Successful utilization of this type of surface requires considerable study of available materials and investigations of their behavior when combined. Extensive and exhaustive experiments have been conducted with sand-clay mixtures in various places where they are widely used for road surfaces and the following general principles have been deduced.
=The Binder.=--In the sand-clay road, stability is obtained by utilizing the bonding properties possessed to some degree by all soils. Naturally this characteristic may be expected to vary widely with the several types of soil. It is generally considered to be a common property of clay, but the term clay is a general one that is often applied to soils differing greatly in physical characteristics and the term therefore loses its significance in this connection. Those soils that are properly and technically called clay are decidedly sticky when wet and are the best materials for sand-clay construction. Of the clays, those that produce a tough sticky mud are best. This can be tested by mixing a small quantity into a stiff mud and molding it into a ball and immersing in water. If the ball retains its shape for some little time, it is likely to prove a very satisfactory binder, but, if it becomes plastic and loses its shape, it will be an inferior binder, as a general rule. The ball clay, as the former is called, may be of any color common to soils, not necessarily yellow or reddish as is sometimes supposed. Likewise, balls of mixtures containing varying percentages of sand and the binder to be used may be made up and immersed in water. The mixture that holds its shape longest is of course the best combination of the materials and indicates the mixture to use in the construction.
An ideal, or even a fairly satisfactory soil for a binder may not exist in the vicinity of a proposed improvement, and consequently an inferior binder is frequently the only material available.
Sometimes deposits of clay or gravel contain a considerable percentage of gypsum which serves as a binder and is particularly effective when used in combination with clay and sand or gravel.
In many places a soil of the type used for adobe and called "caliche" may be found and this is an excellent binder for sand or gravel.