Physical degradation of hydrophobized sands

Abstract

Hydrophobized sands can be used to control infiltration as barriers in ground infrastructure. As coated granular materials, the interaction between particles is assumed to damage the coatings leading to a reduction in hydrophobicity. This study provides an insight into the physical degradation of hydrophobized sands treated with Tung oil, heated Tung oil and dimethyldichlorosilane. The Micro-Deval test is proposed and used for the first time to assess the degradation of the hydrophobized sands. The testing programme investigates the effect of the Micro-Deval testing conditions (number of revolutions and pore fluid or medium – dry/wet) and hydrophobicity (concentration and type of hydrophobic compounds) on the particle degradation and hydrophobicity degradation. Overall, this study demonstrated the effectiveness of the new methodology to investigate the physical degradation of hydrophobized sands, with the Micro-Deval test able to provide a rapid assessment of various hydrophobized sands under a range of conditions.