Geotechnical investigation of low-plasticity organic soil treated with nano-calcium carbonate

Soil stabilization using nanomaterials is an emerging research area although,to date,its investigation has mostly been laboratory-based and therefore requires extensive study for transfer to practical field ap-plications.The present study advocates nano-calcium carbonate(NCC)material,a relatively unexplored nanomaterial additive,for stabilization of low-plasticity fine-grained soil having moderate organic content.The plasticity index,compaction,unconfined compressive strength(UCS),compressibility and permeability characteristics of the 0.2%,0.4%,0.6%and 0.8%NCC-treated soil,and untreated soil(as control),were determined,including investigations of the effect of up to 90-d curing on the UCS and permeability properties.In terms of UCS improvement,0.4%NCC addition was identified as the optimum dosage,mobilizing a UCS at 90-d curing of almost twice that for the untreated soil.For treated soil,particle aggregation arising from NCC addition initially produced an increase in the permeability coef-ficient,but its magnitude decreased for increased curing owing to calcium silicate hydrate(CSH)gel formation,although still remaining higher compared to the untreated soil for all dosages and curing periods investigated.Compression index decreased for all NCC-treated soil investigated.SEM micro-graphs indicated the presence of gel patches along with particle aggregation.X-ray diffraction(XRD)results showed the presence of hydration products,such as CSH.Significant increases in UCS are initially attributed to void filling and then because of CSH gel formation with increased curing.

Experiment and simulation of foaming injection molding of polypropylene/nano-calcium carbonate composites by supercritical carbon dioxide

Microcellular injection molding of neat isotactic polypropylene(iPP) and isotactic polypropylene/nano-calcium carbonate composites(i PP/nano-CaCO_3) was performed using supercritical carbon dioxide as the physical blowing agent. The influences of filler content and operating conditions on microstructure morphology of i PP and i PP/nano-CaCO_3 microcellular samples were studied systematically. The results showed the bubble size of the microcellular samples could be effectively decreased while the cell density increased for i PP/nano-CaCO_3 composites, especially at high CO_2 concentration and back pressure, low mold temperature and injection speed, and high filler content. Then Moldex 3D was applied to simulate the microcellular injection molding process, with the application of the measured ScCO_2 solubility and diffusion data for i PP and i PP/nano-Ca CO_3 composites respectively. For neat i PP, the simulated bubble size and density distribution in the center section of tensile bars showed a good agreement with the experimental values. However, for i PP/nano-CaCO_3 composites, the correction factor for nucleation activation energy F and the pre-exponential factor of nucleation rate f_0 were obtained by nonlinear regression on the experimental bubble size and density distribution. The parameters F and f_0 can be used to predict the microcellular injection molding process for i PP/nano-CaCO_3 composites by Moldex 3D.

REINFORCEMENT OF POLYDIMETHYLSILOXANE NETWORKS BY NANOCALCIUM CARBONATE

Although a number of investigations have been devoted to the analysis of silica or carbon black filled elastomer networks,little work has been done on the reinforcement of CaCO_3 filled elastomer network.In this work,the reinforcement of polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS)network by using CaCO_3 nano-particles was investigated.We have found a simultaneous increase of tensile strength,modulus and elongation with the increase in nano-CaCO_3 content,which suggests that nano- CaCO_3 particles can indeed be used as a reinforcing agent,just like silica or carbon black.Interestingly,the tensile strength, modulus and elongation were seen to leave off for the first time when the content of nano-CaCO_3 particles reaches to 80%. PDMS also showed an enhanced elastic modulus and storage modulus with the increase in nano-CaCO_3 content,particularly for samples with high nano-CaCO_3 content.SEM was used to investigate the dispersion of the filler in PDMS matrix.A better dispersion was found for samples with high nano-CaCO_3 content.A great increase of viscosity was found for samples with higher filler content,which is considered to be the reason for the good dispersion thus the reinforcement,because high viscosity will be helpful for breaking the agglomerates of fillers into small size particles under effect of shear.Our work provides a new way for the reinforcement of elastomer by using an adequate amount of nano-CaCO_3 particles instead of a small quantity of silica,which is not only economically cheap but also very effective.

Effects of Nano-CaCO_(3)Addition on Properties of Corundum-based Dispersive Purging Plugs

In order to improve the properties of corundum based dispersive purging plugs,dispersive purging plug specimens were prepared using tabular corundum(1-0.15 and≤0.15 mm)as the aggregates,tabular corundum(≤0.044 mm)andα-Al_(2)O_(3)micropowder(d_(50)=0.6μm)as the matrix,Secar 71 cement as the binder,introducing different amounts of nano-CaCO_(3),casting into shapes,and firing at different temperatures(1200 or 1600℃)for 4 h.The effects of the nano-CaCO_(3) extra-addition(0,0.5%,1.0%,1.5%and 2.0%,by mass)on the consistency of the castables as well as the properties and microstructure of the dispersive purging plug specimens were studied.The results show that:(1)with the fixed water addition,the consistency of the corundum castables decreases as the nano-CaCO_(3)addition increases;(2)with the increasing nano-CaCO_(3)addition,the bulk density of the specimens fired at different temperatures for 4 h decreases,the apparent porosity,the cold strength and the hot modulus of rupture all increase,the gas permeability does not change significantly;(3)the specimens fired at 1600℃ for 4 h have obviously better cold comprehensive performance than those fired at 1200℃for 4 h;(4)when the nano-CaCO_(3)addition is 1.5%,the comprehensive performance of the specimen is the optimal.

Synthesis of nano-CaCO_3 composite particles and their application

Nano-calcium carbonate composite particles were synthesized by the soapless emulsion polymerization technique of double monomers. The composite particles formation mechanism was investigated. The effects of composite particles on the mechanical properties of nano-CaCO3-ABS （acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer） composite material were studied. It was validated that the composite particles are made up of the nano-calcium carbonate cores and the shells of alternating copolymers of butyl acrylate （BA） and styrene （St）. The shells are chemically grafted and physically wrapped on the surface of nano-calcium carbonate particles. When the composite particles were filled in ABS matrix, the CaCO3 particles are homogeneously dispersed in the composite material as nanoscales. The impact strength of the composite material is obviously enhanced after filling appropriate amounts of composite particles. It can be concluded that the soapless emulsion polymerization of double monomers is an effective method for nano-CaCO3 surface treatment. 2008 University of Science and Technology Beijing. All rights reserved.