Utilization of carbide slag-activated ground granulated blastfurnace slag to treat gypseous soil

Treating gypseous soils with lime or cement may induce remarkable swelling, resulting in the deterioration of pavement subgrade or other foundation layers. To mitigate this swelling, two industry by-products, carbide slag (CS) and ground granulated blastfurnace slag (GGBS), were utilized in this study. The CS was used to activate the GGBS, which was used to treat an artificial gypseous soil with different binder contents and CS:GGBS ratios, compared to ordinary Portland cement. The treated soils were soaked after a 7-day curing period. A series of tests was performed to examine the properties of the treated soils, including swelling, strength, water content, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP). It was found that the CS-GGBS-treated soils experienced slightly higher swelling (0.2%–1.0%) than the cement-treated soils (0.1%–0.3%) during the 7-day curing period. However, the following soaking process significantly increased the swelling of the cement-treated soils (>5.0%), caused cracks on the specimen surface, and reduced the strength, whilst the swelling of the CS-GGBS-treated soils after soaking was much lower (<0.3%), no cracks were observed, and the decrease in the soaking-induced strength was much less. The XRD, SEM, and MIP results indicated that the formation of ettringite was primarily responsible for the swelling. For the CS-GGBS-treated soils, the activation of GGBS and the formation of ettringite at an early age (within 7 days) rapidly consumed the Ca(OH)2 in the CS; and hence, the further formation of ettringite after soaking was very limited. For the cement-treated soils, the cement hydration continuously supplied Ca(OH)2 for the ettringite formation until completion, resulting in longer and higher swelling after soaking.