Nanoarchitectonics of Illite-Based Materials: Effect of Metal Oxides Intercalation on the Mechanical Properties.

Clay minerals inevitably interact with colloidal oxides (mainly iron and aluminum oxides) in the evolution of natural geomaterials. However, the interaction between the clay minerals and the colloidal oxides affecting the stability and the strength of geotechnical materials remains poorly understood. In the present work, the interaction between the clay minerals and the colloidal oxides was investigated by reaction molecular dynamics simulations to explore the mechanical properties of illite-based materials. It was found that the metal atoms of the intercalated amorphous iron and aluminum oxides interact with oxygen atoms of the silica tetrahedron at the interface generating chemical bonds to enhance the strength of the illite-based materials considerably. The deformation and failure processes of the hybrid illite-based structures illustrated that the Al-O bonds were more favorable to the mechanical properties' improvement of the hybrid system compared with Fe-O bonds. Moreover, the anisotropy of illite was greatly improved with metal oxide intercalation. This study provides new insight into the mechanical properties' improvement of clay-based materials through metal oxides intercalation.

Evaluation of the Crystallization Pressure of Sulfate Saline Soil Solution by Direct Observation of Crystallization Behavior.

We observed the growth of salt crystals in sulfate saline soil solution during evaporation at constant relative humidity and temperature and studied the formation mechanism of soil deformation induced by salt crystallization. The growth of salt crystals is recorded by images using a CCD camera under an optical microscope, and the solution supersaturation and crystallization pressure are calculated taking advantage of digital image processing. The growth of sodium sulfate multilayer crystals is observed conforming to the Kossel model. Moreover, it is estimated that the maximum growth rate in the longitudinal direction is almost ten times that in the lateral direction in large pore contribution to the nucleation barrier during crystal formation. The crystals act on the liquid film pushing away soil particles, achieving the "self-cleaning" effect finally. The liquid film shows elastic deformation property in a short time during crystal growth, demonstrating that crystallization pressure is exerted by the liquid film. During mirabilite crystal growth, the crystallization pressure values fluctuate within 0-12.57 MPa because the supersaturation of the film is consumed, destroying pores in sulfate saline soil and eventually expressed by salt expansion.

Water and Salt Migration with Phase Change in Saline Soil during Freezing and Thawing Processes.

Water and salt transfer coupled with phase change may cause serious damage to engineering structures in saline soil regions. In this study, the migration of water and salt in silty clay collected from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is explored experimentally and numerically during freezing and thawing processes. The results revealed that there are significant differences in the variations of liquid water content and solution concentration for different initial salt contents, due to salt crystallization and dissolution. The temperature-induced water migration is determined by the soil properties, which can be well explained by the thermodynamics of mass transfer. The amount of salt migrated upward during cooling is slightly larger than that transported downward in the warming period, implying that salt may be accumulated in the surface soil after a large number of circulations and finally result in soil salinization.