ENGINEERING PARAMETERS OF RECYCLED POLYSTYRENE CONCRETE MIXTURES

The effect of waste polystyrene aggregate (which used for packing of electrical devices and food packing) on concrete density, water absorption, compressive strength and thermal conductivity was investigated. Deferent concrete mixtures were made by replacing the sand content by polystyrene aggregate with different volumes (namely, 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 30%, 70% and 100%) in concrete with three cement content (300, 450 and 600 kg/m^3). The density, water absorption and compressive strength of polystyrene concrete decreased with the increase of polystyrene aggregate. Results showed that the use of polystyrene aggregate in in concrete mixtures caused an increase in water absorption from 1.9% to 9.5% at different polystyrene aggregate ratio. The compressive strength reduced by ratio by 75% at polystyrene aggregate replacement ratio100%. Thermal conductivity of polystyrene concrete mixtures decreased from 0.9 to 0.24 W/m.K with the increasing of polystyrene sand ratio up to 100%.