Use of polypropylene fibers extracted from recycled surgical face masks in cement mortar

The use of personal protective equipment (PPE), particularly single-use surgical face masks (FMs), has increased drastically owing to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. This study aimed to demonstrate the feasibility of utilizing recycled FM fibers in cement mortar. For this, FMs were used by removing the inner nose wires and ear loops and cutting them into two different sizes: 10 mm × 5 mm and 20 mm × 5 mm. The FMs were then introduced into five mixtures at 0 (control), 0.10, 0.15, 0.20, and 0.25 % by volume. The following mechanical properties of the mixtures were then tested: workability, density, porosity, water absorption, and the related strengths (compressive, direct tensile, and flexural). In addition, the microstructures of the mixtures were analyzed using a scanning electron microscope. The results revealed that introducing FM fibers, particularly an FM with a 5 mm diameter and 10 mm length, in the mortar increased both the tensile and flexural strengths. Among the various combinations of FMs studied, a mixture containing 0.15 % FMs exhibited the best performance. The findings of this research reveal that FMs can be reused as fibers to enhance the tensile and flexural strengths of cement mortar.