University of the East – Caloocan

College of Engineering
Civil Engineering Department

EXPERIMENT NO. 3
“Plastic Limit Test”

Submitted by:
20151164271
Antonio, Jhon Russel C.
NCE3105 – 3CE

Submitted to:
Engr. Winston Go
EXPERIMENT No. 3
Plastic Limit Test

➢ Purpose
Determination of Plastic Limit is as important as Liquid Limit so as to ascertain Plasticity
Index, Ip of the soil. The plastic limit of a soil is the moisture content, expressed as a
percentage of the weight of the oven-dry soil, at the boundary between the plastic and
semi-solid states of consistency. It is the moisture content at which a soil will just begin
to crumble when rolled into a thread ⅛ inch (3 mm) in diameter using a ground glass plate
or other acceptable surface.

➢ Significance and Use

The Swedish soil scientist Albert Atterberg originally defined seven “limits of
consistency” to classify fine-grained soils, but in current engineering practice only
two of the limits, the liquid and plastic limits, are commonly used. (A third limit,
called the shrinkage limit, is used occasionally.) The Atterberg limits are based on
the moisture content of the soil. The plastic limit is the moisture content that
defines where the soil changes from a semi-solid to a plastic (flexible) state. The
liquid limit is the moisture content that defines where the soil changes from a plastic
to a viscous fluid state. The shrinkage limit is the moisture content that defines
where the soil volume will not reduce further if the moisture content is reduced. A wide
variety of soil engineering properties have been correlated to the liquid and plastic limits,
and these Atterberg limits are also used to classify a fine-grained soil according to the
Unified Soil Classification system or AASHTO system.
➢ Apparatus
1. Liquid limit device 6. Glass plate
2. Porcelain (evaporating) dish 7. Spatula
3. Flat grooving tool with gage 8. Wash bottle filled with
4. Eight moisture cans distilled water
5. Balance 9. Drying oven set at 105°C.
➢ Test Procedure
1. Take about 20 gm of thoroughly mixed portion of the material passing through
425 microns I.S. sieve obtained in accordance with I.S. 2720 (Part 1)- 1983.
2. Mix it thoroughly with distilled water in the evaporating dish till the soil mass
becomes plastic enough to be easily molded with fingers.
 3. Allow it to season for sufficient time (for 24 hours) to allow water to permeate
throughout the soil mass.
4. Take about 8 gm of this plastic soil
mass and roll it between fingers and
glass plate with just sufficient pressure
to roll the mass into a thread of
uniform diameter throughout its
length. The rate of rolling shall be
between 80 and 90 strokes per
minute.
5. Continue rolling till you get a thread of 3 mm diameter.
6. Kneed the soil together
to a uniform mass and
re-roll.
7. Continue the process
until the thread
crumbles when the
diameter is 3 mm.
8. Collect the pieces of the
crumbled thread in air
tight container for moisture content determination as described in IS:2720 (Part
2)-1973.
9. Repeat the test to at least 3 times and take the average of the results calculated
to the nearest whole number.
➢ Analysis and Results

Plastic Limit is determined by repeatedly remolding a small ball of moist plastic soil and
manually rolling it out into a 1/8in thread. A plastic limit roller device can also be used to
perform this test. The Plastic Limit is the moisture content at which the thread crumbles
before being completely rolled out.

Determine the plastic limit

➢ Report
1. Show computation
2. Observation
3. Recommendation
4. Conclusion

➢ COMPUTATION

23.86−22.27
PL = (100) = 17.79%
22.27−13.33

➢ OBSERVATION
▪ The plastic limit of a soil is the moisture content, expressed as a
percentage of the weight of the oven-dry soil, at the boundary between
the plastic and semisolid states of consistency. It is the moisture content
at which a soil will just begin to crumble when rolled into a thread ⅛ in. (3
mm) in diameter using a ground glass plate or other acceptable surface.
The test may be performed using material left over from the thoroughly
mixed portion of the soil prepared for the liquid limit test, which normally
is at a moisture content higher than the plastic limit. Set the sample aside
and allow to air dry until the liquid limit test has been completed.
However, if the sample is too dry to permit rolling to a ⅛ in. (3 mm)
thread, add water, thoroughly remix and season in air prior to doing the
test. Where no leftover soil is available from the liquid limit test and it is
determined that the soil is organic or fine-grained, containing no plus No.
40 (0.425 mm) material, the plastic limits shall be run on the natural soil,
brought to the approximate moisture content for plastic limit
determinations.
➢ RECOMMENDATION

In the case of sandy soils plastic limit should be determined first. When plastic limit
cannot be determined, the plasticity index should be reported as NP (non-plastic).
When the plastic limit is equal to or greater than the liquid limit, the plasticity index
shall be reported as zero. Plastic limit test is one of the laboratory tests used
internationally to differentiate or classify soils into groups. As the starting
procedures of liquid limit test and plastic limit test are common, the both tests are
executed at the same time in most of the purposes. The Swedish Scientist, A.
Atterberg defined the plastic limit as, boundary of soil between the plastic and solid
state. The boundary of soil between the plastic and solid state means, the limit at
which the soil starts to behave as a plastic. From this it’s clear that the water content
or moisture of the soil determines that boundary level. When the water content or
moisture content of soil increases beyond a limit then the soil starts to behave as
liquid. As the same when the water content or moisture content of soil decreases
beyond a limit then the soil start to behave as solid. Here, in the above statements
the “a limit” can refer as the plastic limit of that soil. So the plastic limit of a soil is
the statement of water or moisture content as a percentage of its dried weight.

➢ CONCLUSION

The determination of Atterberg limits has large benefits in term of the

classification of soil. Thus, it is necessary to obtain high accuracy in
determination of these Atterberg limits, and the Atterberg limits test is
considered an essential soil test. This study is focused on evaluation of results
from four local laboratories, here labelled A, B, C and D based on sending two
different types of soil to each laboratory. It was concluded from this study there
may be large differences in determining Atterberg limits of as much as 17% for
the same sample in the same laboratory. The accuracy of different laboratories
in terms of measuring Atterberg limits differed widely. In general, laboratory B
was the best followed by C, D then A. The percent of relative error in plasticity
index value depend on the relative error product when determining Atterberg
limits. The test may be performed using material left over from the thoroughly
mixed portion of the soil prepared for the liquid limit test, which normally is at a
moisture content higher than the plastic limit. Set the sample aside and allow to
air dry until the liquid limit test has been completed. However, if the sample is
too dry to permit rolling to a ⅛ in. (3 mm) thread, add water, thoroughly remix
and season in air prior to doing the test. In the case of sandy soils plastic limit
should be determined first. When plastic limit cannot be determined, the
plasticity index should be reported as NP (non-plastic). When the plastic limit is
equal to or greater than the liquid limit, the plasticity index shall be reported as
zero.