Effect of Acids and Alkalis on the Resistance of a Polypropylene Geotextile Against Thermo-oxidation

Source:
By:Jose Ricardo Carneiro, Paulo Joaquim Almeida, Maria de Lurdes Lopes

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30564/jcr.v1i1.152

Abstract:

The long-term behaviour of geosynthetics is one of the most important topics in the research
about these materials. this work studies the effect of some liquids (water, sulphuric acid 0.1
mol.L-1 and sodium hydroxide 0.1 mol.L-1) on the resistance of a polypropylene
geotextile against thermo-oxidation. For that purpose, the geotextile was (1) exposed in
isolation to the liquids (immersion tests) and to thermo-oxidation (oven-ageing tests) and (2)
exposed consec-utively to both degradation tests (combined effect). the damage suffered by
the geotextile in the degradation tests was evaluated by monitoring changes in its tensile
behaviour. based on the changes occurred in tensile strength, reduction factors were
determined. the reduction fac-tors obtained in the successive exposures to liquids and
thermo-oxidation were compared with the reduction factors determined by the traditional
methodology for the combined effect of those agents. The results, among other findings,
showed the existence of an effect of sulphuric acid 0.1 mol.L-1 on the resistance of the
geotextile against thermo-oxidation. Indeed, the suc-cessive exposure to sulphuric acid 0.1
mol.L-1 and thermo-oxidation (two agents that individ-ually did not cause relevant damage)
led to some degradation. Due to the interaction occurred between the degradation agents, the
traditional methodology was unable to predict correctly (by underestimating) the reduction
factor for the combined effect of sulphuric acid 0.1 mol.L-1 and thermo-oxidation.

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