SEBS-Polymer-Modified Slag–Cement–Bentonite for Resilient Slurry Walls

Benyi Cao, Yunhui Zhang and Abir Al-Tabbaa
Additional contact information
Benyi Cao: Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, UK
Yunhui Zhang: College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
Abir Al-Tabbaa: Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, UK

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 4, 1-15

Abstract: In spite of the well-established design and construction approaches of slag–cement–bentonite slurry walls, the materials deteriorate inevitably in contaminated land. The development of effective materials which are sustainable, resilient and self-healing over the lifetime of slurry walls becomes essential. This study, for the first time, adopts a styrene–ethylene/butylene–styrene (SEBS) polymer to modify slag–cement–bentonite materials to enhance mechanical and self-healing performance. The results show that the increase in SEBS dosage results in significantly increased strain at failure, indicating the enhanced ductility thanks to the modification by the deformable polymer. The increased ductility is beneficial as the slurry wall could deform to a greater extent without cracks. After the permeation of liquid paraffin, the SEBS exposed on the crack surface swells and seals the crack, with the post-healing permeability only slightly higher than the undamaged values, which exhibits good self-healing performance. Scanning electron microscopy and micro-computed tomography analyses innovatively reveal the good bonding and homogeneous distribution of SEBS in slag–cement–bentonite. SEBS acts as a binder to protect the slag–cement–bentonite sample from disintegration, and the swollen SEBS particles effectively seal and heal the cracks. These results demonstrate that the SEBS-modified slag–cement–bentonite could provide slurry walls with resilient mechanical properties and enhanced self-healing performance.

Keywords: SEBS; cement–bentonite; slag; slurry wall; cut-off; self-healing; resilient materials (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/4/2093/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/4/2093/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:4:p:2093-:d:747723

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().