Thermal behaviour of sericite clays as precursors of mullite materials

Abstract

Thermal analysis of some sericite clays, from several deposits in Spain, which are not exploited at this time, has been studied. The samples have been previously characterized by mineralogical and chemical analysis. Sericite clays have interesting properties, with implications in ceramics and advanced materials, in particular concerning the formation of mullite by heating. According to this investigation by differential thermal and thermogravimetric analysis (DTA-TG), the sericite clay samples can be classified as: Group (I), sericite–kaolinite clays, with high or medium sericite content, characterized by an endothermic DTA peak of dehydroxylation of kaolinite with mass loss, which overlapped with dehydroxylation of sericite, and Group (II), sericite–kaolinite–pyrophyllite clays, with broader endothermic DTA peaks, in which kaolinite is dehydroxylated first and later sericite and pyrophyllite with the main mass loss, appearing the peaks overlapped. X-ray diffraction analysis of the heated sericite clay samples evidenced the decomposition of dehydroxylated sericite and its disappearance at 1050 °C, with formation of mullite, the progressive disappearance of quartz and the formation of amorphous glassy phase. The vitrification temperature is ~ 1250 °C in all these samples, with slight variations in the temperatures of maximum apparent density (2.41–2.52 g mL−1) in the range 1200–1300 °C. The fine-grained sericite content and the presence of some mineralogical components contribute to the formation of mullite and the increase in the glassy phase by heating. Mullite is the only crystalline phase detected at 1400 °C with good crystallinity. SEM revealed the dense network of rod-shaped and elongated needle-like mullite crystals in the thermally treated samples. These characteristics are advantageous when sericite clays are applied as ceramic raw materials.