Corrosion mechanisms for cemented soils in three different sulfate solutions

In order to simulate and study the corrosion effects on the compressive strength of cemented soils that could be exposed in a polluted environment, a series of tests were conducted on cemented soil blocks cured with different concentrations of H2SO4, MgSO4, and Na2SO4 solutions. The test results show that the corrosion degree generally increases with the corrosion time and the solution concentration, while the compressive strength decreases with the increasing corrosion degree. The corrosion degree is highest for the Na2SO4 solution, followed by the MgSO4 and H2SO4 solutions. Namely, when the SO4 2- ion exists in a solution, the corrosion degree for the positive ions follows this descending order: Na+, Mg2+, and H+. X-ray diffraction (XRD) phase analyses were performed for the cemented soil samples after corrosion and ionic concentrations. The results show that the compressive strength decreases with an increase of the Mg2+ concentration in the MgSO4 solution and the Na+ concentration in the Na2SO4 solution. At the same time, the strength increases with an increase of the pH value of the H2SO4 solution. Based on the chemical analysis results, the corrosion of H2SO4 or MgSO4 solutions on cemented soils is deemed as a composite action involving the combined resolving and crystallizing corrosion processes. Furthermore, the corrosion of the Na2SO4 solution of cemented soil is a composite action consisting of dissolving and crystallizing.