Plasticity role in strength behavior of cement-phosphogypsum stabilized soils

Dredged soil and phosphogypsum are frequently regarded as wasted materials, which require further treatment to control their environmental impact. Hence, phosphogypsum is proposed as a binder to stabilize dredged soil, aiming at efficiently reducing and reusing these waste materials. In this study, the engineering properties of cement-phosphogypsum stabilized dredged soils were investigated through a series of unconfined compression tests, and the effects of plasticity index of original soils on the strength improvement were identified. Then, the microstructure test and mineralogical test were performed to understand the mechanism of physical role of original soils in strength improvement. The results revealed that the unconfined compressive strength significantly decreased with the increase in plasticity index at the same binder content. The essential factor for strength improvement was found to be the formation of cementitious materials identified as calcium silicate hydrate (CSH), calcium aluminate hydrate (CAH), and ettringite (Aft). The normalized integrated intensity of cementitious materials (CSH + CAH + Aft) by pore volume decreased with the increase in plasticity index. Consequently, the density of cementitious materials filling the soil pores controlled the effectiveness of strength improvement. More cementitious materials per pore volume were observed for the original soils with lower values of plasticity index. That is, the higher strength of stabilized soils with lower values of plasticity index was attributed to a packed structure forming by integrated fabric through denser cementitious components. It can be anticipated from the above findings that the effectiveness of stabilization treatment will significantly reduce with the increase in plasticity of origin soil. •Phosphogypsum is sufficient to stabilize dredged soil as geological material.•Establishing strength gain – normalized water content reduction relation.•Correlating strength gain with normalized cementitious materials intensity.•Proposing micro-mechanism of plasticity role in strength improvement of stabilized soils.