Plastic Concrete: Hippie's Dream, Hit Man's Worst Nightmare

"Concrete Boot Association"

Would that be the Mafia? Sleeps with the fishes?

There been have good results with other concrete mixtures such as Styrofoam.

Strength, Insulating values, weight (lack of).

I have some concern with this new building material, namely that plastics are far more flexible than traditional aggregate. Concrete has its strength due to the relatively brittle, but very strong aggregate, being bound together by the cement (relatively soft and ductile). By replacing the hard brittle agregate the cement now has to be far more flexible to withstand the same loading, as plastic is far more flexible than stone. Also 3000-5000psi is FAR less than that a standard brick could withstand.

Perhaps a better mix would be combining traditional aggregate with a plastic binder matrix, this would make it slightly lighter and approximately as good a building material as standard Concrete. The only draw back is, how does one make the stuff?

There is already plastic and all sorts of fibers in concrete (especially mixes for driveways). It is getting fairly specalized too. I recently did a retaining wall where I used pieces of broken used concrete as the backing (concrete is often free to take away if they bust up houses or floors or driveways). I had to break it some more in some cases. Every time I broke a piece the stink of acrylic caused my nose discomfort. In that case it was the walls for a stone stairs. But if it had been a retaining wall for a garden bed, I would have had to reject the free concrete because I would have worried about damaging the plant life and potentially food plants. Plastic is NOT an inert material. (concrete is not either but it has been in use a lot longer and its effects are better known) Brian

But this way, it makes it sound so inovated, green and planet friendly.

I remember when we laid concrete on the farm, we recycled alot of stuff.

Hi Brian,

Plastic is NOT an inert material.

I disagree. In ambient conditions, plastics; including polyethylene, polypropylene, PVC, Polyethylene terephthalate, polyurethanes, etc.; are some of the more inert materials in the environment. That is why they are not biodegradeable and also very difficult to recycle chemically. That is not to say that plastic trash does not do damage to wildlife; it does! The best solutions to the plastic waste problem encompass the efficient recycling of these materials.

Mike

Pvc is degraded by uv. and all the plastics have additives to make them more or less pliable, to give them colour, etc (lead used to be one probably still is). And many of these additives mimic hormones. Perhaps the additives are more of a problem than the plastic itself. When I was a lab tech, (years ago). Plastic labware was frowned upon because it gave inconsistent results. (due to stuff leaching into and out of it). Brian

Pvc is degraded by UV. and all the plastics have additives to make them more or less pliable, to give them colour, etc

you beat me to it GA

here another thread about what it takes to break down plastic bottles. wicked. plastic is not inert.

And by using the logic about plastic being inert even in ambient conditions (?) because it is difficult to break down. Back in the 70's even though it not plastic but PCB's was also difficult to break down, and that is NOT inert.

p911