MESUREMENT OF PLASTICITY

As there is no generally accepted definition of plasticity, no one method of measurement can be fully
descriptive. The measurement of the change in shape of a mass of a certain size when subjected to a
definite force is insufficient, as also is the rate of such change.
Many methods have been proposed for the measurement of so-called plasticity. They can be divided
into two groups; those in the first determine a property which is indirectly related to plasticity, and those
in the second include attempts at a more direct approach.
Indirect methods
a) The proportion of water required to develop a paste of recognisable consistency, as suggested by
Atterberg and others.
Atterberg has summarised some of the various factors which have been proposed as a basis for the
easurement of plasticity, viz.:

i). The upper limit of fluidity, at which the clay flows almost like water.
ii). The lower limit of fluidity, at which two portions of the material will not flow together and unite
when jerked and shaken under standard conditions.
iii). The adhesion limit, at which clay ceases to stick to other objects, such as the hands when the clay
is squeezed.
iv). The 'rolling-out limit', at which the clay ceases to be capable of being rolled out into thin cylinders
or threads.
v). The 'cohesion limit' at which the grains cease to stick to one another.

Atterberg has stated that the range of suitable consistency for working lies between (ii) and (iv). He
found that the moisture content of the flow-limit and rolling-out limit coincides in non-plastic loams
but, as the plasticity of a clay increases, these two limits become more and more separated and so
constitute the working range of plasticity.

Plastic limit
The plastic limit (PL) is the water content where soil starts to exhibit plastic behavior. A thread of soil is
at its plastic limit when it is rolled to a diameter of 3 mm and crumbles. To improve consistency, a 3
mm diameter rod is often used to gauge the thickness of the thread when conducting the test.

Liquid limit
The liquid limit (LL) is the water content where a clay changes from liquid to plastic behavior. The
original liquid limit test of Atterberg's involved mixing a pat of clay in a little round-bottomed porcelain
bowl of 10-12 cm diameter. A groove was cut through the pat of clay with a spatula, and the bowl was
then struck many times against the palm of one hand.
The apparatus and the procedures are subsequently standardized to make the measurement more
repeatable. Clay is placed into the metal cup portion of the device and a groove is made down its center
with a standardized tool. The cup is repeatedly dropped 10mm onto a hard rubber base until the groove
is closed for 13 mm (½ inch). The moisture content at which it takes 25 drops of the cup to cause the
groove to close is defined as the liquid limit.

Atterberg Number or Plasticity index:

The Atterberg number actually is the plasticity index (PI), is a measure of the plasticity of a clay. The
plasticity index is the size of the range of water contents where the material exhibits plastic properties.
The PI is the difference between the liquid limit and the plastic limit (PI = LL-PL). Materials with a
high PI tend to be clay, those with a lower PI tend to be silt, and those with a PI of 0 tend to have little
or no silt or clay. Thus, if 40 per cent of water is required to cause the material to flow and 20 per cent
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is necessary to enable it to be rolled out into cylinders, its plasticity number (Atterberg number) is 40 -
20 = 20.

Atterberg proposed to group clays into four classes:

Classes of Clay Atterberg Number

Class I 17-27
Class II 5-15
Class III 4-7
Class IV 0-1

This method attributes to some substances, such as barium sulphate, a high plasticity, though they are
not generally considered to be highly plastic.

Atterberg's numbers also correspond very closely to the binding power of clays, rather than to their true
plasticity, and, as R. Rieke has pointed out, the Atterberg's ranges are not always reliable, the plasticity
being also due to properties other than those he has considered. The Atterberg number does not fully
describe plasticity but defines only the range of water content over which the property exists.
In addition to being indirect, Atterberg's method leaves a large margin for the personal element and is,
therefore, undesirable, though it is convenient and has been largely used for comparative tests. It is
based on the idea that the plasticity of a material is proportional to the amount of water present, but as it
is not the water alone, but the nature of the viscous fluid (of which the water is only one constituent),
and the nature of the solid particles as well, which determine the plasticity of a mass, Atterberg's
method is fundamentally unsound, but it is a simple and convenient determination for some purposes,
e.g. assessing the properties of clays.

b) The proportion of colloidal material present. These methods assume that plasticity is dependent only
on the amount of colloidal material present and ignore all other variables.
c) The viscosity of the mass.
d) The penetrability of a 'needle' or steel sphere; these indicate only the softness of the clay mass. In
the extrusion of clay columns, the measurement of penetrability can be a useful control indicator. It
can be carried out automatically and used as a measure of the correct moisture content to be
included, or a hand instrument can be employed which measures the depth of penetration into the
column by a spring-loaded plunger.
e) The measurement of associated properties is commonly used to indicate plasticity but the results
must be interpreted with caution. The most widely employed property is the dried strength of bars of
the clay under test. This is a complex property depending on packing characteristics and the nature
of the colloidal fraction, but if the green strength of identical bars, but formed at different moisture
contents, is compared, the maximum strength value often indicates the moisture content at optimum
plasticity. If several samples are to be compared, their relative plasticities may be in the same order
as the maximum strength values.

Direct methods

These methods of measuring the plasticity of a material are necessarily of a mechanical nature; they
involve three variables-force, shape and time.

a) Subjective Method: One of the earliest of these methods, "which, in spite of its crudity, is still
largely used and is very convenient, consists in pressing a small piece of the material in the hand. A
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 paste of a satisfactory consistency for moulding should not adhere to the fingers or palm, yet it
should retain the marks produced on it by the lines of the hand. An excess of water will cause
stickiness, whilst too little water will produce a mass which will not properly take a clear impress of
the fine lines of the hand. This method of determining the plasticity of materials by their 'feel' is
satisfactorily employed by those who are continually handling clay, but it is unsatisfactory as a
scientific test, as it introduces too much of the personal element, and the essential factors of
pressure, changes of shape, and duration of pressure are not accurately defined. The same is true of
the 'rolling-out test', in which balls of clay of a prearranged size or weight are rolled into strips of
convenient size and then wound into a coil. The less plastic clays soon crack and may thus be
distinguished from the more plastic ones. Strictly, this test depends more on the binding power than
on the true plasticity of the clay. It may also be regarded as a measure of the consistency of a clay-
paste.
b) Extrusion methods, in which the clay-paste is forced by pressure through an aperture and the
quantity extruded is measured, are not really direct methods, for what they measure is the viscosity
or flow and not the extent to which the shape of the mass has been changed, and this is an essential
in the measurement of plasticity. However, a series of graphs, such as the one shown earlier may be
very useful in comparing the yield points and secondary flow of several samples. A similar series
compiled at different water contents, may also be informative.
c) Extension methods. Several investigators have suggested that either the amount or the rate of
extensibility or the tensile strength of a paste are proportional to its plasticity. None of these is alone
sufficient, but a useful and consistent figure may be obtained by multiplying the percentage of
extensibility by the tensile strength of the material. But it has the limitations which arise with this
method as the result of shear hardening and induced dilatancy.

Nevertheless the extrusion and extension properties of plastic bodies have such an important bearing
on their behaviour in use that although tests of this kind may not give a true measure of plasticity,
their importance should not be underestimated also.

d) Compressibility methods have been suggested which are based on the amount of pressure required
to effect a definite change of shape or to deform a sample of a given size to such an extent that it
cracks.

A method frequently employed is to apply a fixed load to a standard test piece and to measure the
amount of deformation. The load may then be increased and the test continued until total failure
occurs.

A simple means of comparing plasticities consists of a vertical rod mounted in guides so as to slide
very easily up and down. The lower end of the rod has a flat plate attached and the upper end a
similar, but larger, plate to support weights. A block of plastic clay precisely 2-inch cube is placed
on the table, whilst the weighted rod is raised and then lowered gently on to the block of clay. After
30 seconds the height of the block is measured. The reduction in height is regarded as a measure of
the plasticity. A weight of 2000 gm. is convenient. This device gives much better results than the
'feel' of the paste and that more uniform manufacturing conditions can be obtained by it, particularly
for clay-paste used for pressing.

Pfefferkorn prefers to drop a known weight through a known height on to a cylinder of moist clay of
known dimensions and to measure the deformation. Bowmaker modified the foregoing by allowing
a known weight (2 lb.) to fall 6 inches on to a clay cylinder, 3 cm. diam. and 4 cm. high, and
measured the additional distance travelled by the weight in compressing the clays.

The value of tests based on measuring the plastic deformation under compressive forces has been

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 increasingly recognised in recent years. Such determinations indicate the probable behaviour of
plastic masses which are being shaped under pressure and they afford a rapid and reliable means of
controlling the consistency of clay pastes.

The term workability is widely recognised as implying the relative ease whereby plastic masses are
deformed by pressure and it gives an excellent indication of plastic properties under practical
conditions of moulding. The ASTM (American Society for Testing Materials) has adopted a
standard procedure for measuring this property and such a method is of value for controlling the
shaping or moulding of clay articles.

Workability index
In the standard test (ASTM) a test piece of 300 gms. is prepared by ramming the clay-water mass
into a cylindrical mould of 2 in. diameter. The ramming operation is carried out by using a modified
form of the sand rammer recommended by the American Foundrymen's Association. The specimen
is subjected to 10 blows on each end from a 14 lb. cylindrical weight and then extruded from the
mould by means of a suitable plunger. The length of the test specimen is carefully measured, placed
underneath the rammer and given three blows. The percentage deformation in length is the
workability index. The workability index is a good guide to the correct consistency of plastic masses
for various methods of forming, and is much more rapid and precise than methods based on
measuring the grading and the water content.
The following ranges of workability index have been found suitable in the manufacture of fireclay
mixes:
Method of Moulding Workability Index
Hand Moulding 35-50
Extrusion 28-34
Machine-made Bricks 15-25
Dry Pressing 5-8
The measurement of the workability index over a small range of moisture contents gives an indication
of whether a clay is 'short' or 'fat'. If a change in the workability index from 25-35 is brought about by
less than 1.0 per cent of extra water, the clay will be too 'short' for most practical purposes.

Plastometer test
Plastometer test is based on compressive methods which defines true plasticity more accurately. He
takes account of the fact that a body of good plasticity should keep its shape at low stress values, but
should deform readily once the yield point has been exceeded. A graph of the stress required to produce
deformation in small cylindrical specimens is obtained and the plasticity index assessed from the ratio
of the stress at 10 per cent strain to that required to produce 50 per cent strain. Values so obtained on
different types of clay have given indices in the accepted order of their plasticities, and the method has
further advantages in being reasonably independent of moisture content and of the rate of application of
stress.

e) Shear and Torsional Methods.

Many attempts have been made to measure the plasticity of clay bodies using shearing or torsional
methods. The specimen is mounted in a torsion head, which is geared to a motor allowing various
speeds of rotation. The stress developed is measured by the movement of an arm located on the
specimen and recorded directly by a stylus on a smoked-glass plate. The torque in the specimen is
plotted as a function of the angle of twist; a typical result is shown in the following figure.

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 The stress/strain relationship in plastic masses (after Norton)

Three important characteristics of the curve are clearly shown:

a. The yield point of the clay, or the limit of elastic behaviour.

b. The maximum strength of the clay.
c. The point of failure where rupture of the body occurs.

The region between A and C is where the clay is subject to plastic flow and represents the degree of
deformation which the body can undergo without breaking. Norton considers that both the yield point
(which determines the force which the body can withstand without change of shape) and the maximum
extension or deformation should be at a maximum in a plastic body. Thus, if the yield point is low, dis-
tortion or slumping may occur after the shape has been formed; a low extensibility indicates that the
body does not readily mould, or has a short working range. An increase in yield point invariably results
in a reduction in extensibility, but the product of the two usually has a maximum at a particular water
content. Norton defines this optimum value as the maximum workability point of the clay and Whittaker
uses such values as a basis of comparison for the plasticity of various clay fractions.
Although such a method of measurement gives a useful indication of the working range of clay bodies,
there are many factors which influence the results. The time through which the shearing force is applied
may influence considerably both the yield point and the extensibility. Thixotropic and dilatant materials
often show anomalous behaviour which may give rise to misleading conclusions.
f) Cyclic Methods. In the working and forming of plastic clay masses, the body is usually being
subjected to cyclic stress influences. The deforming forces are continuously being applied and
removed to produce a satisfactory shape. This is obvious when an article is being hand-formed, but
it is equally true in screw extrusion and in pressing when shear fracture is involved. Many of the
characteristics of plastic clays are due as much to their behaviour on the removal of stresses as they
are to features developing on the application of stresses.
.
Typical results on a clay known to extrude satisfactorily in practice are shown earlier. Parameters
corresponding to elastic and plastic flow can be derived and related to water content. By assessing a
wide range of clays, the extrusion characteristics of which are known, it has been possible to define'
acceptance limits for clays and in some cases to predict modifications to both bodies and machinery to
improve extrusion characteristics.