Electrical Potential Measurements on Clays

Abstract

THIS communication describes the application in research on clay minerals of an electrical potential method, first used for research on glass-crystalline systems1. Clay minerals undergo a number of changes during heating, resulting in changes in the electrical potential at the contact surface between the clay and a suitable reference material. The changes are caused by one or more of the following: (a) loss of interlayer or crystalline water; (b) breakdown of the clay mineral lattice; (c) disappearance or formation of crystalline phases; (d) formation of glassy phases.