Strength Characteristics of Iron Tailings Blended Soil as a Road Base Material

Cement and ionic curing agent were blended with iron tailings (ITS) and natural soil to prepare a new road base material. 7-d unconfined compressive strength (UCS) was selected as the evaluation index for determining the optimal mix ratio. The results reveal that the 7-d UCS always increases with the increase of cement content, and firstly increases with the increase of curing agent content and then tends to remain stable, exhibiting an increasing trend first and then dropping with the increase of ITS content. In lieu of this, the optimum ratio of iron tailings blended soil (ITBS) is determined as follows: ITS and soil are mixed in ratio of 50:50, and cement and soil curing agent account for 5% and 2% of the total mass, respectively. The results of splitting strength and flexural-tensile strength tests show that these strengths of the ITBS always increase with the curing age, and firstly increases and then decreases with the increase in ITS content. XRD and SEM analyses show that the ratio of ITS to soil significantly influences the micro-pore structure of the blended soil. At an ITS to soil ratio of 50%:50%, the combination of soil and ITS particles is the closest which results in the highest strength attainment.