The use of HREM in studying clay minerals

Abstract

A wider scope of clay research has been opened by investigators in various branches of science and technology due to their increasing interest in such materials. Electron microscope is one of the important methods for studying clay and clay minerals. Although a previous contribution of electron microscopy was to clarify the morphology and later electron diffraction (ED) of fine clay particles.However with the continous improvement of instrument and high resolution electron microscopy (HREM) techniques has provided more detailed information of clay minerals. This paper presents the use of HREM in stúdying clay minerals among our research.1. Analysis of the structure of clay minerals Recent advances in crystal structure analysis have indicated that disordered features are commonly revealed to various extents in clay mineral structure, such as polytypes,stacking disorders,mixed-layers.......etc. When the fraction of disordered feature is rather low, which cannot be distinguished by other method such as x-ray diffraction,however by using HREM lattice imaging, ED, and computer simulating (CS), which can be distinguished distinctly and sensitively. Fig.1a shows the structure of kaolinite with enantio morphic types i.e. left-handed and right-handed kaolinite. The computer simulated image (CSI) and electron diffraction pattern (EDP) are included for interpretation. It was also found that dickite is exhibited as intergrowth or stacking faults in the koalinite.