Properties of Sustainable Foamed Concrete Made with Waste Materials

This experimental study examined the possibility of producing sustainable foamed concrete by adding waste materials. The effect of adding waste plastic fibers (WPFs) on the properties of foamed concrete modified using fly ash (FA), silica fume (SF), and superplasticizer (SP) was evaluated. Foamed concrete mixes with densities of 1300, 1500, and 1700 kg/m3 were produced with different volume fractions of WPF (0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0, 1.25, 1.5, and 1.75%) of the total mix volume, with a fixed aspect ratio (L/D = 60). The findings revealed that the volume fraction of 1.0% exhibited better WPF distribution. Additionally, a 1.0% volume fraction of WPF significantly increased splitting tensile, flexural strengths, and toughness of modified foamed concrete (Fcaw) and slightly decreased compressive strength compared to modified foamed concrete (Fca) mixes without WPF. However, compared to conventional foamed concrete (Fc) mixes, adding WPF to Fcaw helped enhance all evaluated properties.