Analysis of Engineering Characteristics and Microscopic Mechanism of Red Mud–Bauxite Tailings Mud Foam Light Soil

Abstract

In order to effectively utilize aluminum industrial waste—red mud and bauxite tailings mud—and reduce the adverse impact of waste on the environment and occupation of land resources, a red mud–bauxite tailings mud foam lightweight soil was developed based on the existing research results. Experiments were conducted to investigate the mechanical properties and microscopic characteristics of the developed materials with different proportions of red mud and bauxite tailings mud. Results show that with the increase in red mud content, the wet density and fluidity of the synthetic sample was increased. With 16% red mud content, the water stability coefficient of the synthetic sample reached its maximum of 0.826, as well as the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of the sample cured for 28 d (1.056 MPa). SEM images reveal that some wastes of the sample without red mud were agglomerated, the peripheral hydration products were less wrapped, and when the amount of red mud was 16%, the hydration products tightly wrapped the waste particles and increased the structural compactness. The final concentration of alkali leaching of samples increased with the addition of red mud. The maximum concentration of alkali leaching was 384 mg/L for the group with the addition of red mud of 16%. Based on the obtained mechanical strength and alkali release analysis, the sample B24R16 was selected as the optimum among all tested groups. This study explored a way to reuse aluminum industrial waste, and the results are expected to be applied to roadbed and mining filling.