Application of Geopolymerization as a New Method for Stabilizing Marl Soil
摘要
Marl is a term for carbonated soils that are generally classified in the category of low bearing and high ductility capacity clays, making them problematic soils. The process of forming cemented alumina silicate bonds in the presence of an alkali activator is referred to as geopolymerization. In this study, the application of this method has been evaluated to modify the compressive strength and deformation behavior of Tabriz marl through UCS tests. For this purpose, various amounts of zeolite and metaclay (5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%) were used separately as alumina silicate sources, along with sodium hydroxide solution at 4, 8, 12, and 16 molarity as the alkaline activator. The effects of marl type, weight percentage of zeolite and metaclay, alkali activator concentration, and curing time have been evaluated. The results indicate a very positive effect of the geopolymerization mechanism on the resistance characteristics of carbonate clays, such that in the optimal samples of geopolymeric zeolite and metaclay with yellow marl, the compressive strength of the samples is 26 and 5 times that of the pure ones, respectively. Additionally, the compressive strength of zeolite and metaclay geopolymeric green marl is 12 and 7 times that of the pure ones, respectively. The unconfined compressive strength of zeolite geopolymer samples for yellow marl is higher than that of metaclay at all percentages of the same additives, and this result is also confirmed for concentrations above 4 M in green marl. Furthermore, by increasing the percentage of alumina silicate in all samples, the failure strain decreases.