Chapter 5 Colloid Clay Science

Abstract

This chapter presents colloid clay science. Clay minerals are distinguished from other colloidal materials by the highly anisometric and often irregular particle shape, the broad particle-size distribution, the different types of charges, the heterogeneity of the layer charges, the pronounced cation-exchange capacity (CEC), the disarticulation, the flexibility of the layers, and the different modes of aggregation. The core of the particles is surrounded by disordered and bent silicate layers with frayed edges. Layers or thin particles of a few layers protrude from the packets and enclose wedge-shape pores. The particles reveal many points of weak contacts between the stacks of the layers. At these “breaking points,” the particles may easily disintegrate during interlayer reactions or because of mechanical forces that influence rheological behavior. In particles of Ca 2+ -smectite, only a few layers form coherent domains in which all silicate layers have the same distance—for example, corresponding to two layers of water.