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Research on the Mechanical Properties of EPS Lightweight Soil Mixed with Fly Ash

Polymers 2024 3 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 40 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.
Lifang Mei, Yiwen Huang, Dali Xiang

Summary

This paper is not relevant to microplastics research; it studies the mechanical properties of expanded polystyrene bead lightweight soil composites mixed with fly ash for geotechnical construction applications, treating EPS as a structural material rather than as a source of plastic pollution.

Polymers

Expanded polystyrene (EPS) bead-lightweight soil composites are a new type of artificial geotechnical material with low density and high strength. We applied EPS bead-lightweight soil in this project, replacing partial cement with fly ash to reduce construction costs. EPS beads were used as a lightweight material and cement and fly ash as curing agents in the raw soil were used to make EPS lightweight soil mixed with fly ash. The EPS bead proportions were 0.5%, 1%, 1.5%, and 2%; the total curing agent contents were 10%, 15%, 20%, and 25%; and the proportions of fly ash replacing cement were 0%, 15%, 30%, 45%, and 60%, respectively. Unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) tests were conducted. The results showed that the EPS content, total curing agent content, and proportion of fly ash replacing cement had a significant impact on the UCS of the lightweight soil. This decreased with an increase in EPS content and decrease in total curing agent content and decreased with increased proportions of fly ash replacing cement. When the proportion of fly ash replacing cement was not too high, the strength of the lightweight soil decreased less, and its performance still met engineering needs. At the same time, the soil can also consume fly ash and reduce environmental pollution. EPS lightweight soil mixed with fly ash still has advantages, and it is recommended to keep the proportion of fly ash replacing cement less than 30%. The failure patterns for lightweight soil mainly include splitting failure, oblique shear failure, and bulging failure, which are related to the material mix ratio.

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