Antifreeze Cellulose Nanofiber Gels for the Sustainable Improvement of Soils against Freeze-Thaw Deformations

This paper investigates the swelling and freeze-thaw behavior of two soils treated with non-Newtonian gels, namely, Xanthan Gum (XG) and cellulose nanofiber gels (CNF). The goal is to improve our understanding regarding how modifying the rheological properties of the pore fluid can affect the soil’s mechanical response to severe environmental conditions. The rheological properties of the gels are studied with an advanced oscillatory rheometer. A coarse-grained sandy soil was used to represent free-draining soils, and a model soil made by mixing Ottawa sand with kaolin clay in an 80/20 by mass ratio was used to represent frost-susceptible soils. XG-treated soil showed a high degree of swelling when the compacted soil specimen was submerged in water. CNF was found to decrease the freezing temperature of the soil significantly. However, once at sufficiently low temperatures, the freezing behavior of the CNF-treated soil was markedly different from that of the untreated soil.