Hydrophobic Polymeric Additives toward a Long-Term Robust Carbonaceous Mudstone Slope

Slopes with carbonaceous mudstone (CM) are widely distributed in the southwest of China and have experienced numerous geological disasters in special climate, especially in rainfall conditions. Therefore, novel materials to stabilize CM slopes have attracted increasing interests. However, developing ultra-stable and cost-effective additives for CM slopes is still a great challenge. Herein, a hydrophobic polymeric material (polyvinylidene fluoride, PVDF) is investigated as an additive to enhance the mechanical strength and long-time stability of CM slopes. The PVDF is uniformly dispersed in CM matrix via interfacial interaction. The contact angle of the PVDF-modified carbonaceous mudstone (PVDF-MCM) can reach as high as 103.95°, indicating an excellent hydrophobicity. The unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and tensile strength (TS) of PVDF-MCM have been intensively enhanced to 4.07 MPa and 1.96 MPa, respectively, compared with ~0 MPa of pristine CM. Moreover, the UCS and TS of PVDF-MCM remain at 3.24 MPa and 1.03 MPa even after curing for 28 days in high humidity conditions. Our findings show that the PVDF can improve the hydrophobicity of CM significantly, which leads to super mechanical stability of PVDF-MCM. The excellent performance makes PVDF a promising additive for the development of ultra-stable, long-lifetime and cost-effective carbonaceous mudstone slopes.