{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T09:40:26Z","timestamp":1785404426752,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":54,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,5]],"date-time":"2026-04-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1775347200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003725","name":"National Research Foundation of Korea","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["RS-2021-NR060085"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RS-2021-NR060085"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003725","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003725","name":"National Research Foundation of Korea","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["RS-2024-00456888"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RS-2024-00456888"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003725","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"award":["RS-2021-NR060085"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RS-2021-NR060085"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/013aysd81","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["RS-2024-00456888"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RS-2024-00456888"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/013aysd81","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Polymers"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Repeated wetting\u2013drying cycles accelerate scouring and deteriorate soil structure by increasing pore-water pressure. This study examines the durability of sand treated with zein biopolymers subjected to wetting\u2013drying cycles and compares its uncycled condition with that of xanthan gum (XG). The treated specimens are prepared with biopolymer contents of 1% and 3% by mass of sand. The specimens are cured for an initial period of 7 days under atmospheric conditions, whereafter they are subjected to a series of wetting\u2013drying cycles. Subsequently, the dimensions and mass of the specimens are measured to evaluate bulk density-related changes during the cycles. The strength and degradation characteristics of the specimens are evaluated through unconfined compression tests after being subjected to different numbers of cycles. The bulk unit weight after the drying phase remains nearly constant, whereas that after the wetting phase increases with both the number of cycles and biopolymer content. Overall, specimens with higher biopolymer content exhibit lower bulk unit weights. The XG-treated specimens show earlier strength improvement than the zein-treated specimens due to the faster curing-related strength development associated with water-based gelation. Moreover, the XG-treated sand rapidly fails after the first wetting phase, while the compressive strength of the cycled zein-treated specimens is lower than that of the uncycled specimens. Zein-treated sand with 3% biopolymer content shows a higher durability index after 10 cycles than sand treated with 1% biopolymer content. Therefore, a higher zein content can be used to enhance the durability of sand subject to frequent wetting and drying cycles.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/polym18070888","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,6]],"date-time":"2026-04-06T05:30:56Z","timestamp":1775453456000},"page":"888","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Strength and Degradation Characteristics of Zein Biopolymer-Treated Sands Under Wetting\u2013Drying Cycles"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3157-0076","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Quadri Olakunle","family":"Babatunde","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Agricultural Civil Engineering, Kyungpook National University, 80 Daehak-Ro, Buk-Gu, Daegu 41566, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Woonjae","family":"Yeo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Agricultural Civil Engineering, Kyungpook National University, 80 Daehak-Ro, Buk-Gu, Daegu 41566, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1750-1667","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yong-Hoon","family":"Byun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Agricultural Civil Engineering, Kyungpook National University, 80 Daehak-Ro, Buk-Gu, Daegu 41566, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"140","DOI":"10.1016\/j.oceaneng.2014.07.021","article-title":"Long term immersion in natural seawater of Flax\/PLA biocomposite","volume":"90","author":"Bourmaud","year":"2014","journal-title":"Ocean Eng."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"122554","DOI":"10.1016\/j.oceaneng.2025.122554","article-title":"Experimental study on scour characteristics and scour protection of biological cohesive seabed around the pile foundation","volume":"341","author":"Xie","year":"2025","journal-title":"Ocean Eng."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1197","DOI":"10.1061\/(ASCE)0733-9429(1990)116:10(1197)","article-title":"Controlling mechanism of local scouring","volume":"116","author":"Dargahi","year":"1990","journal-title":"J. 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