Effects of gravel on the water absorption characteristics and hydraulic parameters of stony soil

The eastern foothills of the Helan Mountains in China are a typical mountainous region of soil and gravel,where gravel could affect the water movement process in the soil.This study focused on the effects of different gravel contents on the water absorption characteristics and hydraulic parameters of stony soil.The stony soil samples were collected from the eastern foothills of the Helan Mountains in April 2023 and used as the experimental materials to conduct a one-dimensional horizontal soil column absorption experiment.Six experimental groups with gravel contents of 0%,10%,20%,30%,40%,and 50%were established to determine the saturated hydraulic conductivity(K_(s)),saturated water content(θ_(s)),initial water content(θ_(i)),and retention water content(θ_(r)),and explore the changes in the wetting front depth and cumulative absorption volume during the absorption experiment.The Philip model was used to fit the soil absorption process and determine the soil water absorption rate.Then the length of the characteristic wetting front depth,shape coefficient,empirical parameter,inverse intake suction and soil water suction were derived from the van Genuchten model.Finally,the hydraulic parameters mentioned above were used to fit the soil water characteristic curves,unsaturated hydraulic conductivity(K_(θ))and specific water capacity(C(h)).The results showed that the wetting front depth and cumulative absorption volume of each treatment gradually decreased with increasing gravel content.Compared with control check treatment with gravel content of 0%,soil water absorption rates in the treatments with gravel contents of 10%,20%,30%,40%,and 50%decreased by 11.47%,17.97%,25.24%,29.83%,and 42.45%,respectively.As the gravel content increased,inverse intake suction gradually increased,and shape coefficient,K_(s),θ_(s),andθ_(r)gradually decreased.For the same soil water content,soil water suction and K_(θ)gradually decreased with increasing gravel content.At the same soil water suction,C(h)decreased with increasing gravel content,and the water use efficiency worsened.Overall,the water holding capacity,hydraulic conductivity,and water use efficiency of stony soil in the eastern foothills of the Helan Mountains decreased with increasing gravel content.This study could provide data support for improving soil water use efficiency in the eastern foothills of the Helan Mountains and other similar rocky mountainous areas.

Effect of Water Absorption on the Mechanical Property and Failure Mechanism of Hollow Glass Microspheres Composite Epoxy Resin Solid Buoyancy Materials

To study the water absorption of hollow glass microspheres(HGMs)composite epoxy resin solid buoyancy materials in the marine environment and its effect on the mechanical properties,the water absorption was measured by immersing the material in distilled water for 36 days at ambient temperature and fitted to Fick’s second law.The strength of materials before and after water absorption were tested by uniaxial experiments,and the effects of the filling ratio and water absorption on the mechanical properties of the materials were analyzed and explained.Finally,the failure modes and mechanism of the hollow glass microspheres composite material were explicated from the microscopic level by scanning electron microscope(SEM).This research will help solve the problems of solid buoyancy materials in ocean engineering applications.

Synthesis,Characterization and Water Absorption Analysis of Highly Hygroscopic Bio-based Co-polyamides 56/66

This study aims to develop highly hygroscopic bio-based co-polyamides(CPs)by melt co-polycondensation of polyamide(PA)56 salt and PA66 salt with varying molar fractions.The functional groups and the chemical structure of the prepared samples were determined by Fourier transform infrared(FTIR)spectroscopy and proton nuclear magnetic resonance(^(1)H-NMR)spectroscopy.The relative viscosity was determined with an Ubbelohde viscometer.The melting behavior and the thermal stability of CPs were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry(DSC)and thermogravimetric analysis(TGA).Furthermore,the water absorption behavior of CP hot-pressed film was studied.The results reveal that the melting point,the crystallization temperature and the crystallinity of CPs firstly decrease and then increase with the molar fraction of PA66 in CPs.The copolymerization of PA56 with PA66 leads to an obvious increase in water absorption.The CPs with PA66 molar fraction of 50%possess a high saturated water absorption rate of 17.6%,compared to 11.6%for pure PA56 and 7.8%for pure PA66.

Preparation and Swelling Kinetic Analysis of Poly (HPMC-co-AA-co-AM) Super Absorbent Resin

Super absorbent resin(SAR)is prepared by aqueous high temperature polymerization using hydroxypropyl methylcellulose(HPMC)as monomer backbone material,acrylic acid(AA)and acrylamide(AM)as the graft copolymer monomer,potassium persulfate(KPS)as the initiator to generate free radicals,and N,N`-methylenebisacrylamide(MBA)as cross-linking agent for cross-linking reaction.Simutaneously,the influence of individual factors on the water absorption is investigated,and these factors are mainly AA,AM,KPS,MBA,HPMC,and reaction temperature.The optimized conditions are obtained by the experiment repeating for several times.The water absorption multiplicity and salt absorption multiplicity under the conditions are 782.4 and 132.5 g/g,respectivity.Furthermore,the effects of different temperatures and salt concentrations on its water absorption,as well as the swelling kinetics of SAR are studied.It is indicated the water-absorbing swelling process is mainly caused by the difference in water osmotic pressure and Na+concentration inside and outside the cross-linked molecular structure of the resin,which is not only consistent with the quasi-secondary kinetic model,but also with the Fick diffusion model.

Characterization and Selection of Microcrystalline Cellulose from Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunches for Strengthening Hydrogel Films

Microcrystalline cellulose(MCC)is one of the cellulose derivatives produced as a result of the depolymerization of a part of cellulose to achieve high crystallinity.When implemented in other polymers,high crystallinity correlates with greater strength and stiffnes,but it can reduce the water-holding capacity.The acid concentration and hydrolysis time will affect the acquisition of crystallinity and water absorption capacity,both of which have significance as properties of hydrogel filler.The study aimed to evaluate the properties and select the MCC generated from varying the proportion of hydrochloric acid(HCl)and the appropriate hydrolysis time as a filler for film hydrogel.MCC was produced by hydrolyzing cellulose of oil palm empty fruit bunches(OPEFB)with the HCl solution at varied concentrations and periods.The results show that the longer hydrolysis times and higher HCl concentrations increase crystallinity and density while lowering yield and water absorption.The extensive acid hydrolysis reduces the amorphous area significantly,allowing the depolymerization to occur and extend the crystalline area.The morphological properties of the MCC,which are smaller but compact,indicate the presence of disintegrating and diminishing structures.A 2.5 N HCl concentration and a 45-min hydrolysis time succeed in sufficient crystallinity as well as maintaining good water absorption capacity.The treatment produced MCC with absorption capacity of 4.03±0.26 g/g,swelling capacity of 5.03±0.26 g/g,loss on drying of 1.44%±0.36,bulk and tapped density of 0.27±0.031 g/cm^(3) and 0.3±0.006 g/cm^(3),respectively,with a crystallinity index of 88.89%±4.76 and a crystallite size of 4.23±0.70 nm.The MCC generated could potentially be utilized as a hydrogel film filler,since a given proportion will be able to maintain the strength of the hydrogel,not readily dissolve but absorb water significantly.

A study on water absorption in freestanding polyurethane films filled with nano-TiO_2 pigments by capacitance measurements

The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy （EIS） was used to evaluate the water transport and dielectric properties of polyurethane films filled with nano-TiO2 at different pigment/base （P/B） values in 0.5 mol/L NaCl solutions. EIS results were compared with gravimetric measurements on the freestanding films. The amount of water absorption showed great discrepancy between the two methods. The diffusion coefficient in the polyurethane film with P/B：30% was the smallest among those filled with nano-TiO2 pigments. The dielectric constant ε of the polyurethane varnish film obtained from the initial capacitance was in the range of typical values of polymers. SEM was used to measure the distribution of nano-TiO2 particles in the polyurethane films.

Influencing factors and mechanism of water absorption process of iron ores during sintering

The appropriate content and distribution of sinter moisture play an important role in the granulation of iron ores. In this study, the effects of porosity, size distribution, and particle shape on the water absorption rate （WAR） of four types of iron ores were analyzed by using the immersion method and capillary water absorption method. In addition, the mechanism underlying the water absorption process in iron ores was unraveled. It is found that the WARs of iron ores decrease quickly with the increase in water absorption time at the initial stages of water absorption. With further increase in absorption time, the WARs decrease gradually, until near 0. Iron ores with higher porosity, smaller particle size, and plate-like structure have the higher WARs. Compared with pores in the single-particle iron ore, voids among particles in the multi-particle iron oxide play an important role at the initial stages of water absorption. The water absorption mechanism of all single-particle and multi-particle iron ores analyzed in this study includes four steps, wherein the first three steps play a significant role in the sintering pro-cess.

Analytical Methods for Prediction of Water Absorption in Cement-Based Material

The capillary absorption of water by unsaturated cement-based material is the main reason of degradation of the structures subjected to an aggressive environment since water often acts as the transporting medium for damaging contaminants. It is well known that the capillarity coefficient and sorptivity are two important parameters to characterize the water absorption of porous materials. Generally, the former is used to describe the penetration depth or height of water transport, which must be measured by special and advanced equipment. In contrast, the sorptivity represents the relationship between cumulative volume of water uptake and the squareroot of the elapsed time, which can be easily measured by the gravimetric method in a normal laboratory condition. In the present study, an analytical method is developed to build up a bridge between these two parameters, with the purpose that the sorptivity or the gravimetric method can be used to predict the penetration depth of water absorption. Additionally, a new model to explain the dependence of sorptivity on initial water content of the material is developed in order to fit the in situ condition. The comparison of predicted results by the analytical method with experimental data or numerical calculation results, as well as some previous models, validates the feasibility of the methods presented in this paper.

Improvement on Mixograph test through water addition and parameter conversions

To improve Mixograph testing effect, Farinograph measurements were adopted as a quality standard and changes in water absorption and parameter conversion in Mixograph test were explored. Comparative study showed that increasing water absorption to about 73% and converting original parameters to compound parameters in Mixograph tests signiifcantly increased their predictive power for lfour quality. These efforts also enabled the adoption of ifxed water addition level in Mixograph test and simpliifed the test procedure signiifcantly. With the success in parameter conversions, Mixograph test results were successful y described by Farinograph parameters, which al ow breeders to compare and exchange test results easily. Al these changes optimized the ofifcial method of Mixograph test with simpliifed procedure and enhanced reliability and made the Mixograph being the superior tool for quality assessment in wheat-breeding programs.

Water Absorption and Chloride Ion Penetrability of Concrete Damaged by Freeze-thawing and Loading

In order to investigate water and chloride ion transport in damaged concrete, three types of concrete were prepared, freeze-thawing（F-T） cycling and compressive loading were adopted to induce damage to concrete. Ultrasonic pulse velocity technique was used for evaluating the damage degree of concrete, and the defects of damaged concrete were also detected by X-CT. Water absorption and chloride ion penetrability were used for describing the transport properties of damaged concrete. Effects of damage degree on the water absorption rate and chloride ion penetrability were investigated in detail and the relationships were also established. The results show that the water absorption of concrete makes various responses to damage degree due to the difference of concrete type and damage method. For same concrete with similar damage degree, the water absorption rate of F-T damaged concrete is usually larger than that of concrete damaged by loading. The chloride ion penetrability of damaged concrete increases linearly with increasing damage degree, which is more sensitive to damage degree if the original penetrability of sound concrete is higher.

Application of Air-cooled Blast Furnace Slag Aggregates as Replacement of Natural Aggregates in Cement-based Materials：A Study on Water Absorption Property

The influence of air-cooled blast furnace slag aggregates as replacement of natural aggregates on the water absorption of concrete and mortar was studied, and the mechanism was analyzed. The interface between aggregate and matrix in concrete was analyzed by using a micro-hardness tester, a laser confocal microscope and a scanning electron microscope with backscattered electron image mode. The pore structure of mortar matrixes under different curing conditions was investigated by mercury intrusion porosimetry. The results showed that when natural aggregates were replaced with air-cooled blast furnace slag aggregates in mortar or concrete, the content of the capillary pore in the mortar matrix was reduced and the interfacial structure between aggregate and matrix was improved, resulting in the lower water absorption of mortar or concrete. Compared to the concrete made with crushed limestone and natural river sand, the initial absorption coefficient, the secondary absorption coefficient and the water absorption capacity through the surface for 7 d of the concrete made from crushed air-cooled blast furnace slag and air-cooled blast furnace slag sand were reduced by 48.9%, 52.8%, and 46.5%, respectively.

Water Repellency of Cellulosic Fibrous Mats Impregnated with Organic Solutions Based on Recycled Polystyrene

Recycled polystyrene in combination with paraffin wax,alkyd resin,and gum rosin were used as components in formulations to investigate their water repellency when applied to cellulosic filter paper substrates.Polystyrene was used in concentration of 5,10,15 and 20%,alkyd resin and gum rosin of 5%each and paraffin wax of 0.5%.Totally,twenty four water repellent solutions were prepared.Water repellency was evaluated in terms of water absorption of the cellulosic fibrous mats.The relations between retention of solid substances of the formulations and grammage and water absorption of filter paper samples were also determined.The results showed that all the water repellent formulations exhibited a degree of water repellency.Water absorption decreased by increasing the polystyrene concentration in the solution and polystyrene retention by the impregnated filter paper samples.The incorporation of 0.5%paraffin wax improved the hydrophobicity of treated samples.The best of the three water repellent formulations including paraffin wax was found to be the“polystyrene+gum rosin+paraffin wax”solution followed by the“polystyrene+alkyd resin+paraffin wax”and“polystyrene+paraffin wax”solution.The inclusion of 5%gum rosin in polystyrene solutions compared to that of 0.5%paraffin wax was found more effective in almost all cases.

Water Absorption Capcapability and Moisture Content Seasonal Changing of Salt-Crust in Lop Nur Dry Lake

The Lop Nur dry salt lake,Xinjiang province,is charactered by typical physiognomy salt-crust,located in39.6-41.3N.latitude and 89.6-91.4E.longitude.The thickness of salt-crust is about from 20 cm to 100 cm,and

Characteristics of Water Absorption and the Loss of Dust-Sticking Agent

The development of NCZ-1 dust-sticking agent was first intreduced in china. The speed of water absorption of dust-stick-ing agent was measured and studied on mining site and in laboratory, and then the law of water absorption of dust-sticking agent was analyzed. In addition, the mathematical model of the loss rate of dust-sticking agent was established by the application of fluid mechanics theory, and the method of determining the sprinkle parameters of dust-sticking agent was obtained. Through practical verifi-cation, it is found that the error of this mathematical model is less than 10%. So it can be used in the field.

Physical, Water Diffusion and Micro-Structural Analysis of “Canarium Schweinfurthii Engl”

The purpose of this study is to determine the morphological, microstructural characteristics and water diffusion parameters of the Canarium schweinfurthii (CS) shellnut. This work is part of a vast project to valorize the above-mentioned cores for possible industrial use as charges in composites or abrasives materials. The study was based on the characterization of intrinsic physical characteristics of the coreshells scanning electron microscopic (SEM) observations desorption, adsorption and absorption kinetics. The water diffusion phenomenon was modeled and it appears that the Page model well predicted the kinetic of drying, absorption and adsorption. The effective diffusion coefficient and the energy of activation were calculated at three isothermal temperatures (50°C, 70°C and 90°C). There was a tendency for hysteresis in the sorption-desorption cycles. These results strongly predicted the possibility of using these products as a filler in composites, clay building materials and cement because of their high water diffusion stability on a macroscopic scale.

Effect of ocean environmental factors on sound absorption by boric acid relaxation in sea water

By using the expressions for the maximum absorption per wavelength (αλ),and the relaxation frequency fr of the boric acid relaxation derived previously by the author and employing the related oceanographic literatures, the effects of pressure, temperature, pH and salinity on (αλ)r and ∫r of the boric acid relaxation in sea water have been estimated. Results show that ( αλ), not only increases with pH but also increases approximately linearly with pressure and temperature, and is nearly proportional to the 1. 35 power of salinity. However, pressure, pH and salinity have negligible effect on ∫r; therefore, ∫r, can be approximately expressed as a function of temperature only. Comparisons of the predicted with the measured ( αλ)r and ∫r in different ocean areas are given.

Study on Water Resistance of Polydopamine Treatment Wood Flour/Polypropylene Composites

This paper aims to investigate the water absorption of wood flour/polypropylene composites and its effects on dimensional stability and crystallization properties. Wood-plastic composites (WPCs) makes using polydopamine modified wood flour (WF-D), virgin polypropylene, maleic anhydride-grafted polypropylene (MA) and antioxidant, by using hot-pressing moulding. Water absorption (WA), thickness swelling (TS) and failure of flexural properties of the composites have studied for a range of immersion times. It is found that the WA and TS have increased with WF content and immersion time. The water absorption and thickness swelling of WPCs are 0.85% and 0.99%, respectively, after 8 days immersion. With the prolonging of immersion time, the impact strength, flexural strength and flexural modulus of WPCs increase first and then decrease. The impact strength decreases from 3.32 kJ/m2 to 2.94 kJ/m2, the retention rate is 88.55%;the flexural strength and flexural modulus by 68.58 Mpa and 3.92 Gpa, respectively. WPCs crystallization and thermal properties decrease slightly. Microstructures of the composites are examined to understand the mechanisms for the wood-plastic interaction which affects the water absorption and thickness swelling. Our work demonstrates that using polydopamine treatment wood flour for preparing WPCs can be an efficient way to improve the water resistance of WPCs.

Analysis of Water Absorption of Different Natural Fibers

The demand for natural fibers has always been high due to their unique characteristics like strength, lightweight, availability, bio-degradability, etc. In every phase of life, from clothing to technical textiles, natural fibers are used. Water absorption of fibers is considered really important in many aspects, e.g., Sportech, Medtech, Geotech, etc. This work analyses water absorption of raw and alkali-treated cotton, arecas, pineapple leaves, and banana fibers. Fibers were scoured with different concentrations of alkali (2, 4, 6 gm/L NaOH), washed and neutralized with the dilute acetic acid solution, then dried. Later on, the fiber samples were immersed into distilled water, and water absorption percentages of the fibers were determined every 10 minutes within 1 hour in total. It appeared that at untreated conditions, the areca fiber has the highest water absorption capacity compared to the other fibers. Alkali-treated cotton shows the highest water absorption, and areca fibers show approximately 60% water absorption of cotton.

Water Diffusion Coefficients of Selected Legumes Grown in Ghana as Affected by Temperature and Variety

The water absorption kinetics of cowpea and soybean hybrids were studied following the phenomenological models derived from Fick’s diffusion law. Significant intra and inter varietal variations were observed on the physical characteristics of the seeds. The proposed Fick’s law of diffusion was shown to significantly describe the kinetic of water absorption irrespective of the variety and temperature. The effective diffusivities of the hybrids were shown to vary in the order Nagbaar > Nhyira > Tonaa > Anidaso and increased as the soaking temperature increased from 30d°C to 60d°C. The estimated values for water diffusion coefficients varied from 2.90 × 10-10 to 6.75 × 10-10 m2/s for cowpea and soybean hybrids. An Arrhenius-type equation described the strong temperature effect on the diffusion coefficient with activation energies ranging from 7.73 to 8.56 kJ/mol for cowpeas and 5.51 to 8.14 kJ/mol for soybeans.

Synthesis and Evaluation of a Water-Swelling Polymer Plugging Agent SWL-1

In this paper, to solve the problems of low water absorption and weak pressure bearing capacity of current plugging materials, acrylic acid (AA), acrylamide (AM), and sodium allyl sulfonate (SAS) are used as monomers, and soluble starch is used as grafting. Material, the use of free radical aqueous solution method to synthesize the plugging agent SWL-1 with good water absorption and strong salt resistance. The monomer ratio is set as n (AA):n (AM):n (SAS) = 5:2:1, the experimental synthesis temperature is 70°C, and the orthogonal experiment is used to determine the experimental synthesis conditions as AA neutralization degree 80%, The amount of initiator is 0.60%, the amount of crosslinking agent is 0.50%, the ratio of monomer to starch is 7:1, and the amount of calcium carbonate is 13%. The comprehensive evaluation of the performance of the plugging agent SWL-1 shows that the water absorption performance at 60°C is the best 268.78 g/g, and the water absorption performance in 8% NaCl, 0.9% CaCl2 and composite brine is 21.5 g/g, 12.5 g/g and 24.9 g/g, indicating good resistance to sodium and calcium, the water retention rate is still higher than 30% after 15 days at 160°C. The sand bed plugging test found that the maximum pressure of SWL-1 was 7 MPa, and the crack plugging test found that when the crack width was 1 mm, 2 mm, and 3 mm, the maximum compressive strength of SWL-1 was 10 MPa. The acid solubility test showed that the maximum pressure was 10 MPa. The highest rate is 86.38%.