PSI - Issue 70

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ScienceDirect

Procedia Structural Integrity 70 (2025) 525–532

Structural Integrity and Interactions of Materials in Civil Engineering Structures (SIIMCES-2025) Experimental Investigation of PET Integrated Geopolymer Concrete Janani P.K. a , Kabilan B.V. a , Kanimozhi A. a , G. Prabha a, *

a Department of Civil Engineering, Easwari Engineering College (Autonomous), Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

Keywords:PET-SiO2, Geopolymer Concrete , Mechanical Properties, FTIR , SEM , TGA, XRD; 1. Introduction Development of geopolymer concrete (GPC) has been initiated to replace ordinary Portland cement (OPC) because it produces lower carbon emissions (Davidovits, 2015). The resistance capabilities of GPC surpass standard concrete specifications (Duxson et al., 2007; Palomo et al., 2014) although Mehta and Siddique (2017) identify structural constraints. This research examines how PET- SiO₂ -modified GPC develops tighter microstructures and enhances its performance according to Qin et al. (2023). The investigation analyzes the impact of PET- SiO₂ on concrete strength behavior alongside durability performance to handle plastic waste and cement CO₂ emissions (Haq et al., 2024; Revathi et al., 2023). The research findings advance the development of sustainable, high-performance building materials for building environmentally sustainable infrastructure. Abstract The durability challenges persist with Geopolymer concrete which demonstrates superior sustainability and mechanical performance compared to cement-based concrete. Research examines the application of PET- SiO₂ polymer-modified mortar to strengthen and increase durability. Among different dosages of PET- SiO₂ tested for 28 day ambient curing, the optimal choice of 4g PET- SiO₂ produced a 20% stron ger concrete. UV-Vis spectroscopy revealed excellent UV resistance properties in addition to chemical stability following SEM-EDX analysis which showed a dense microstructure and lower permeability. continued research will employ FTIR and XRD to analyze PET- SiO₂ polymers in greater detail. The study shows that PET - SiO₂ works effectively as a modifier which enhances both performance and sustainability in geopolymer concrete for building durable infrastructure. © 2025 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under the responsibility of International Conference on Structural Integrity Organizers

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +91-9841442944 E-mail address: prabha.g@eec.srmrmp.edu.in

2452-3216 © 2025 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under the responsibility of International Conference on Structural Integrity Organizers 10.1016/j.prostr.2025.07.086