Oil-Treated Plastic Particles for Concrete
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Solution Overview
Problem
The production of concrete has a high environmental cost due to the high CO2 footprint of cement production, and the addition of plastic particles to concrete can reduce mechanical performance by increasing porosity and stress amplification, leading to lower compressive and tensile strength, durability, and crack resistance.
Innovation Solution
Oil-treating plastic particles by combining them with vegetable oil, heating, cooling, and removing excess oil to create a coating, which can then be incorporated into concrete as a partial replacement for cement or sand, enhancing binding with calcium-silicate hydroxide and retaining moisture to improve tensile strength and durability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If plastic particles are added to concrete to reduce environmental cost, then the carbon footprint is reduced, but the mechanical performance deteriorates due to increased porosity and stress amplification
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-coating plastic particles with oil before incorporating them into concrete. This pre-treatment modifies the surface properties of the plastic particles, enabling them to bond effectively with cementitious materials. The oil coating is applied in advance through mixing plastic particles with oil, heating, cooling, and removing excess oil, creating a ready-to-use treated plastic product that resolves the bonding issue before concrete fabrication.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses oil as an intermediary substance between the plastic particles and the cementitious matrix. The oil coating acts as a mediator that facilitates bonding between the hydrophobic plastic surface and the hydrophilic cement paste. This intermediary layer resolves the incompatibility between plastic and cement, allowing plastic particles to contribute to carbon reduction without compromising mechanical performance.
2Ease of manufacture
If plastic particles are added to concrete to replace cement, then production costs are reduced, but porosity increases and mechanical performance decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-coating plastic particles with oil before incorporating them into concrete. This pre-treatment modifies the surface properties of the plastic particles, enabling them to bond effectively with cementitious materials. The oil coating is applied in advance through mixing plastic particles with oil, heating, cooling, and removing excess oil, creating a ready-to-use treated plastic product that resolves the bonding issue before concrete fabrication.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses oil as an intermediary substance between the plastic particles and the cementitious matrix. The oil coating acts as a mediator that facilitates bonding between the hydrophobic plastic surface and the hydrophilic cement paste. This intermediary layer resolves the incompatibility between plastic and cement, allowing plastic particles to contribute to cost reduction without compromising mechanical performance.
3Reliability
If plastic particles are added to concrete to improve durability, then chemical ingress is reduced, but porosity increases and crack resistance decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-coating plastic particles with oil before incorporating them into concrete. This pre-treatment modifies the surface properties of the plastic particles, enabling them to bond effectively with cementitious materials. The oil coating is applied in advance through mixing plastic particles with oil, heating, cooling, and removing excess oil, creating a ready-to-use treated plastic product that resolves the bonding issue before concrete fabrication.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses oil as an intermediary substance between the plastic particles and the cementitious matrix. The oil coating acts as a mediator that facilitates bonding between the hydrophobic plastic surface and the hydrophilic cement paste. This intermediary layer resolves the incompatibility between plastic and cement, allowing plastic particles to contribute to cost reduction without compromising mechanical performance.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The oil-treated plastic particles improve the mechanical properties of concrete by enhancing tensile strength, ductility, and durability, reducing shrinkage and chemical ingress, while reducing the carbon footprint and construction costs, and can be easily integrated into existing concrete production processes.
Implementation Method 1
heating the mixture to yield a heated mixture
Implementation Method 2
cooling the heated mixture to yield a cooled mixture
Implementation Method 3
Heating the mixture can include radiating the mixture with microwave radiation
Data Source
AI summary
Treating plastic particles for use in concrete includes combining plastic particles with oil to yield a mixture, heating the mixture to yield a heated mixture, cooling the heated mixture to yield a cooled mixture, and removing excess oil from the cooled mixture to yield oil-treated plastic particles (e.g., oil-treated plastic particles for concrete). In one example, the oil is vegetable oil. The vegetable oil can be soybean oil, corn oil, canola oil, safflower oil, peanut oil, olive oil, grape seed oil, cocoa butter, palm oil, rice bran oil, or a combination thereof. The oil can be waste oil (e.g., waste vegetable oil, such as that recovered from restaurants). The plastic particles can be derived from post-consumer plastic, such as recycled plastic. In one example, the post-consumer plastic includes mixed plastics. A concrete composition can include rocks, sand, cement, and the oil-treated plastic particles.