Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2009 Nanoidentation behavior of clay minerals and clay- based nonstructured multilayers Zhongxin Wei Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons Recommended Citation Wei, Zhongxin, "Nanoidentation behavior of clay minerals and clay-based nonstructured multilayers" (2009). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 3033. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/3033 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please
[email protected]. NANOINDENTATION BEHAVIOR OF CLAY MINERALS AND CLAY-BASED NANOSTRUCTURED MULTILAYERS A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering by Zhongxin Wei B.S., Tsinghua University, China, 1989 M.S., Tsinghua University, China, 1994 December, 2009 DEDICATION To my parents and my wife ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincere thanks to Dr. Guoping Zhang, my advisor, who provided me the opportunity and guided me to pursue my Ph.D degree in the academic area of geotechnical engineering. I have learned a lot from his outstanding knowledge and professional attitude, and I am grateful of his patient guidance and multiaspect supports which attribute to the accomplishment of this dissertation.