Estudo de um solo argiloso laterítico com adições de resíduos de PET em pó e em flocos

Abstract

Due to consumption and mass production, the Brazilian economic system faces enormous problems due to the final disposition of the residues generated by the population. In this context, there is a huge challenge regarding the disposal of PET bottles in the environment. The main objective of this work was to perform an analysis on the use of PET residues, acting as reinforcement of a lateritic clay soil, in two forms of addition: powder and flake. For this purpose, lateritic clayey soil mixtures were added with different percentages of flakes and PET powder. The PET flakes were also subjected to chemical treatment with different concentrations of NaOH and different time intervals. The morphological modifications were analyzed and evaluated by scanning electron microscopy. Regarding the chemical treatment of the PET flake, it was observed that the sample with 8% of NaOH concentration and immersion time of 2h was the sample that, after visual inspection, had its surface attacked with greater intensity, appearing to have a higher roughness when compared to PET flake without chemical treatment. Regarding the results of the mixtures after the compaction test, a small decrease in the specific mass of all the blends, an increase in the optimum moisture content of the blends containing PET powder and a decrease in the optimum moisture of blends containing PET flakes were observed to the ground. In the simple compression strength test, samples containing PET flakes presented satisfactory results when compared to pure soil. In the direct shear test, there was a reduction of the cohesion parameters of all the samples when compared to the pure soil. It was found that the samples of treated PET flakes obtained satisfactory results when compared to the samples without chemical treatment of the flakes. Likewise, the direct shear test between the PET-soil interfaces and the tear-off test showed effective results for samples containing chemically treated PET.