MIDDLE TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

TECHNECAL ENGINEERING
MATERIAL DEPARTMENT

CLAYS

BY

AYA MAJID JASSIM

FINAL REPORT/2020/7/7

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CONTENT :

INTRODUCTION TO CLAYS
CLAYS DEFINIATION
CLAY FORMULA
CLAYS BASIC TYPES
CLAYS SUBORDINATY TYPES
CLAYS MANIRALS
CLAYS PROPERTIES
CLAY COLORS
CLAYS APPLICATION
REFRENCE

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 INTRODUCTION

Clay is found, in one form or another, in almost every region of the world.
It is naturally formed over time as rock (feldspar) is broken down and
washed down mountains where it is deposited in lakes, rivers and streams
in the valleys below. As the rock washes down the mountain it is
combined with different organics and minerals (i.e. iron, sodium,
calcium…) along the way which give each regions clay, its own unique
characteristics. Technically speaking in it’s purest state clay is an
aluminum silicate mineral kaolinite. Its property of being plastic arises
from its composition of microscopic disk-shaped platelettes that give clay
its ability to hold its shape when molded.
In early civilizations, potters would go down to the riverbeds where clay
was deposited, dig it up, pick out the rocks and sticks and start making
pots. Today the process is a little more refined. Clay manufacturers
purchase the refined raw materials neccesary to make the clay bodies they
offer. These raw materials are first mixed as dry materials, water is then
added, and the mixed clay is de-aired in a pug mill where it then is
extruded into bags and boxed.

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CLAYS DEFINATION

Clay is a sedimentary rock. It is filled with minerals that often

weather to create shale. Clay is usually found in muddy
environments,

CLAY FORMULA
There are probably hundreds of clay minerals. Each has it’s own
formula and structure and usually they are not pure but mixed with
others.
The idealized formula of kaolinite is Al2Si2O5(OH)4.
Clay is a hydrous aluminium phyllosilicate. It often has various
amounts of Mg, Fe, alkali metals, and alkaline earths.

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CLAY MANIRALS

 kaolin-serpentine (kaolinite, halloysite, lizardite, chrysotile),

 pyrophyllite-talc
 mica (illite, glauconite, celadonite)
 vermiculite
 smectite (montmorillonite, nontronite, saponite)
 chlorite (sudoite, clinochlore, chamosite)
 sepiolite-palygorskite
 interstratified clay minerals
 allophane-imogolite

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CLAYS BASIC TYPES
While there are thousands of clay bodies available for purchase,
the 3 basics types are:
Porcelain
Stoneware
earthenware.

PORCELAIN
A high-firing fine-grained white clay body that fires to a durable, strong, vitreous
ceramic. It is usually pure white because of its high kaolin content and lack of other
ingredients like iron that can change the color and properties. Since kaolin is the
purest form of clay, porcelain lacks some of the additives that make clay more
plastic (stretchy) making it not the most plastic of clay. This gives it the reputation
of being difficult to work with—though modern formulations have addressed this.

In more current porcelain clay

body formulations, ball clay
additions are most often used as
plasticizers. For instance: 35%
kaolin, 15% ball clay (high
plasticity), 25% silica, and 25%
KNaO will produce a highly plastic
throwing body for cone 10.

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STONEWEAR

A mid- or high-firing coarse-grained clay body that can be anywhere between buff
color to gray to dark brown, because of varying levels of iron and other
“impurities”. It is incredibly durable after firing, with little to no absorption
(vitreous).

Formulations for stoneware vary

considerably, although the vast
majority will conform to: plastic
fire clays, 0 to 100 percent; ball
clays, 0 to 15 percent; quartz, 0 to
30 percent; feldspar and chamotte,
0 to 15 percent.

EARTHEN CLAY
A low-firing fine-grained clay body that is typically found in creek beds and other
deposits that have been transported by wind and/or water from their location of
origin. This transportation aids in the weathering and breaking down of the source
rock into clay, and also adds “impurities” like iron, which is what makes
earthenware brown, orange, or red, both in the raw state, and after firing.

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Because it is fired low, it is more porous and relatively less durable than stoneware
or porcelain, but that can be an advantage in some cases. Terra cotta garden planters
are a type of earthenware clay, for example, and the fact that they are porous and
can “breathe” is a design advantage.

A general body formulation for

contemporary earthenware is 25%
kaolin, 25% ball clay, 35% quartz
and 15% feldspar.

CLAYS SUBORDINATY TYPES

KAOLIN
primary clay formed by the effect of weathering on rocks with a high percentage of
feldspar metal, with large clay granules compared to other clays, and for this it is
low in plasticity, and is considered relatively free of non-clay minerals with It is
white in color and has a high melting point higher than 1800 ° C and it is considered
heat resistant. .

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 Contains mainly the clay
mineral kaolinite
(Al2O3(SiO2)2(H2O)2), a
hydrous aluminosilicate.

CHINESE CLAY
the second form of kaolin clay has a similar chemical composition with it, and
according to the conditions of its geological formation, it is characterized by
microscopic granules smaller than kaolin granules and its good quality, and it is
pure white in color as it is primary clay and I have remaining sites that convert it
from Feldsparian rock.

The chemical formula of China clay

is Al2Si2O5(OH)4.

SPHERICAL CLAY
spherical clay is like kaolin from granite-type rocks and is similar in its chemical
composition to its joint origin which is the opposite of the characteristics and
properties of kaolin completely, and is characterized by the small size of its grains
And the high content of organic materials in it and for this it has a high viscosity
highly viscous when saturated with water, and a high degree of shrinkage during
drying and burning and the burning temperature of 1260 - 1300 degrees C. It is used
for the purpose of reducing the degree of burning kaolin or raise the temperature of
maturity of other types of muds.

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FIRE CLAY
Sedimentary clay resistant to fusion is indicative of its tolerance to high
temperatures up to (1500) degrees Celsius without deformation or melting
occurring in it. These muds are made of feldspar and their base metal is kaolinite.
With clays to raise the temperature of its maturity.

The chemical composition typical

for fire clays are 23-34% Al2O3, 50-
60% SiO2 and 6-27% loss on
ignition together with various
amounts of Fe2O3, CaO, MgO,
K2O, Na2O and TiO2.

CLAY PROPERTIES
1. Plasticity text annotation indicator - sticky, the ability to form and retain the
shape by an outside force, has a unique "crystal" structure of the molecules,
plate like, flat, 2 dimensional, water affects it.
2. With added water, the clay becomes a material that is sticky and easily retains
a shape from an outside force ,This is what is called plasticity.
3. . Plastic (small particled) clays shrink much more than non-plastic (large
particled) clays.
4. Particle size - very tiny - less than 2 microns.
5. Particle structure - FLAT sheets, slippery, and sliding.
6. Metamorphosis by fire/temperature - When subjected to enough heat, clay
becomes hard and permanent like rock.

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 7. It metamorphoses from a plastic, malleable material into a material that
resembles stone or rock.
8. It lasts for thousands of years, is water impervious, has a different crystalline
structure, and other different physical properties than when it was not fired.
9. FINALY These characteristics are why we use clay for food containers,
holders, for refractories, and for construction.

CLAR COLORS
There are several colors of clays , due to the minerals that it
contains .

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CLAY APPLICATIONS
1- Clays are used in the ceramic industry.
2- In making sand molds used in casting industry.
3. drilling operations , inprocessdrilling by method Rotary .
4- Clays are used as catalysts in breaking oil into its components for the gasoline
industry, and the clays from which the catalysts are extracted are bentonite, halosite
and kaolinite.
5- Disposal of radioactive material waste - the solutions that carry radioactive
materials are toxic to the living and can be disposed of by using clay.
7- Cement ( Portland Cement ) - Kaolinite is the most suitable metal, especially
for the manufacture of white cement.
8- Paper Industry - Kaolinite and Montmorillonite are used as binders or fillers.
9- Rubber industry - to strengthen and support the rubber, and the two uses are
sodium bentonite.
10. INDUSTRY alum ( of Alum ) - kaolinite used assource of aluminum.

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11- To remove colors from mineral, animal and vegetable fats, for this purpose,
you use Calcium Montmorillonite and Fuller s Earth .

REFRENCE

 Google scholar
 http://www.uobabylon.edu.iq/uobColeges/lecture.aspx?
fid=13&depid=2&lcid=51232
 https://www.britannica.com/science/clay-geology
 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/0471238961.2119051919051
414.a01.pub2
 http://science.uobabylon.edu.iq/lecture.aspx?fid=5&lcid=7489

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 http://www.uobabylon.edu.iq/uobColeges/lecture.aspx?
fid=13&depid=2&lcid=51232
 wikipedia

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