Nowadays technological innovations have been the mean factor for the development of many countries, such as the Polymeric Concrete (PC); materials studied for the last four decades. Nevertheless, the polymer-base used is very expensive and developed by specific industries. One alternative is the use of organic materials as aggregates, whose function is the mechanical reinforcement as straw, jute, coconut, bamboo and rice husk. Recently synthetic materials have been used, for example polypropylene, polyamide and polyethylene. In general, there exist mixture at physical level, that is, the polymeric aggregate is surrounded by others components (sand, gravel and cement). Many different methods for to modify the polymeric microstructure have been applied (chemical attack, thermal procedures, etc.). Methods that consume money and time. One alternative is the ionizing radiation, such gamma radiation. It is possible to modify the polymer surface and to make the compatibility with the ceramic matrix (concrete).
In the present work, the effect of gamma radiation on polymeric fibers is studied and its use as concrete aggregate, evaluating the compressive property. The results show that at 50 KGy of gamma radiation dose and 2.0 volume percentage of polymeric fiber the best results for improvement of compressive performance are founded; supporting 122.25 MPa as compared to 35 MPa in average of the Simple Concrete.
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