Performance of concrete containing recycled masks used for personal protection during SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic

Alongside with all its difficulties and tragic consequences, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has also caused a drastic increase in the amount of the generated healthcare wastes. Healthcare wastes can accelerate the further spread of the virus and threaten the health of citizens and the environment. In order to deal with this lateral problem of the on-going pandemic, face-mask wastes were processed and recycled in concrete materials. The objective of this research was to investigate the influences of recycled facemask products on the performance of concrete. To do so, the compressive and splitting tensile strength tests were performed to assess the mechanical behaviour of concrete with and without of the recycled facemask products. Moreover, gas permeability test was conducted on the designed samples before and after exposure to fire temperature, to verify whether the proposed addition provides a similar effect like conventional polypropylene fibres, or not. The results were supplemented with the heat of cement hydration measurements.