School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Sci Total Environ. 2021 May 15;769:145527. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145527. Epub 2021 Feb 1.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has not only created a global health crisis, but it is also now threatening the environment. A multidisciplinary collaborative approach is required to fight against the pandemic and reduce the environmental risks associated with the disposal of used personal protective equipment (PPE). This paper explores an innovative way to reduce pandemic-generated waste by recycling the used face masks with other waste materials in civil constructions. In this research, for the first time, a series of experiments, including modified compaction, unconfined compression strength and resilient modulus tests, were conducted on the blends of different percentages of the shredded face mask (SFM) added to the recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) for road base and subbase applications. The experimental results show that RCA mixed with three different percentages (i.e., 1%, 2% and 3%) of SFM satisfied the stiffness and strength requirements for pavements base/subbase. The introduction of the shredded face mask not only increased the strength and stiffness but also improved the ductility and flexibility of RCA/SFM blends. The inclusion of 1% SFM to RCA resulted in the highest values of unconfined compressive strength (216 kPa) and the highest resilient modulus (314.35 MP). However, beyond 2%, increasing the amount of SFM led to a decrease in strength and stiffness.
冠状病毒（COVID-19）大流行不仅造成了全球卫生危机，现在还威胁到环境。需要采取多学科合作的方法来对抗这一大流行病，并降低与处理用过的个人防护设备（PPE）相关的环境风险。本文探索了一种通过将用过的口罩与民用建筑中的其他废物材料一起回收利用来减少大流行产生的废物的创新方法。在这项研究中，首次对不同比例的撕碎口罩（SFM）添加到再生混凝土骨料（RCA）中用于道路基层和底基层的混合物进行了一系列实验，包括改良压实、无侧限抗压强度和回弹模量测试。实验结果表明，RCA 与三种不同比例（即 1%、2%和 3%）的 SFM 混合满足了路面基层/底基层的刚度和强度要求。引入撕碎口罩不仅提高了强度和刚度，而且提高了 RCA/SFM 混合物的延展性和柔韧性。在 RCA 中加入 1%的 SFM 可使无侧限抗压强度（216 kPa）和回弹模量（314.35 MPa）达到最高值。然而，超过 2%时，SFM 的含量增加会导致强度和刚度降低。
