Strength properties of an epoxy resin and cement-stabilized silty clay soil

Abstract The use of new materials for soil strengthening is crucial for geotechnical engineering, especially in the methods commonly used for ground improvement, such as deep mixing. The main objective of this study was to investigate the potential use of two-component water-soluble epoxy resins to improve the mechanical properties (compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, elastic modulus, shear strength parameters, and long-term mechanical behavior) of silty clay soils because the efficacy of these resins for soil strengthening has not yet been properly investigated. The experiments were conducted using soil mixes with different epoxy resin-to-water ratios, solid-to-water ratios and cement contents, cured at different ages. The results of this study indicate that most of the epoxy resin-treated soil samples, even with the adverse influence of water content on the development of strength, appeared to have noticeable strength improvement after a curing period of 90 days. The addition of cement significantly improved the strengths of all mixes at all curing ages. The values of the strength parameters increased with cement content. This increment in strength for epoxy resin/cement-treated specimens could be mainly attributed to the consumption of large quantities of water from cement compounds, which results in the promotion of polymerization of the epoxy resin with the hardener.