Materials and Structures (2011) 44:1381–1387
DOI 10.1617/s11527-011-9704-2
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Use of plastic wastes as a binding material
in the manufacture of tiles: case of wastes
with a basis of polypropylene
Athanas Konin
Received: 16 October 2008 / Accepted: 28 January 2011 / Published online: 5 February 2011
 RILEM 2011
Abstract This paper aims to study the possibility of
using plastic waste as a binding material instead of
cement in the manufacturing of roofing tiles. The study
bears on plastics with a polypropylene basis. Plastic
waste is carried to melt and mixed with a varying
proportion of sand (variation between 50 and 80% in
weight). Five compsitions of tiles characterized by their
proportion in plastic waste of 0% (tiles in mcro-
concrete), 20, 30, 40 and 50% were studied. The
measuremens of physical and mechanical properties
show that plastic waste tiles whose proportion in plastic is
40%, give better results than micro-concrete tiles (TP0).
Those tiles have a porosity that is below 1% and are
practically impervious even after breaking impact tests.
Résumé Cet article vise à e´tudier la possibilite´
d’utiliser des de´chets plastiques comme liant en
substitution du ciment dans la confection des tuiles de
couverture. L’e´tude porte sur les plastiques à base de
polypropyle`ne. Les de´chets plastiques sont porte´s à
fusion et me´lange´s à une proportion variable de sable
(variation entre 50% et 80% en poids). Les mesures
des proprie´te´s physiques et me´caniques montrent que
les tuiles aux de´chets plastiques ayant une proportion
en plastique de 40% (TP40), donnent de meilleurs
re´sultats que les tuiles en micro-be´ton (TP0). Ces
A. Konin (&)
Institut National Polytechnique Félix HOUPHOUËT-
BOIGNY, Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire
e-mail: kathanas@yahoo.fr
tuiles ont une porosite´ infe´rieure à 1% et sont
pratiquement imperme´ables meˆme apre`s les essais de
rupture par choc.
Keywords Plastic waste  Polypropylene  Tiles 
Porosity to water  Permeability to water  Flexural
resistance  Abrasion resistance
Mots clés Déchets plastiques  Polypropylène 
Tuiles  Porosité à l’eau  Perméabilité à l’eau 
Résistance à la flexion  Résistance à l’abrasion
1 Introduction
Nowadays, the treatment of waste becomes a priority.
We can store them after processing or, better, recycle
them in a new product. The reuse of plastic waste has
increased as recycling technologies have been devel-
oped and improved during the last years [1–6].
However, the amount of plastic waste is still increasing
world wide. Taking into account that concrete will
continue to be the dominant construction material in
the future, several research projects have been con-
ducted on the use of plastics waste in concrete [5–12].
Most studies have been able to demonstrate that plastic
waste can be used as a supplement to aggregates. In any
case, the results show that the inclusion of plastic waste
eliminates the plastic shrinkage cracking of concrete
and reduces the drying shrinkage to some extent
1382
[7–13]. Some results also show that the tensile strength
of concrete is slightly improved [14–16]. Yazoghli-
Marzouk et al. [17] found that as the percentage of
plastic waste volume in concrete is below 50%, the
compressive and flexural strength of are not affected.
Remadnia et al. [18] investigated the effect of plastic
waste as light aggregates on physical properties of
mortar. Their results showed that the flow ability and
thermal conductivity of the mortar are improved.
Recently, Hannawi et al. [19] showed that the use of
plastic waste as fine aggregates reduce significantly the
specific weight and ultrasonic wave velocity of the
cementitious materials. Although a number of studies
have been performed on the reuse of plastic waste in
concrete, they were almost based on the use of plastics
as a part of aggregates. In this context, the idea is to
reuse plastic waste as a binder instead of cement in the
manufacture of micro-concrete tiles.
The climatic conditions in tropical countries are
make micro-concrete or fibro-mortar tiles be an
advantageous solution of roofing both for thermal
and acoustic comfort [20]. However, after a decade of
production and use of these tiles, the results are not
mitigated. Their aesthetic aspect is questioned taking
into account their porosity and permeability (darken-
ing of tiles a few months after their pose).
The purpose of this article is to show that the use
of plastics instead of cement in the manufacture of
tiles could constitute a means of recovery of plastic
waste and allow the manufacture of tiles that are less
porous and less permeable.
2 Experimental program
2.1 Materials
For the manufacture of tiles with plastic wastes, the
materials, that are used, are:
Table 1 Physical and mechanical properties of the polypropylene [21]
Physical properties
Absorption of water (%) 0.01
Density 0.9
Index limits of oxygen (%) 18
Melting point (C) 160
Thermal conductivity 0.1–0.22
Materials and Structures (2011) 44:1381–1387
2.1.1 Sand
It is silica sand rolled granular grade 0/2. The sand
must be well graduated and free of any organic
matter. Clay content must not exceed 4%.
2.1.2 Plastic waste
Plastic waste used is mainly from packaging and
other elements with a basis of polypropylene. The
reasons which have led to the choice of the material
are:
– It is a thermoplastic, that is to say once molded, it
hardens by simple cooling,
– This material constitutes the most used plastic
after polyethylene in the manufacture of plastic
packaging in the world [21],
– In addition, its combustion does not produce any
toxic fumes.
Table 1 shows the physical and mechanical prop-
erties of this material:
2.2 Formulation of the tiles
The compositions of the tested tiles are characterized
by their proportion in polypropylene: 0, 20, 30, 40
and 50% in weight. The tile whose proportion is 0%
corresponds to the reference tile which is in micro-
concrete (the binder is a cement CPA CEM I 32.5).
The other tiles determined to 20, 30, 40 and 50% are
obtained by use plastic waste as a binder (these tiles
do not contain any cement). The compositions of the
five tiles are presented in Table 2.
The difference between the weight of TP0 and the
other tiles is due to the proportion of colorant (30 g)
used sometimes in the composition of micro-concrete
tiles.
Mechanical properties
Coefficient of friction 0.1–0.3
Elongation with the rupture (%) 150–300
Modulate tension (GPa) 0.9–1.5
Abrasion resistance 13–16
Tensile strength (MPa) 25–40
Materials and Structures (2011) 44:1381–1387 1383

Table 2 Compositions of the tiles studied (for a tile 2.3.2 The mixture of materials (Fig. 1b)
500 9 250 9 8 mm)
Components TP0 TP20 TP30 TP40 TP50 Once the plastic is liquefied, it must be added to the
sand while stirring the mixture so that it may be
Cement (g) 600 0 0 0 0 homogeneous. To prepare a tile, 2 min are necessary
Plastic wastes (g) 0 498 747 996 1245 to mix the plastics and sand.
Plastic wastes (%) 0 20 30 40 50
Water (g) 360 0 0 0 0
Sand (g) 1500 1992 1743 1494 1245 2.3.3 The molding (Fig. 1c)
Density (g/cm3) 2.25 2.05 1.88 1.61 1.42
Then, the mixture (plastics ? sand) is discharged in
the mould, previously coating of vegetable fat to
facilitate the withdrawing from the mould. It should
2.3 Manufacture of tiles
be spread out so as to cover the entire mould. This
operation must be carried out before the cooling of
The plastic waste tiles are manufactured according to
the mixture (3 min of latency).
the procedure described below (Fig. 1):

2.3.1 Melting of plastic waste (Fig. 1a) 2.3.4 The demolding (Fig. 1d)

It is the first phase of the operation after the weighing of After the pouring of the mixture in the mould, the
the material. The waste is crushed in order to facilitate mould is placed in a basin containing water till the
the cast and placed in a drum where they are heated up cooling of the mould (T & 38C), which allows to
to 160C (melting temperature of polypropylene). obtain a rigid tile with plastic as a binding material.

Fig. 1 Operating mode of

the manufacture of a plastic
waste tile. a Casting of the
plastic. b Addition of sand.
c Molding of the tile.
d Plastic binder tile
1384
After their withdrawing from the mould, the tiles
are kept in ambient air until the day of the test.
According to the recommendations of the standard
on tiles, five samples have been used for the
determination of physical and mechanical properties.
2.4 Physical and mechanical tests
Tests for the determination of the physical and
mechanical properties have been carried out on the
tiles according to the recommendations of Ivorian
standard [22].
– For the physical properties, the tests carried out
are:
• Porosity to water test: porosity was measured
by total satured water method according to
AFPC-AFREM procedure [23]. The initial
weight of the specimens were determined
(Ma) and then immersed in tanks containing
water. The specimens were kept immersed
until they reached a constant weight (Mw).
After that, they were moved to an oven and
maintained at 105C until they reached a
constant weight (Md). The porosity to water is
calculated as follows:
Ma  Md
qð%Þ ¼ 100
Mw  Ma
• Permeability to water test: the concave part of
the tile is obstructed on both sides by a flange
mortar. The basin thus obtained is full of
water. After 24 h of exposure to water, there
is the state of the underside (wet or not) of the
tile. The rate of humidity of the surface is
determined as the ratio of area of wet surface
on the total surface of the tile,
– For the mechanical properties: it relates to the
testing of:
• Flexural strength: the test is carried out on
tiles of 250 mm wide. The tile with simple
supports lays on two wooden transoms. A
weight is suspended at mid-length of the tile.
It is possible to obtain the maximum load that
may bring the tile,
• Resistance to impact: the test is carried out
with a ball of 200 g in weight. The minimum
Materials and Structures (2011) 44:1381–1387
height of the impact is evaluated like that,
causing the appearance of the first cracks.
• Abrasion resistance: initially, the specimens
were secured on the rotary platform and a 300 N
vertical load is applied. 20 g standard abrasive
dust is placed into the rotating table. After every
30 revolutions, the path and the specimens were
cleaned and new 20 g standard abrasive dust is
placed and the specimens were rotated 90) in the
horizontal axis. The specimens were weighed
initially at every 4*20 revolutions. The total
revolutions were 16*20 revolutions. Thickness
measurements of the specimens also have been
done from three points. The abrasion volume
can be controlled from:
DM
DV ¼
q
where DV: change in volume due to abrasion,
DM: mass change, q: density of specimen
(g/cm3).
The tests were carried out on five samples of tiles.
For TP0 tiles, the age of the tests is 28 days.
3 Results and discussion
3.1 Physical properties
Figure 2 gives the results of measures of porosity to
water. This figure shows that the porosity to water
decreases with the increase in the proportion in
polypropylene. However, the values of porosity for
TP40 and TP50 samples are fairly close, the gap is
less than 5% (Table 3). The results show that all the
samples of tiles made of plastic waste have a value of
porosity that is very low (less than 5%) while that of
the tile in micro-concrete (TP0) is more than 10%.
In fact, the process of hydration and hardening
based on compounds of cement give materials with a
hydrophilic character that is more or less increased
according to the content in cement [20]. On the other
hand, the plastic is composed of a set of macromol-
ecules linked by strong intermolecular links. Which
gives to the materials with a plastic binder basis a very
low capacity of absorption of water (cf. Table 1).
Which could explain the very low porosity of these
tiles.
Materials and Structures (2011) 44:1381–1387 1385

Table 3 Average values of porosity to water of tested samples

TP0 TP20 TP30 TP40 TP50

Average value of porosity to water (%) 10.05 3.20 2.76 0.65 0.20

practically as impervious as by-products with a basis

10,00
of thermoplastic binder [24, 25]. The strong porosity
of TP0 tiles and their sensitivity to the phenomenon of
Porosity to water (%)

08,00
withdrawal could justify their permeability to water.
06,00 Yet, the results obtained with the TP20 and TP30 tiles
indicate that the proportion of binder is not sufficient.
04,00 These samples are not completely waterproof, which
also confirms the values of porosity obtained on these
02,00 tiles. A proportion of 40% at least in plastic gives
satisfactory results.
00,00
0 10 20 30 40 50
Plastic waste content (%) 3.2 Mechanical properties
Fig. 2 Variation of Porosity to water in relation to plastic
waste content The results are presented in Tables 4, 5 and 6 for the
tested tiles.
50,00
Table 4 presents the loads that are admittable to
the bending of the different samples. It results from
Ratio of surface of humidity

40,00
this table that the load that is admittable to the
bending increases with the proportion of plastic.
30,00
However beyond 40%, the values decline (Fig. 4).
These results match with previous works [16, 26]
20,00
which show that the use of a polymer thermoplastic

10,00 Table 4 Average values of admittable load in bending of the

samples
00,00 TP0 TP20 TP30 TP40 TP50
0 10 20 30 40 50
Plastic waste content (kg/m3 ) Admittable load 1.10 0.80 1.01 1.64 1.30
in bending (kN)
Fig. 3 Variation of average surface of moisture in relation to
plastic waste content

Figure 3 shows the results of the permeability to Table 5 Average values of the impact height of the tested tiles
water. It assesses the state of humidity of the lower TP0 TP20 TP30 TP40 TP50
side of the tiles. Thus, it appears that for the TP40 and
TP50 tiles, the results are satisfactory at 100%, no Minimal impact 40 25 30 45 50
trace of humidity is visible on five samples tested. height (cm)
However, for the other, traces of humidity are
perceptible (two tiles out of the five showed spots
of moisture for TP20 and TP 30 tiles and five tiles out
of five for the TP0 tile). However these spots Table 6 Average values of abrasion loss (cm3)
represent less than 50% of underside of these tiles. TP0 TP20 TP30 TP40 TP50
These results were predictable because the nature of
Abrasion loss (cm3) 23.2 21.2 21.8 14.2 15.6
the plastic made of tiles with a basis of this binder
1386
01,80
Admittable load in bending (kN)
01,50
01,20
00,90
00,60
00,30
00,00
0 10 20 30 40 50
Plastic waste content (kg/m3 )
Fig. 4 Variation of admittable load in bending in relation to
plastic waste content tic waste content
(resin) binder allows a gain of resistance of more than
50% compared with the cement concrete as long as
the proportion of resin is not excessive.
The results of impact tests show that the TP20 and
TP30 tiles have values of height very low (less than
40 cm), whereas the other tiles (TP0, TP40 and
TP50) have substantially the same impact resistance
(Table 5). The low gauging of binder could explain
the values obtained on TP20 and TP30 tiles, for the
higher gauging, the rigidity of polypropylene makes
the plastic binder tiles have a behavior that is
virtually identical to micro-concrete tiles.
Table 6 presents the abrasion loss of the different
specimens. According to the results obtained, TP40
and TP50 tiles showed better abrasion resistance than
the other tiles. It can also be observed from Table 6
that the abrasion losses decreased while the plastic
waste increased. These results match with the previous
works [16] which show that the use of polypropylene
fiber into concrete allows a gain of abrasion resistance
of more than 30% compared with the OPC concrete.
4 Conclusion
The use of polypropylene (basic plastic waste) in the
manufacture of tiles gives satisfactory results.
• The plastic waste tiles have values of porosity that
are relatively low, which makes them practically
impervious in opposition to micro-concrete tiles.
This property could avoid the blackening of these
tiles in the course of time and allow the reduction
of the slope of coverage in their implementation,
Materials and Structures (2011) 44:1381–1387
• The proportion of 40% of plastic binder give the
best results both physically (porosity and perme-
ability) and mechanically (flexural resistance,
resistance to impact). Therefore, this gauging is
to be used for the formulations of plastic waste
tiles,
• The results of mechanical tests show that TP40
tiles may be used instead of TP0 tiles. The values
obtained are relatively better.
The use of plastic waste instead of cement in the
manufacture of tiles can be considered taking into
account this study. However, the tests of traction of
heel must be carried out in order to design models of
tiles adapted to plastic binder.
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