Is expansive soil bentonite? Can it be used for piling and pulping?
I can't say clearly about the question of whether or not it can be used for piling and pulping. Generally speaking, expansive soil belongs to clay, and has the property of softening with water and certain lubrication. People think it can be used as pulping.
Expansive soil is a water swelling and shrinkage, and has a special common soil fissure and the change of strength, has resulted in the reason of water swelling properties of the expansive soil containing a certain amount of hydrophilic clay minerals caused by (such as montmorillonite, illite etc.). Bentonite usually refers to the non-metallic mineral with montmorillonite as its main component, and the content of montmorillonite is more than 85%. Thus, the two concepts are different. In the case of water swelling, the free swelling rate of expansive soil is generally 40% to 120%, while bentonite is more than 2000%.
