Influence of Curing Time and Water Content on Unconfined Compressive Strength of Sand Stabilized Using Epoxy Resin

Improvement and stabilization of soils are widely used to improve the physical and mechanical properties of sandy soils. Despite the abundance of researchers that have been conducted on this topic to date, most of them have focused on dry soil. The effects of the existing water in the soil and different curing durations (curing environment) have not been investigated. In this study, different percentages of epoxy resin and sand with different level of water content were studied. In this paper, a series of unconfined compressive strength (UCS) tests were conducted on mixtures of sand-resins using different percentages of resins at different water content levels. In addition, these specimens were cured under different moisture conditions, and the effect of moisture on specimens was evaluated over time. The results of this study showed that the addition of epoxy resin to sandy soil significantly increased its UCS which highly depended on epoxy resin percentage, water content and curing time. As the concentration of epoxy resin and the curing time increased, the strength increased; however, epoxy resin was more effective. On the other hand, increasing the water content had a negative effect on their strength of the specimens. According to this study, the epoxy resin could be selected to be appropriate and beneficial as a stabilizer for sandy soil due to its relatively high compressive strength and high resistance to aggressive environment.