Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Seri Iskandar 32610, Perak, Malaysia
  • 2 Centre of Research for Innovation and Sustainable Development (CRISD), School of Engineering and Technology, University of Technology Sarawak, Sibu 96000, Sarawak, Malaysia
Materials (Basel), 2022 Dec 20;16(1).
PMID: 36614356 DOI: 10.3390/ma16010018

Abstract

Peat is a renowned problematic soil and needs stabilization to enhance its engineering properties. Silica fume (SF) and Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) were extensively adopted to increase the mechanical properties of peat; however, their microstructural analysis is lacking. Investigated herein is the microstructural evolution caused by the OPC and SF implementation in peat soil stabilization. Initially, the compositional analysis (elements and oxides) of peat and binders was carried out via energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF). Subsequently, the microstructural changes that occurred in the stabilized peat were examined through a series of microstructural analyses. The analysis includes scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) for morphological, mineralogical, functional group analysis, and bond thermal analysis, respectively. The SEM micrographs evidence the transformation of loosely packed with large micropores of untreated peat into a compact dense peat matrix. This transformation is due to the formation of newly developed minerals, i.e., calcium hydrates (CH), calcium silicate hydrates (C-S-H), calcium aluminate hydrate (CAH), ettringite (Aft) caused by the pozzolanic reaction of binders as recorded by the XRD. Similarly, different molecular functional groups were found in the FTIR analysis with the incorporation of SF and OPC. Finally, the percentage of mass loss was assessed through TGA analysis revealing the decomposition of stabilized in the second and third stages.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.