The Dispersion and Flocculation Behavior of Some Clayey Soils

Studies on the relation between the physical behavior of clayey soils and the adsorbed cations (I)

Abstract

Experiments were made on the dispersion and flocculation behavior of some clayey soil suspensions in relation to the counter cations (Na⁺, K⁺, Mg⁺⁺, Ca⁺⁺) and the properties of electric charge on these soil particles.
The results obtained are as follows:
1. Generally, non-volcanic ash soils were dispersed perfectly by all electrolytes used including Na, K, Mg and Ca cations, but volcanic ash soils did only for special cations (Fig. 1).
2. The concentration of electrolytes which gave perfect dispersion are 10^-1 meq/1 for NaCl and 10^-2 meq/1 for CaCl₂ (Table 3).
3. From the experiments of ion adsorption of soil particles by the Schofield's method, it was estimated that the peculiarity of volcanic ash soils on the dispersion and flocculation behavior is attributed to the existence of electrostatic attractive force derived from the diffused double layers with charges of different signs (Fig. 2, Table 4).