Abstract: A new series of polymer material, namely sulfonated amino-formaldehyde resin (SAF) was introduced for soil amendment in this paper. Through SEM observation, it was testified that sand grains were bonded together by the resin to form large aggregates. According to results obtained, degree of sulfonation (DS) of the resin should be 14.0%-18.0%, and the dosage of melamine as amino constituent should be 20% by weight of urea, so as to achieve the best performance on improving structure of aeolian sandy soil. If SAF resin prepared in such a way was applied on sandy soil at the rate of 0.3% (by dry weight of soil), its performance on improving soil structure was similar to that of anionic polyacrylamide (PAM) at the rate of 0.1%, but the material cost of SAF resin only accounted for 75% of that of PAM through cost estimation.

Key words: sulfonated amino-formaldehyde resin, aeolian sandy soil, soil amendment