Abstract:
In Kenya, the cost of ceramic floor tiles has been increasing due to rapid population
growth and urbanization. As a result, there has been significant research into developing
affordable composite tiles made from plastics and sand to address this issue. Plastics,
particularly PET, causes environmental pollution because they are nonbiodegradable
and versatile. This study created a stain-resistant and flame-retardant floor tile
composite using sand and PET plastic bottle waste as a binder to address this issue. The
sand was collected from Ndondo, Isiolo County, while the PET plastic bottle waste was
collected from the Nyeri County dump site in Kenya. The composite tile was formulated
by varying the amount of sand and keeping the weight of PET plastic bottle waste constant. ZnO was added to the mixture, then coated using a pigment containing TiO
.
The physiochemical properties of the composite tile were assessed according to ASTM
standards. The sand used in the study was composed of 93.90% SiO
, and the
composite tile produced with 55.56% sand content had the optimum values for
compression strength and tensile strength, and water absorption (104.17 N/mm
, 12.22
N/mm
, and 0.21%, respectively). Flame retardation ability improved with adding
ZnO, while chemical resistivity depended on the amount of sand added. The composite
tile was mainly made of SiO (81.39%) and showed good resistance to acids, bases,
swimming pool salts, and household chemicals. The floor tile had varying levels of
viscoelasticity (flexible to brittle), depending on the storage modulus. Characterization
of the composite revealed that PET and sand had good crosslinking, as evidenced by
FTIR analysis. XRF characterization showed that the composite tile was mainly
composed of SiO (81.39%). In summary, PET waste bottles can be used as a sand
binder to create floor tile composites that are stain-resistant, flame-retardant, and
suitable for residential and commercial use.