Three techniques were incorporated for drying clay-rich specimens: air-drying, freeze-drying and critical point drying. In air-drying, the specimens were set out for several days to dry or were placed in an oven (80°F) for several hours. The freeze-dried specimens were frozen by immersion in liquid nitrogen or in isopentane at near liquid nitrogen temperature and then were immediately placed in the freeze-dry vacuum chamber. The critical point specimens were molded in agar immediately after sampling. When the agar had set up the dehydration series, water-alcohol-amyl acetate-CO2 was carried out. The objectives were to compare the fabric plasmas (clays and precipitates), fabricskeletons (quartz grains) and the relationship between them for each drying technique. The three drying methods are not only applicable to the study of treated soils, but can be incorporated into all SEM clay soil studies.
On an M^x/G/1 queue with a random set up time, random breakdowns and delayed deterministic repairs
