Since we are trying to investigate the
relationship between the thermal conductivity and the
water content of clay fraction, the water content is
adjust with following procedure:
Moisture chamber curing To acquire the bentonite
with water content more then nature water content,
the bentonite is poured over a 30cm × 40cm flat
punched pan with non-woven textile liner. The
thickness of the bentonite layer is 1 cm. The pan is
covered with another sheet of non-woven textile and
put into a moisture chamber with relative humidity
(RH) at 100% and temperature at 38°C. The change
of water content over time is shown in Figure 4. After
this relationship is established, the bentonite sample
with different water content can be prepared with
putting it in the moisture chamber within
corresponding time interval.