimens with 1% by weight of PET bers
have been prepared with a different concrete mix.
Table 3 shows the characteristics of the concrete mixtures utilized to make the specimens with different PET percentages.
2.2. Test (2): Specimens reinforced with half-bottles of PET
Thereafter, considering the high tensile strength of PET (of the
order of 160 N/mm2) it was decided to switch from the use of short
strips or circular bers utilized as diffuse reinforcement in the
concrete, to the use of large strips, obtained from half PET bottles,
disposed along the side of the 100  100  400 mm concrete specimens that would be subjected to tensile stresses.

Table 3
Components of the concrete mixtures.
Fig. 5. Loaddeformation plot on specimens with circular bers (1%, 0.75% and
0.5%).

Fibers (wt.%)

Concrete Portland
+ Aggregate (kg)

Superplasticizers
(wt.%)

Water
(l)

PET 0.5% and PET 0.75%

PET 1% and half bottle
PET strips
PET for little beams
specimens

24
25

0.8

2.8
2.7

43

1.4

3.0

Fig. 6. Values of lD for the three different ber contents. Laminated brous
reinforcement.

Fig. 8. Half bottle reinforcement.

Fig. 7. Peak load at cracking for three different ber contents. Positioning of the
brous reinforcement.

Fig. 9. Positioning of the half bottle reinforcement.

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D. Foti / Composite Structures 96 (2013) 396404

This is a type of reinforcement that does not fall within the

parameters prescribed by CNR-DT 204/2006 for ber-reinforced
concrete, as it is a continuous reinforcement, not arranged in a uniform manner within the cement matrix, but concentrated in the
position where high levels of tensile stresses are expected, similarly to the case of concrete reinforced with steel bars.
As regards the practical realization, the reinforcement has been
obtained from waste PET bottles of water, with a capacity equal to
1.5 l, having a square section with rounded corners and marked
surface undulations due to grooves useful for improving the grip
of the bottles themselves by the user. The bottles have been deprived of the bottom and the upper parts, while the central part

Fig. 10. Loaddeection plot for specimen no. 2.

401

has been cut longitudinally into two equal parts to obtain strips
having a C section, with a base equal to about 8 cm and two side
elevations of about 4 cm. These strips were assembled using the
variation in section of the bottles and subsequently, after an appropriate overlap, xed together with staples. The reinforcement consisted of four of the abovementioned elements and therefore, at the
bottom and the middle of the specimens to be tested, there were
four layers of PET, each of a thickness of 0.2 mm, while in the side
sections there are only two layers (Figs. 8 and 9).
Two specimens have been made as described in the following:
rst it was realized a thin layer of concrete on which the reinforcing elements were lying and, subsequently, the empty side was
lled with concrete up to the complete saturation of the formwork.
The main purpose of the tests described hereinafter is to assess
the adhesion between PET and concrete and the attitude of the
strips of PET to behave similarly to concentrate reinforcement.
Therefore a standard test was performed on the specimens up to
a maximum deection of 20 mm (Fig. 10).
The crack pattern shown at the end of the tests is extremely
interesting. In fact, unlike the specimens reinforced with circular
bers, which detects a single vertical cracking concentrated in
the middle and sewn by the bers, in the specimens reinforced
with PET half bottles, after the appearance of a rst vertical crack
in the middle, inclined shear cracks appeared and subsequently
the detachment of the bottom area occurred while continuing to
exist a good adhesion between concrete and PET strips (Fig. 11ac).
The loaddeection plots, in addition to the peak in correspondence of the crack, then showed a fairly hardening trend with a
subsequent recovery of the load and increase of the deformation.
The tests have shown, therefore, the possibility of using strips of
PET as concentrate reinforcement for structures, or secondary
structural elements. PET bers, in fact, not only confer a certain

Fig. 11. (ac) Loading test on specimens with half-bottle bers.

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D. Foti / Composite Structures 96 (2013) 396404

Fig. 12. PET strips utilized in Test 2.

tensile strength to the concrete as a consequence of the good

adherence between the two materials, but also they increase signicantly the ductile behavior of structures.
2.3. Test (3): Beam-specimens with a bigger dimension and reinforced
with PET strips
From the results obtained from Test 1 and Test 2 it was decided
to test the behavior of larger elements; to this aim four little beam
specimens of dimensions 100  200  1100 mm were prepared,
reinforced with four long overlapping layers of PET strips cut from
waste bottles. In particular the strips were disposed in the middle
along one longitudinal side of each specimen. Each strip had a
dimension of approximately 45  0.2  300 mm, and they were
suitably overlapped and connected together with staples. Fig. 12
shows a photo of the strips utilized as a reinforcement of the beam
specimens.
The little beams, after curing, were subjected to bending tests
with a concentrated load applied at the centerline.
Fig. 13 shows the loaddeection plots for a non-reinforced
beam and for those reinforced with strips of PET. The comparison
shows a ductile behavior of the beams reinforced with PET.
The ductile behavior in the post-cracking phase is evidenced by
the diagrams of Fig. 13: the low value of recovery of resistance
after cracking is due to the limited amount of resistant area of
PET bers, equal to about 36 mm2.

Fig. 14 shows the energy dissipated during the bending test for
each specimen. It is possible to notice the large amount of energy
dissipated if compared to the beam without bers.
The highest value of energy dissipation is obtained for specimens 3 and 4. This result was quite expected as the latter show
a more ductile behavior with displacements higher than 12 mm.
Fig. 15 shows the amount of energy dissipated at a displacement of 6 mm in the centerline of each specimen.
This plot indicates the specimen with the fastest recovery of
load from concrete to the PET bers. It could be attributed to beam
3, even if the energy dissipated is more or less the same: it is almost 3035% higher if compared to the total energy dissipated
by the not-reinforced specimen.
Fig. 16 shows the crack pattern of a beam reinforced with PET
strips.

Fig. 14. Energy dissipated during each test.

Fig. 13. Loaddeection plot for little beams reinforced with PET sheets.

Fig. 15. Energy dissipated up to a displacement of 0.6 mm.

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Fig. 18. Cracking section of a beam specimen.

Fig. 16. Cracking for bending at the centerline of the beam and detail of a roller
support.
Table 4
Mechanical characteristics of the concrete utilized in the tests without PET bers.

Fig. 17. Maximum applied load at cracking for the little beam specimens.

Fig. 17 shows the values of the rst cracking load for the four
PET reinforced beams and for the unreinforced beam. The peak
loads are not so different: they range from 8.88 kN to 10.95 kN.
In this case, as expected, it occurred that up to cracking of the concrete (which was also in a sudden manner) the stresses have been
absorbed, predominantly, by the concrete. Only in the post-peak
phase the strips of PET acted to absorb the tensile stress due to
the bending moment, showing a ductile behavior with a large
deformation before the total failure of the beam specimen. As already pointed out, the diagrams show a rise of the load in the
post-peak phase, even if small as a consequence of the reduced
area of PET strips utilized. Another important result to be put in
evidence is that failure occurred for all the bers without any sliding from the concrete beam.
From simple calculus it was found that the experimental behavior of the beams specimens (especially at cracking and rst ultimate loads) reects, in a satisfactory manner, the theoretical
predictions. In the post-peak phase it is possible to determine
the mean value of the ultimate bending moment, Mm = 607.5
kN mm. Equating Mm to the presumable reacting bending moment,
the mean force in the bers at cracking is T = 3.97 kN. This value,
divided by the total transversal area of the bers, results in a failure stress in the bers equal to rf = 1103 N/mm2, that is of the
same order of magnitude of the values obtained from direct tensile
strength tests [7].
Regarding the splitting tensile strength of concrete at the mean
peak load Pmax,mean = 10.75 kN, assuming to neglect the strength
force of the bers because, as previously mentioned, concrete can

Type of tests

Compressive
strength (N/mm2)

Splitting tensile
strength (N/mm2)

Specimen with 0.50% in weight

of bers
Specimen with 0.75% in weight
of bers
Test (1) and Test (2)
Test (3)

36.9

3.65

39.27

4.55

53.2
51.5

2.34
2.3

be assumed to absorb all the pre-cracking stress, it results rr =

40.31 N/mm2.
In conclusion, the tests carried out have shown, in particular,
the capacity of PET to adhere to the concrete in a satisfactory manner, cooperating to absorb the tensile stresses. In fact, there were
no sliding phenomena of any kind and the collapse affected all
the strips at the same time (Fig. 18).
Furthermore it was found a ductile post-peak behavior, even if
it is not very large (due to the reduced resistant area of PET), which
is deemed to be considerably increased with the use of bigger
resistant sections of PET. The collapse load then conrmed the order of magnitude of the ultimate stress of the PET bers.
For completeness the values of the compression and tensile
strengths for the concretes utilized in the tests are reported in
Table 4.
3. Conclusions and future research
In this paper a series of tests on concrete reinforced with circular PET bers and long strips have been performed. Important results are:
a more ductile behavior of concrete;
a high concrete-PET adherence.
As a consequence PET strips could be considered as reinforcement of concrete in substitution of steel. More detailed studies
are needed; however, the results of the tests performed so far give
hope in its future, protable use.
Possible applications of continuous PET strips are as mono or
bi-directional reinforcement for concrete slabs and pavements,
thin layers of mortar good for the tackle of masonry structures,
docks, etc.
Consistent with the production costs, it can be assumed also, by
recycling PET bottles or directly by using the base material, to

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create networks, at or round bars good to replace, in special cases,

the current metallic reinforcement. The advantages of PET bers
compared to the use of welded wire mesh made of steel or adding
glass or carbon bers are evident especially from economic and
ecological points of view. Compared to steel, moreover, the advantages are also related to the increase of structural durability that
can be achieved.
Summarizing, the use of PET bers and strips as proposed in the
present paper shows the following important advantages:
Reduction of the plastic waste.
Reduction of the production costs.
Reduction of structural degradation due to steel corrosion.
In addition, possible predictive models that could t the results
obtained so far and future experimental results could be studied,
such as energetic approaches to crack-bridging effects [1618].
The models would give the possibility of a better interpretation
of the mechanical behavior of concrete reinforced with PET.
Acknowledgments
The author gratefully acknowledge Francesco Paparella for the
help in performing the tests, Calcestruzzi San Giorgio, and especially Mr. Lombardozzi, for the collaboration to make the specimens and Mapei Italia Group for furnishing the ready-made mix
concrete.
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