Elementary chemical analysis of different clay types

Abstract

Clay is a useful raw material for most of industrial manufacturing processes because of the unique physico-chemical properties and chemical compositions of such clays. The analysis of chemical compositions of some clay is an important strategy that related with the usages of such clay for various industrial purposes. In the existing research there were expected to test and analyze the chemical compositions of three different clay types that available in various locations in Sri Lanka using the X-ray fluorescence (XRF) technique. The clay samples were collected carefully from the available locations and stored well. The clay samples were labeled as anthill clay, brick clay and roof tile clay based on the applications and origins of such clays. A sufficient portion from each clay sample was selected and those samples were oven dried for 24hours under the temperature 110°C and sent for the X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis. As the results for the investigations, there were observed the elements of Fe, Ti, Ba and K in the amounts of 82.08%, 4.84%, 0.79% and 12.28% from anthill clay, Fe, Ti, Ca and Ba in the percentages of 84.38%, 5.92%, 7.56% and 2.14% in brick clay and Fe, Ti, Ba, Zr and K in the percentages of 75.72%, 2.95%, 5.30%, 3.36% and 12.67% from roof tile clay.