Construction and Building Materials 77 (2015) 461–471

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

An experimental investigation on the erosion resistance of concrete

containing various PET particles percentages against sulfuric acid attack
H. Janfeshan Araghi a, I.M. Nikbin b, S. Rahimi Reskati a,⇑, E. Rahmani c, H. Allahyari c
a
Department of Civil Engineering, Gorgan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Gorgan, Iran
b
Department of Civil Engineering, Rasht Branch, Islamic Azad University Rasht, Iran
c
Department of Civil Engineering, Babol University of Technology, Iran

h i g h l i g h t s

 PET particles were used as an alternative aggregate against erosion caused by sulfuric acid in concrete.
 Concretes included PET particles more retain their load bearing capacity under sulfuric acid attack.
 Under sulfuric acid attack, changes in crushing load are nearly similar to ultrasonic wave velocities.
 Concretes included PET particles are able to utilize in environments under sulfuric acid attack.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) is one of the most common plastics for various productions. The rapid
Received 14 September 2014 increase in the use of these products causes increment in solid waste problems. Eventually, management
Received in revised form 18 December 2014 and prevention of solid waste resulted by urban and industrial waste are dramatically important. On the
Accepted 22 December 2014
other hand, deterioration of sewage purification structures, part of industrial structures and concrete
Available online 14 January 2015
sewer pipes attacked by sulfuric acid is an important issue of the world that has communicated with sub-
stantial financial need in all countries. Thus, not so many researches has been investigated the effect of
Keywords:
sulfuric acid erosion on concrete containing PET particles, this study represents the laboratory investiga-
Sulfuric acid attack
Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET)
tion of different values of 0%, 5%, 10%, and 15% of PET particles as an alternative aggregate on erosion
Waste management caused by sulfuric acid in concrete. All samples were cured during 28 days, 3 samples from each mix
Ultrasonic test design were tested, finally. In intervals of 15, 30, and 60 days of immersion in 5% sulfuric acid, 3 speci-
Weight loss and crushing load variation mens were taken out from sulfuric acid solution. Then, after drying these specimens and measuring their
dimensions, crushing load, weight and ultrasonic wave velocity values were obtained. The results showed
that by increasing in amount of PET particles as an alternative aggregates in concrete, there is less reduc-
tion in values of crushing load, weight loss and ultrasonic wave velocity. Also, it could be seen that ratios
of crushing load reduction to weight loss for specimens attacked by 5% sulfuric acid solution were
increased by increasing in percentage of PET particles, which illustrates that in a particular range of
crushing load, less weight loss was occurred in concretes included more PET particles.
Ó 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

1. Introduction
1.1. PET concrete
PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) is a usual plastics which is
used as a raw material for making products like blown bottle which
is used to produce soft drinks, food containers, etc. In recent decade
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +98 9113781399.
E-mail addresses: dr.h.janfeshan@gmail.com (H. Janfeshan Araghi), Nikbin@
iaurasht.ac.ir (I.M. Nikbin), saman.rahimi.r@gmail.com (S. Rahimi Reskati), Ebrahim.
rahmani84@gmail.com (E. Rahmani), allahyari.h@gmail.com (H. Allahyari).
due to rapid increment in the use of PET bottles, the problem of solid
waste is increased. Therefore, management and prevention of solid
waste due to residential and industrial wastes has become very
important [1]. In Beijing more than 150 tons of PET is wasted in a
year [2]. This issue is known clearly that waste PET bottles need
too long time to decompose in the nature [3]. Also destroying PET
bottles improperly, causes lots of environmental problems in the
nature. For example, burning PET as fuel, releases toxic gases in
environment and contributes to produce acid rains which cause to
concerns about air pollution and public Health. Therefore, investiga-
tions on proper and economical recycling methods in this field is
significantly needed. Investigations on conversion of PET bottle

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2014.12.037
0950-0618/Ó 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
462 H. Janfeshan Araghi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 77 (2015) 461–471
wastes in structural industry due to its many environmental and
economic benefits, have conducted globally.
Laboratory investigations indicate that use of PET as resin in
production of polymer concrete, not only has positive environmen-
tal effects but also causes decrease in production cost of polymer
concrete [1].
Recently significant growth in use of waste materials as substi-
tute for proportion of concrete admixture materials has been done.
Researchers used materials like sintered sludge pellets, rubber
wastes, waste plastics, fiber glass waste materials, blast furnace
slag, and granulated coal ash in concrete and investigated its
effects on different properties of concrete [4].
According to this, usage of PET waste in concrete as an aggre-
gate could be one of its extensive usage, has disposal of waste
advantages and causes decrease in environmental damages due
to less use of natural aggregate resources [4].
Generally, aggregate consists 65–80 percent of concrete propor-
tion and has the main role in concrete behavior such as durability,
dimensional stability and workability which could improve some
of mechanical and durability properties of concrete due to low
thermal conductivity, good abrasion behavior, high toughness
and high heat capacity [5–7].
Akcaozoglu et al. [1] research has shown that use of PET in con-
crete due to lower specific gravity in comparison with ordinary
aggregate causes decrease in concrete weight which is valuable
advantage in design of structures.
Since, water absorption of mortars made by PET is very low,
researchers suggest that due to its high resistance against erosion,
it could be used in aggressive environments as a proportion of con-
crete [8]. Also, Won et al. and Sehaj et al. [9,10] showed that use of
PET in concrete could increase ductility and decrease plastic
shrinkage cracks which are related with concrete durability.
Another investigations conducted by Akcaozoglu et al. [1] indi-
cated that in concrete with PET particles, permeability and resis-
tance against carbonation are improved.
However adding waste PET to concrete could have negative
effects in quality of concrete such as decrease in compressive
strength, tensile strength and modulus of elasticity due to low sur-
face energy because of its weak mechanical bond [11–13]. Recent
researches generally indicate that use of plastic wastes in concrete
as substitute of aggregate could affect some of its properties.
1.2. Sulfuric acid erosion
In recent decade, durability of concrete in design of structures
especially in infrastructures has become so important. Significant
improvements in our knowledge about chemical processes of dif-
ferent concrete deteriorations have been achieved. Anyway our
knowledge about interactions of this processes in final mechanical
properties of concrete is limited yet.
Generally, exposing concrete in acid environments is the main
debate about durability of concrete structures which affect perfor-
mance, life time and maintenance cost of vital structural infra-
structures. In fact, previous researches have illustrated that acids
in ground water, chemical waste water or acids resulted by oxida-
tion of sulfur compounds in backfill could attack concrete sub-
structure members and influence their durability [14,15]. In
addition, lots of concrete structures especially in industrial regions
that often included sulfuric acid are exposed to acid rain erosion
[14]. On the other hand, deterioration of sewer pipes and waste
water purification structures attacked by sulfuric acid is global
challenge which already have lots of economic necessities all
around the world. Deterioration of sewer systems lead to serious
problems such as reduction of ability in waste water transfer, pol-
lutions of soil and ground water and excessive ground settlement
cave-in [16]. Therefore, supplying high quality wastewater infra-
structure needs significant expenditure on concrete with expected
quality. For example only in U.S, annual control and maintenance
expenditures are even more than investing in construction of
new wastewater structures [17].
Hewayde et al. [18] estimated that costs of maintenance and
repair due to biogenic sulfuric acid attack on sewer systems are
almost 100 billion U.S dollars. Therefore, motivation of researches
in field of concrete sewage systems durability exposed to erosion
is increasing.
Olmstead et al. [19] were first one who reported erosion in
sewer systems. In 1920, hydrogen sulfide (HS) was known as ero-
sion factor in Cairo sewer systems too. Initially it was believed that
HS is produced by reduction of sulfate in sewage flow, and then is
changed to sulfuric acid by breaking out to sewer atmosphere and
oxidation [20].
In 1945 Parker [21] attributed this phenomena to chemical-
microbial interactions in sewage systems and expressed that influ-
ence of sulfuric acid in concrete is more destructive than sulfate
attack. Because in this situation there is dissolution effects conse-
quent of hydrogen ions beside of sulfate ions attacks.
In fact, sulfuric acid reacts with calcium hydroxide (CH) exis-
tence in concrete and produce gypsum. Creation of gypsum in con-
crete causes volume to increase by factor of nearly 2, although
some researchers mentioned that this reaction plays a secondary
role in erosion procedure. Indeed, reaction between gypsum and
calcium aluminate hydrate (C3A) and consequently creating
ettringite, leads to much more deterioration. Volume of ettringite
is greater than initial compounds (nearly 7 times) [22]. These volu-
minous compounds cause inner pressure in concrete that lead to
formation of cracks [23]. While the erosion continues, cracked sur-
face is become soft and white and the corroded concrete loses its
mechanical strength that contributes to more cracking, spalling
and finally leads to completely destruction [24–28]. The findings
of the present investigations are not used in many of common con-
structions yet. Lack of enough researches on presenting a proper
relation for designing a durable structure, expresses that mecha-
nisms related to concrete deterioration are not widely accepted
and understood yet.
Furthermore, erosion of water and wastewater infrastructures is
on the top of dissensions during last decades. There are many opin-
ions about designing and characteristic of a proper infrastructures to
deal with corrosive environment during service life [29–34]. Some of
these researches on the one hand illustrate improvement of concrete
properties by use of various admixtures and innovative materials
compounds and at last introduce a modern concrete, and on the
other hand prevent growing sulfuric acid-producing bacteria
[35,36].
So far, various researches have been done on effects of cement
type, water to cement ratio (W/C) [14,37,38], supplementary
cementitious materials [18,35,39,40], polymer materials and type
of aggregates [16], to improve normal concrete and mortar resis-
tance against acid attacks.
In spite of many accomplished researches, previous data on
influence of various materials in normal concrete resistance
against sulfuric acid attack are contradictory. As it was mentioned,
nowadays use of concretes included PET particles around the world
are increasing because of their economic and environmental useful
aspects. Therefore, utilizing this kind of concrete in a more appro-
priate way in structural industry needs more researches concen-
trating on their properties and durability. In recent decades,
concrete mechanical properties consisted of PET particles have
been investigated in various points of view. Investigations on dura-
bility of this kind of concrete are the main factor in designing and
constructing infrastructures. As regards, a few studies have been
conducted in field of sulfuric acid effect on PET concretes erosion,
it is likely that durability of PET concretes be different with normal
 H. Janfeshan Araghi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 77 (2015) 461–471 463

Fig. 1. Gradation curve of fine and coarse aggregates with ASTM C33 [41] standard limits.

concretes. Main motivation of this study is experimental investiga-

Table 1
tion on effect of various amount of PET particles as substitution of Chemical properties of cement.
aggregate on erosion resulted by sulfuric acid in concrete and
Component Portland cement type II
efforts to relate such influences on physical and mechanical
changes imparted by these admixtures. The relationship between ISIRI 389 Iranian standard Test result
concrete crushing load reduction and its weight loss because of SiO2 >20 21.90
sulfuric acid attack was recognized. Moderate decline in concrete Al2O3 >6 4.86
weight loss due to the utilization of effective admixtures contrib- Fe2O3 <6 3.30
CaO 62–66 63.32
ute to significant gains in structural integrity and substantial life MgO <5 1.15
cycle performance importance which maybe in interest to manu- SO3 <3 2.10
factures of sewer equipment and owners of water treatment infra- K2O 0.5–1 0.56
structures [18]. It is hope that this study would increase Na2O 0.2–0.4 0.36
Free CaO – 1.10
understanding of the deterioration mechanisms and equip the
Blaine (cm2/gr) – 3050
introduction of a performance base design approach. After expos-
ing concrete specimens to 5% sulfuric acid solution (PH  1), the
behavior of concrete included various percentages of PET particles
were investigated. Because of substitution of PET particles in mix Table 2
Physical and chemical characteristics of the fine (sand) and course (gravel)
proportions of this study as proportion of fine aggregate, it may
aggregates.
modify the erosion development mechanisms in concrete. There-
fore, effects of different PET values in concrete due to sulfuric acid Aggregate Gravel Sand
attack was studied. The samples were investigated by measuring Specific gravity (g/cm3) 2.51 2.75
their weight loss, load bearing capacity and ultrasonic wave Unit weight (kg/m3) 1581.3 1728.9
Moisture content (%) 0.2 0.4
velocity.
Moisture of saturated surface dry (%) 0.5 0.7
Fines modulus (FM) – 2.82
2. Experimental program Sand equivalent value (SE) (%) – 80

2.1. Materials

2.1.1. Cement 2.2. Concrete mix design

The cement utilized in this study is Portland cement type II. Its density is
3.14 gr/cm3 and specific surface area (Blaine surface) is 3050 cm2/gr. The chemical
composition is given in Table 1.
2.1.2. Aggregate
The specific gravity in saturated surface dry (SSD) states for coarse and fine
aggregate were 2.51 gr/cm3 and 2.75 gr/cm3, respectively. The maximum size of
coarse aggregates was 19 mm. The physical and chemical properties of aggregates
are shown in Table 2, while the Fig. 1 illustrates the gradation results.
2.1.3. PET particles
PET is a polymer with flexural modulus of elasticity of 2.5 GPa and tensile mod-
ulus of elasticity of 2.9 GPa. It has high chemical resistance and maximum tensile
strength of 60 MPa. PET is a semi-crystalline polymer with melting point of
260 °C [42]. In this paper, PET particles are produced by grinding and utilized as fine
aggregates in concrete as shown in Fig. 2. These particles were provided from waste
PET bottles which were washed and grinded by means of industrial machines. PET
particles had the maximum size of 7 mm and the estimated unit weight of 464 kg/
m3 with specific gravity of 1.11 gr/cm3. The sieve analysis results are shown in
Table 3.
Percentages of concrete components were considered according to ACI-211-1-
89 [43]. Table 4 give the concrete mixture designs. For mixing the substances
together, first half of the sands and gravel were mixed together, after that the
PET particles were added in the mixture so it could be mixed with the existing
materials. Then, in order to saturate the aggregates, 20% of the existing water
was added. After that, remained cement and sand were added in the mixture and
finally the remained water was poured to the materials. It is important to note that
by increasing in the number of PET particles, the materials mix duration is raised.
All of the concrete’s mechanical properties with substitution of 5, 10, 15 volumetric
percentages of PET with sand are compared to control specimen with 0% of PET.
2.3. Procedure
All of samples were cured at 20 °C and 95% RH for 28 days and finally 3 samples
of each mix design were tested. The remained samples were divided in two equal
groups. One of them was kept in curing container and the other one was transferred
to 5% sulfuric acid solution (PH  1) for simulating sewer pipes environment in lab-
oratory accelerated test. Sulfuric acid solution were refreshed every week and it
was kept by adding control values of sulfuric acid in PH  1. The purpose of samples
464 H. Janfeshan Araghi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 77 (2015) 461–471

periods of 15, 30, and 60 days and rinsed three times with tap water to remove
loose reaction products. Then, after drying at room temperature for 30 min, their
dimensions were measured and crushing load, weight loss, and ultrasonic wave
velocity tests were conducted. The percentage of weight loss at each date was uti-
lized as an indicator for assessment concrete deterioration subjected to sulfuric acid
attacks. For each samples, cumulative weight reduction (MLt) is calculated by Eq.
(1):
 
Mt  Mi
MLt ¼  100 ð1Þ
Mi

where Mt: weight at time t (kg), Mi: initial weight before exposure to sulfuric acid
(kg).
Weight loss is a simple and traditional measuring factor in acidic attack tests
[16]. However, weight loss results could depend on sample size, cement type, and
also it could be significantly under effect of reactions products characteristics and
decomposed cement paste on specimens. So, in this paper, 10  10  10 cubic sam-
ple’s crushing load bearing capacity is considered in order to the more effective
measuring of concrete resistance against sulfuric acid attack. During measuring
sample’s compressive strength, there were lots of problems in measuring sample’s
dimensions after acidic attack because the dimensions could become irregular with
Fig. 2. Type of PET particles. exposed aggregates. To prevent this problem, the load bearing capacity of a cubic
sample may be determined by the maximum load recorded in a compressive test
[16]. Compressive load in sample’s test before and after acidic attack according to
Chang et al. [16] is mentioned as crushing load and this measuring method is called
Table 3 crushing load test. Also for measuring the reduction value of crushing load to refer-
PET particles specification. ence value before subjecting to sulfuric acid was calculated like weight loss for-
mula. Also, to measure ultrasonic wave velocity according to ASTM C597 [44], an
Sieve size Percent remaining on the sieve
ultrasonic non-destructive electronic machine (PUNDIT MODEL PC1012) with the
7 mm 0 accuracy of 0.1 ls was used. A transducer with vibration frequency of 52 kHz with
4.75 mm 12.5 accuracy of ±1% for travel time and ±2% for distance was also utilized. Nine mea-
2.36 mm 67.5 surements were performed for three cubic samples of each design in various ages,
1.18 mm 15 and the minimum time among them was recorded.
600 lm 2.5
300 lm 1.5
150 lm 1
3. Results and discussion
<150 lm 0
Unit weight (ASTM C29) (kg/m3) 464.265
Specific gravity (g/cm3) 1.11 Relation between 28 days crushing loads of concrete samples
and their weight losses during the immersion in 5% sulfuric acid
solution have been shown in Fig. 3. As it is shown, the graph was
Table 4 divided to four quadrant with the center point intersection of
Concrete mixture proportion. 28 days crushing load and 60 days weight loss of control samples
Component Content (kg/m3), W/C = 0.54 attacked by 5% sulfuric acid.
0% PET 5% PET 10% PET 15% PET
– Points on up and left quadrant of graph have higher crushing
Cement 379.6 379.6 379.6 379.6
load and lower weight loss than control concrete (OBP).
Water 210.2 210.2 210.2 210.2
Gravel 976.1 976.1 976.1 976.1 – Points on down and left quadrant of graph have lower crushing
Sand 745.9 708.6 671.3 634 load and weight loss than control concrete (OD).
PET – 10 20.1 30.1 – Points on up and right quadrant of graph have higher crushing
load and higher weight loss than control concrete (OD).
division was ability of specimen’s comparison and clear definition analysis of those – Points on down and right quadrant of graph have lower crush-
samples in sulfuric acid solution. 3 samples of each mix design immersed in 5% sul- ing load and higher weight loss (OWP).
furic acid solution and 3 samples of each mixture in curing container extracted in

Fig. 3. Relation between 60 days weight loss and 28 days crushing load. OBP, overall better performance; OWP, overall worse performance; and OD, object dependent.
 H. Janfeshan Araghi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 77 (2015) 461–471 465

Fig. 4. Deterioration ratio of crushing load.

Fig. 5. Relative changes in crushing loads after immersion in 5% sulfuric acid solution.

Moderate reductions in weight loss of concrete due to the use of
effective admixtures imply substantial gains in structural integrity
and significant life cycle performance improvements, which may
be of interest to manufacturers of sewer facilities and owners of
water treatment infrastructure [18].
With regard to the graph, points resulted by crushing load and
weight loss tests of concrete samples included PET particles are
located on down and left quadrant of graph (OD). This illustrates
that by increasing in PET particles in concrete, although crushing
load is slightly decreased, weight loss value of concretes with PET
particles against sulfuric acid attack is decreased which indicates
increase in their durability in aggressive environment. It is
expected that crushing load could be increased with supplemen-
tary cementitious materials in concrete to achieve more benefits
from this type of concrete. In the other words, if the purpose is
to increase in concrete durability, supplying PET particles in con-
crete could be effective which it is likely that crushing load is
slightly decreased. So, this type of concrete could be applicable
in cases that the goal is higher durability and have the least struc-
tural load capacity.
According to Fan et al. [45] to compare trend of decreasing in
crushing load values of concrete specimens against sulfuric acid
attack, Dcc ratio could be used. That is calculated by Eq. (2):
f cr;t
Dcc ¼ ð2Þ
f cn;t
where Dcc: relative crushing load deterioration ratio for deterio-
rated concrete specimen. fcr: the crushing load of concrete exposed
to the acid solution for t days. fcn,t: the crushing load of control spec-
imens cured in the water at the same age.
As it could be seen in Fig. 4, by increasing in immersion time in
sulfuric acid solution, Dcc ratio decreases, although Dcc variations
versus time have reduction trend by adding PET particles. In other
words by increasing in PET particles in concrete samples, the lower
crushing load reduction in samples attacked by sulfuric acid is
466 H. Janfeshan Araghi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 77 (2015) 461–471

Fig. 6. Crushing load values and ultrasonic wave velocity versus immersion time in 5% sulfuric acid solution for different percentages of PET particles (a = 0% PET, b = 5% PET,
c = 10% PET, d = 15% PET).

seen. The values of Dcc ratio reduction of samples included 0%, 5%,
10%, 15% of PET after 60 days immersion in 5% sulfuric acid solu-
tion are 59.3%, 55.7%, 54.6%, 48.2%, respectively. It is clear that load
bearing capacity reduction percentage in concrete specimens with
15% of PET particles is minimum which indicates positive effects of
PET particles on the concrete erosion.
Fig. 5 represents the relation between crushing load differences
of concrete samples immersed in 5% sulfuric acid solution and their
values at 28 days age versus immersion time. As it could be seen,
crushing load reduction trend was started from primary ages, but
this trend had obvious difference in samples with 15% PET particles
from the beginning and followed lower reduction trend. Specimens
with 0%, 5%, and 10% of PET particles until less than 60 days
immersion indicated nearly similar reduction trend. According to
graph, it could be expressed that samples included 15% of PET par-
ticles significantly showed lower resistance reduction during sulfu-
 H. Janfeshan Araghi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 77 (2015) 461–471 467

Fig. 7. Values of crushing loads and ultrasonic wave velocity versus various PET percentages in different ages of immersion in 5% sulfuric acid solution (a = 0 day immersion,
b = 15 days immersion, c = 30 days immersion, d = 60 days immersion).

ric acid immersion. Also, reduction trend of specimens with 5% and
10% PET particles after 50 days immersion was became constant
while the control specimen was continued its reduction trend.
As it is seen in Fig. 6, graphs of crushing load and ultrasonic
wave velocity versus immersion time in 5% sulfuric acid solution
of specimens included 0%, 5%, 10%, 15% of PET particles were
drawn. According to graphs, both crushing load and ultrasonic
wave velocity reduction trend are nearly the same. This fact could
illustrates that by increasing in immersion time in 5% sulfuric acid
solution and penetrating acid into the concrete, beside that con-
crete has less healthy core, erosion products are produced in con-
crete and because of having more porosity and less integrity, it
contributes to ultrasonic wave velocity reduction. This reduction
trend in specimens included 15% of PET particles attacked by 5%
sulfuric acid was significantly reduced in crushing load and ultra-
sonic wave velocity. It may be said that this is because of better
468 H. Janfeshan Araghi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 77 (2015) 461–471

Fig. 8. Weight changes in samples with 0%, 5%, 10%, and 15% of PET particles attacked by 5% sulfuric acid solution.

Fig. 9. Weight of samples versus 0, 15, 30, 60 days immersion in 5% sulfuric acid solution.

capacity of concrete included PET particles in resistance against
internal pressure caused by increasing in the volume of cement
paste during the reaction to sulfuric acid due to its more porosity
and ductility of PET particles. That is why, the concrete has lost
its load bearing capacity, integrity and its dense structure rela-
tively more is retained. Thus the decrease in the ultrasonic wave
velocity and load bearing capacity reduction was minimum.
Fig. 7 shows values of crushing load and ultrasonic wave veloc-
ity versus various PET percentages in 0, 15, 30, 60 days of immer-
sion in 5% sulfuric acid solution. As it seems at different ages of
immersion in sulfuric acid, crushing load and ultrasonic wave
velocity graphs have decreasing trend which shows that by
increasing in amount of PET particles in concrete, crushing load
and velocity of ultrasonic wave are decreased. Since the erosion
at early ages is not considerable, decrement of crushing load and
ultrasonic wave velocity is due to presence of PET particles, while
at older ages the slope of graph slightly is increased. In the other
words, resistance of PET particles against erosion in concretes
included 15% of PET particles, causes increment of crushing load
and compensates decrement of crushing load due to addition of
PET particles. By increasing in immersion age up to 60 days, the
slope of graph increases slowly. It might be said that the reason
of this increment is due to more resistance of concrete included
PET particles in acidic environment. In this experiment, resistance
of samples included 15% of PET particles seems to be maximum.
According to increment in slop of ultrasonic wave velocity’s line,
it could be concluded that samples with more amount of PET par-
ticles are more integrated and have higher density during immer-
sion in 5% sulfuric acid solution. It might be due to this reason that
samples with 15% of PET particles have higher ultrasonic wave
velocity with gradually increasing the immersion age.
Fig. 8 shows weight changes in samples included 0%, 5%, 10%,
and 15% of PET particles attacked by 5% sulfuric acid solution. It
is obvious that weight changes in samples with higher percentage
of PET particles is decreased. So that, in samples included 0%, 5%,
10%, and 15% of PET particles, 13.45, 10.26, 8.98, and 6.57 percent
decrement in weight was occurred, respectively in comparison
with their weight after 28 days curing. As it was mentioned earlier,
 H. Janfeshan Araghi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 77 (2015) 461–471 469

Fig. 10. Relations between weight loss of concrete specimens and loss in their crushing load due to 60 days of immersion in 5% sulfuric acid solution (a = 0% PET, b = 5% PET,
c = 10% PET, c = 15% PET).

samples included 15% of PET particles had lowest weight loss
which again, its reason could be high resistance of PET particles
against erosion.
Fig. 9 shows weight of samples attacked by 5% sulfuric acid
solution versus immersion time. It is observed that samples
included PET particles have lower weight in comparison with con-
trol concrete in early days, gradually the weight difference became
minimum at the age of nearly 30 days of immersion and at the age
of 60 days immersion, this difference is quiet reversed and samples
included higher PET percentages have highest weight at the age of
60 days immersion in 5% sulfuric acid solution which shows their
higher resistance against sulfuric acid attack. It should be noted
that lower weight of samples included PET particles in comparison
with control concrete in early days is due to lower weight of PET
particles in comparison ordinary aggregates.
Graphs shown in Fig. 10 show relations between weight loss of
concrete specimens and loss in their crushing load due to 60 days
of immersion in 5% sulfuric acid solution for samples included 0%,
5%, 10%, and 15% of PET particles. In each graph higher value of
regression coefficient (R2), shows that the proposed relation is
more proper. As it seems crushing load and weight are declined.
Analysis of regression coefficients shown in graphs in Fig. 10, illus-
470 H. Janfeshan Araghi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 77 (2015) 461–471
trate a linear equation for concretes included 0%, 5%, 10%, and 15%
of PET particles with 0.98, 0.96, 0.91, and 0.95 values of R2,
respectively.
Best fit line for samples included 0%, 5%, 10%, and 15% of PET
particles shows that decrement of crushing loads are 4.02, 5.18,
5.52, and 5.79 times their weight loss, respectively.
It could be observed that this values were increased by incre-
ment of PET particles percentages in concrete immersed in sulfuric
acid solution which shows that within a specified range of crushing
load changes, lower weight loss in concrete included more amount
of PET particles was occurred. In this experiment samples included
15% of PET particles have highest coefficient of equation (ratio of
crashing load to weight loss) and it could be shown again that con-
cretes included higher percentages of PET particles have higher
resistance against erosion.
4. Conclusions
In this study the effect of sulfuric acid attack on concrete resis-
tance included various PET percentages (0, 5, 10, 15) as substitute
aggregate by crushing load, weight change and ultrasonic wave
velocity tests was investigate. Which the results are listed below:
– It has been observed that weight loss values for samples
included 0%, 5%, 10%, 15% of PET particles are 13.47%, 10.26%,
8.98%, 6.57%, respectively. So it could be concluded that samples
with 15% of PET particles have lower weight losses and better
resistance against sulfuric acid attack.
– Decrement in crushing loads for samples included 0%, 5%, 10%,
and 15% of PET particles are 53.92%, 49.8%, 51.95%, 35.29%,
respectively. So it could be mentioned that samples included
15% of PET particles more retain their load bearing capacity
under sulfuric acid attack.
– Decreasing in ultrasonic wave velocities for samples included
0%, 5%, 10%, and 15% of PET particles are 32.56%, 22.65%,
32.75%, and 20.7%, respectively. It could be expressed that sam-
ples included 15% of PET particles, kept their integrity more and
had higher density.
– It is observed that under sulfuric acid attack, Changes in crush-
ing load are nearly similar to ultrasonic wave velocities.
– Coefficient of equation represented for relations between
weight loss of concrete specimens and loss of their crushing
load increased by increasing in PET percentages in samples
immersed in 5% sulfuric acid solution. As a result, in a particular
change in crushing load, lower weight loss in concrete included
higher amount of PET particles was occurred which in this
experiment samples included 15% of PET particles had highest
coefficient.
– According to results, it could be concluded that concretes
included PET particles are able to utilize in environments under
sulfuric acid attack.
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