The shear response of a model polymer–clay gel is measured using small-angle neutron and light scattering, optical microscopy, and rheometry. As the flow disrupts the transient network that forms between clay and polymer, coupling between composition and stress leads to the formation of a macroscopic domain pattern, while the clay platelets orient with their surface normal parallel to the direc...

Long ago, people must have realised that clay could be used to take imprints of simple objects like a leaf, or later, a coin. Carefully withdrawing the clay gave a negative of the object or a mold in which other materials like plaster could be cast to reproduce the original. Clay is still used today to make molds, particularly to reproduce museum pieces like statues, not only because it is inex...

The effects of different levels of natural clay enterosorbent on the growth, nutrient availability, and genital organs of post-weaning female pigs fed with an addition of zearalenone (ZEA) were investigated in the study. A total of thirty-five post-weaning gilts (L×Y×D) with an average body weight of 12.36±1.46 kg were used in the test. The gilts were raised individually in metabolism cages and...

The main purpose of the current research is comparing the results of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) with Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) with regard to determination of the importance of soil properties affecting clay dispersibility. After taking samples from two depths of 0-40 and 40-80 cm, the spontaneous and mechanical dispersions of clay were recorded using both weighing and ...

Water-repellent soils have a potential as alternative construction materials that will improve conventional geotechnical structures. In this study, the potential of chemically treated water-repellent kaolin clay as a landfill cover material is explored by examining its characteristics including hydraulic and mechanical properties. In order to provide water repellency to the kaolin clay, the sur...

The mechanical behavior of compressible clay soils may be strongly influenced by physicochemical effects when concentrated pore fluids are introduced to the soil. Conceptual models have been used to explain the influence of pore fluid chemistry on the mechanical behavior of clays in a qualitative way. In this paper an alternate macroscopic description of the osmotic volume change behavior of a ...

Polylactide/poly[(butylene succinate)-co-adipate] (PLA/PBSA)-organoclay composites were prepared via melt compounding in a batch mixer. The weight ratio of PLA to PBSA was kept at 70:30, while the weight fraction of the organoclay was varied from 0 to 9%. Small angle X-ray scattering patterns showed slightly better dispersion in PBSA than PLA, and there was a tendency of the silicate layers to ...

Polymer-clay nanocomposites (PCNCs) containing either a rubber or an acrylate polymer were prepared by drying or co-precipitating polymer latex and nanolayered clay (synthetic and natural) suspensions. The interface between the polymer and the clay nanoparticles was studied by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) techniques by selectively addressing spin probes either to the surfactant layer (...

An 18 4R38 radial-ply tractor drive tyre was operated at 10% travel reduction, at three correctly inflated combinations of dynamic load and inflation pressures on a structured clay soil and at another combination of load and inflation pressure on a loose sandy loam and a loose clay loam soil. Soil–tyre interface pressures on the face of one lug and on an undertread region between two lugs were ...