This paper presents the use of iron filing materials mixed with cement to improve the shear strength of clayey soils. Two types of expensive clayey soils known to have low shear strength were obtained and mixed with iron filing-cement mixtures at different percentages: 2%, 4%, 6%, 8%, and 10% by dry weight of the soil. The ratio of iron filing to cement used was 2:1. Direct Shear tests were conducted on all samples to determine the shear strength of the soils. The tests were conducted after 2 and 7 days from the curing time. It was found that the addition of 10% of the iron filing-cement mix will significantly increase the shear strength parameters of the two types of clay. The shear strength increases by 79% and 162% when soil one and soil two are mixed with 10% of iron filing-cement mixture, respectively. It was also observed that the shear strength increased slightly throughout the curing time from 2 to 7 days. The research result implies that this material can be used in soil stabilization and further reduce the impact of this material on the environment.

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M. Attom, M., Kou and N. Al-Akhras, “Geo environmental utilization of iron-filing with cement in soil stabilization,” International Journal of Technology and Engineering Studies, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 32-37, 2016.