Porosity evolution of expanded vermiculite under pressure: the effect of pre-compaction

The evolution of the pore structure of compressed expanded vermiculite was investigated in situ under uniaxial stress up to 3200 bar using small-angle neutron and X-ray scattering. The studied samples have a lamellar texture in which the presence of oriented oblate pores was revealed by the anisotropic small-angle scattering patterns. The initial pore size distribution and the mechanical behaviour of the pellets at working pressure conditions are strongly related to the applied initial stresses used to pre-compact the vermiculite powder. Our study shows that the porous structure of the pellets was not modified under compression up to the pre-compaction pressure. Higher densification is associated with increasing anisotropy of the pore–matrix interface structure. The pore–matrix interface could be described with fractal geometry. The stress dependence of the system fractal dimension, apparent specific surface area and total porosity was determined and related to the meso- and macropore evolution under uniaxial stress.