Permanent Strains in Clay-Like Material During Drying

摘要

One of the characteristic features of clay-like materials is the change of their mechanical properties during drying as the moisture content is changed. At high moisture contents they are viscoelastic and then become elastic-plastic and finally brittle-elastic or even stiff. Elastic strains are reversible but viscous and plastic strains are not reversible. The permanent strains are usually undesirable in dried products because they cause warping. In brittle materials, on the other hand, microcracks and cracks are generated. The number of cracks depends on the material properties, sample shape, and drying conditions. The aim of this work is to examine experimentally the permanent strains during drying. The samples used in experiments were made of different materials (two types of clay and kaolin) and were dried convectively. Constant but nonsymmetric drying conditions were applied. The strains of the samples were measured online using a video camera.