Plastic waste is accumulated in recent years, causing environmental problems, particularly in developing
nations. Recycling this waste as building materials is considered as a feasible solution to the environmental
issue, but it is also a feasible solution to the issue of building economic design. This research aims to
study the possibility of using plastic waste in the manufacture of unconventional bricks that are light in
weight, environmentally friendly, inexpensive, and as an alternative to traditional bricks made from fossilized
clays for use in the construction industries. In this paper, we use the remnants of medical syringes
made of low-density polyethylene and two types of additives were added sawdust and sand in different
proportions. The melting and moulding process was used in manufacturing. Testing has been conducted
to identify hardness, density, water absorption, compressive strength and also to determine morphology
properties by FTIR and SEM. The results showed that bricks made of plastic and sawdust gave a high compressive
strength of 66?pa at 20% of sawdust higher than bricks made of plastic and sand with a value of
61?pa at 60% of sand. In both cases, they gave a higher compressive strength than ordinary bricks, as well
as a very low absorption rate. The density was very low, especially with sawdust, where the highest value
was 0.8985 g/cm3of pure polymer, and for sand, it was 1.4321 g/cm3 at 60% of sand and it gave good hardness
values. The FTIR results showed that there is no chemical reaction, but only a physical reaction
between the polymer and the additives, and through SEM, it was observed that there is homogeneity
between the polymer and the additives. As a result, the study presents a new line of investigation into
the sustainable recycling of the circular economy of waste thermoplastics.
Copyright
2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference
on Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering and Nanomaterials