The moisture content at which the worm breaks apart with a diameter of 1/8 inch (3.2 mm) is the plastic limit. A sample of soil is rolled into a worm with your hands. ![]() The ASTM standard for measuring the plastic limit is ASTM D4318, but it is a very simple test that requires no specific lab equipment. Plastic soil is like butter – it is not solid but also not liquid. When a soil has reached its plastic limit it is moldable and easy to change its shape. The threshold between the solid and plastic states is the plastic limit. Since any soil can exist in three possible states based on moisture content (solid, plastic, and liquid), the thresholds between these states is defined as the Atterberg Limits. Some textbooks often refer to a third Atterberg limit, the “shrinkage limit” which defines the boundary between “solid” and a further “semi-solid” state, but this is rarely tested and reported in industry. The Atterberg limits, created by swedish chemist Albert Atterberg, are the moisture content, in percent, at which the soil changes state.
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