Clay minerals are characterized by layered structures consisting of sheets of silicon oxide alternating with sheets of aluminum oxide. Units of two or three sheets constitute unit layers. Some clay minerals, particularly the montmorillonites, may absorb large quantities of water between unit layers, a process accompanied by swelling of the clay.

Clay minerals are hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, sometimes with variable amounts of iron, magnesium, alkali metals, alkaline earths, and other cations found on or near some planetary surfaces.. Clay minerals form in the presence of water and have been important to life, and many theories of abiogenesis involve them. They are important constituents of soils, and have been useful to humans ...

Clay is also a wonderful product that has been used since the dawn of humanity in pharmacopoeia and cosmetics: for example, the body paintings of the Amazonian Indians, beauty masks with clay, such as the green clay of organic shops or the mud baths of spa resorts. More prosaic are the “terre de Sommières” used as a natural stain remover ...

Clay involves one of the major constituent in the construction process.Clay is an important construction material,so should know about the properties of clay.The important raw material used for making brick is clay.When it is wet state,clay is highly compressive.But when it dried,it becomes very hard material.Sufficient hardness and strength is acquired by heating clay after moulding to a ...

Clay, soil particles the diameters of which are less than 0.005 millimeter; also a rock that is composed essentially of clay particles. Rock in this sense includes soils, ceramic clays, clay shales, mudstones, glacial clays, and deep-sea clays. Clay materials are plastic when wet and coherent when dry.

Clay mineralogy is the science dealing with the structure of clay minerals on microscopic, molecular, and atomic scale. It also includes the study of the mineralogical composition and electrical properties of the clay particles. The behavior of fine grained soils, on the other hand, depends to a large extent on the nature and characteristics of ...

Structural clay products, ceramic products intended for use in building construction. Typical structural clay products are building brick, paving brick, terra-cotta facing tile, roofing tile, and drainage pipe. These objects are made from commonly occurring natural materials, which are mixed with

grained clay minerals, usually sm aller than 2 m m in size, the type of th e non-clay minerals, th e presence or ab sence of or ganic matter , the type and amou nt of exchangeab le ions and so ...

Clay is an inherently occurring material constituted with fined-grained mineral. The minerals are generally less than 2 microns and occur to be plastic in water content which solidify when dried. In the earth surface, clay represents the most available mineral and forms rocks known as shale and is the major component of sedimentary rocks.

The mixed-layer clay has a lattice spacing of 29.4 Å that expands to 31.0 Å when glycolated and contracts irregularly to 13.2 Å when heated to 500 °C; the clay is assumed to consist of 14 Å chloritic and 15 Å montmorillonitic material. Chlorite or mixed-layer clay, or both, generally are associated with rocks containing dolomite.