Influence of Drying Conditions on Mechanical Strength of Material

Abstract

One of the characteristic features of clays at a low state of moisture content is brittle-elastic behavior of this material, which makes possible microcracks and cracks generation inside the material during drying. These cracks influence the final strength of the material.

The main aim of the present work is to investigate the influence of drying conditions on the material strength.

The experiments performed consisted of sample preparation, drying, seasoning, and compression tests. The samples were prepared in the form of cylinders made of kaolin clay, initially approximately ca. 0.3 moisture content (dry basis). The samples were dried in a convective chamber dryer and in a microwave chamber in various drying conditions (i.e., various temperatures of air inside the dryer and various microwave powers). After drying, the samples were seasoned inside a climatic chamber to secure the same temperature and moisture content of samples during mechanical tests. Next the compression tests of the samples were performed to estimate their mechanical strength.

Keywords:

• Compression test
• Convective and microwave drying
• Experiments
• Strength of dried material

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work was carried out as a part of research project No. N N208 020434 sponsored by the Ministry of Education and Science.