14. Influence of Soft Drink Bottle Caps as Steel Fibre on Mechanical Properties of Concrete

Concrete plays a key role in the construction industry and also in development of infrastructure. It is the most extensively used construction material in the world because of its ability to be moulded and to gain strength when hardened. Failure of concrete structures is because of low tensile strength, limited ductility and little resistance to cracking. With the advancement in technology, the usage of Steel Fibre reinforced Concrete has gained its prominence as it offers resistance to cracking and thus is considered to be superior in terms of attainment of strength parameters. The present study aims at usage of soft drink bottle caps as steel fibre in percentage by weight. Waste soft drink bottle caps are not biodegradable and hence the current attempt is to use them in the forever developing construction industry. The caps act as steel fibres and are added at increasing percentages by weight of cement. Samples are casted for each percentage of steel fibre and mechanical properties are tested after 7 days and 28 days of curing. From the tests, it is found that the addition of steel fibres at 1.5% by weight is found to give better results when compared to ordinary cement concrete. Thus, it can be said that bottle caps act as a sustainable material in the construction industry.