Research on Recycling and Utilization of Shredded Waste Mask Fibers to Prepare Sustainable Engineered Cementitious Composites

The widespread disposal of single-use masks has led to significant environmental concerns. This study investigated the effects of incorporating shredded waste mask fibers (SWMFs) on the compressive and flexural properties of concrete. The experimental design included four fiber volume fractions, i.e., 0%, 1%, 2%, and 3%, with three different sizes of mask fibers. The influences of these fibers on the load-bearing capacity, deformation behavior, and energy absorption of concrete under compression and flexure was examined. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to analyze the microstructure. The results show that the addition of 1% SWMFs enhances the mechanical performance, with the compressive and flexural strengths of 20.69 MPa and 6.95 MPa, respectively, for B-sized fibers. Furthermore, the incorporation of discarded mask fibers improved the toughness of the material. In the design with general strength requirements, a B-dimensional SWMFs of 1% volume can be incorporated, which can improve the bending toughness by 75% for the control group.