Preparation and solidification mechanism of biomimetic mineralized cement using L-Asp as crystal modifier

Abstract

This paper adopted the biomimetic mineralized method (BMM) with L-Aspartate (L-Asp) as the crystal modifier to develop the biomimetic mineralized cement material. The structural integrity and mechanical property of cemented samples treated by BMM were studied through the direct shear test and unconfined compressive strength (UCS) test. Meanwhile, the micro-morphology and mechanism of calcium carbonate crystals generated from biomimetic mineralization in water solution and sand environment were investigated by XRD, FTIR, XPS, and SEM. The results reveal that the biomimetic mineralized cement with L-Asp modifier is feasible to cement the loose sand into a high-strength integrated structure. With the gradually increasing spraying cycles, the ultimate shear strength of the cemented samples was significantly improved. Moreover, the hydrogen–bond interaction inducing calcium carbonate crystals and sand particles, as well as the particle agglomerated growth are the fundamental reasons for the cementation of loose sand. The feasibility of biomimetic mineralized cement using an L-Asp modifier is verified.