Interactions eau - argiles / Clay - water Interactions

Abstract

This paper is a review of recent works concerning clay -water interactions from two different aspects ; namely the properties of the water layers directly in contact with the clay surfaces and the properties of water in clay suspensions and gels. In the first part, the significance of the exchangeable cation hydration number as well as that of the heat of hydration are discussed at large. Then the recent views on structural and dynamical properties of water molecules in the interlayer space are summarized. The chemical characteristics of that water and in particular, its acidity, are outlined. In the second part, the microdynamics properties of water molecules in clay gels and soils are described. It is shown that the surface forces have short range action and that they cannot explain the gel formation mechanism.