Abstract
X-ray scattering is a promising non-invasive technique to study evolving nano- and micromechanics in clays. This study discusses the experimental considerations and a successful method to enable X-ray scattering to study clay samples at two extreme stages of consolidation. It is shown that the proposed sample environment comprising flat capillaries with a hydrophobic coating can be used for a wide range of voids ratios ranging from a clay suspension to consolidated clay samples, that are cut from larger specimens of reconstituted or natural clay. The initial X-ray scattering results using a laboratory instrument indicate that valuable information on, in principal evolving, clay fabric can be measured. Features such as characteristic distance between structural units and particle orientations are obtained for a slurry and a consolidated sample of kaolinite. Combined with other promising measurement techniques from Materials Science the proposed method will help advance the contemporary understanding on the behaviour of dense colloidal systems of clay, as it does not require detrimental sample preparation
Highlights
Fine-grained soils, such as clay, remain a challenging material in many geotechnical settings
Some general experimental considerations related to scattering experiments on the clay samples will be discussed first, before further elaboration for the current test series on a slurry and consolidated sample of kaolin using X-ray scattering
The measurement range in the Ultra Small Angle X-ray Scattering (USAXS) configuration is unable to detect the larger length scales associated to the plateletplatelet structure whilst being not sufficiently sensitive to detect the smaller d-spacings within the clay mineral
Summary
Fine-grained soils, such as clay, remain a challenging material in many geotechnical settings. In the last two decades or so, new experimental methodologies have been introduced to study the micro-structural origin of the emerging behaviour at continuum scale for predominantly coarse grained soils. The small particle size combined with their nanometre thickness results into an electrically charged particle. Such particles form complex colloid structures when dispersed in water. Their diminutive size challenge even the most advanced measurement methods, there is only limited data reported in literature for these materials. This paper discusses an experimental method for the preparation of samples for subsequent X-ray scattering experiments for the study of the fabric in wet clay samples
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