Physical, mechanical, and microstructure investigation of tropical clayey soils stabilised with desulfurisation slag for pavement application

Abstract

This study aims to perform a chemical, physical, mechanical, and microstructural characterisation of Kambara Reactor Slag (KRS) and to evaluate its potential to stabilise residual clay-type soils for roadway application. In addition to KRS characterisation, physical and mechanical properties of soil-KRS mixtures are also obtained and compared. Also, microstructural and chemical investigation based on Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) were performed in selected mixtures to infer about the KRS stabilisation process. Results show that KRS was able to stabilise the two different soils selected in this study, but the efficiency is dependent on the type of soil used. The chemical stabilisation seems to be the main mechanism to promote soil mixture resistance gain, and it might occur due to KRS compounds and clay mineral interactions. KRS could be a promising alternative to stabilise low quality clay soils for roadway application, bringing significant environmental and economic gains.

Keywords:

• Kambara reactor slag
• tropical clayey soils
• soil stabilisation
• geomechanical characterisation
• microstructure

Declarations of interest

The authors declare there's no conflict of interest or belief that could affect paper objectivity.

ORCID

Jamilla Emi Sudo Lutif Teixeira http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7805-4218

Additional information

Funding

The authors thank the ArcelorMittal Tubarão for the financial support in this research study, and Thermal Plasma Laboratory (LPT/UFES) for the technical support for the SEM images and EDS data.