Kaolinite‐based clay ceramics blended with residual fique fibers for potential plastic soil applications

Abstract The high content of clay minerals within the soil has a significant effect on its engineering behavior; water affects the interaction of their minerals, which influences their plasticity and deformability. Structures made with or on plastic materials can experience problems due to the high deformations presented in soil. Therefore, decreasing the deformability of plastic soils contributes to the stability and serviceability of the structures supported by this kind of soils. This investigation is about the effect of fique fibers contents in the mechanical behavior of a plastic soil based on a kaolinite‐type clay. Fique fiber is natural fiber from Colombia. Soil with additions of 0.0 wt%, 0.2 wt%, 0.7 wt%, and 1.0 wt% of fique fibers was fabricated. The goals by adding the fibers are to increase the compressive strength of the soil and to add a green reinforcement to the soil targeting a circular economy solution. Density, optimal water content, and unconfined compression tests were conducted. The microstructure was characterized with scanning electron microscopy and X‐ray diffraction. Results showed that fique fibers improved not only the compressive strength by almost three times for sample with 1.0 wt% of fibers with respect to the reference soil without fibers but also the ductility increased.