Aluminum ions as well as hydroxide precipitates promote improved extraction of iron from kaolinites during leaching. Selective aggregation of ultrafine particles in kaolinites, seemingly induced by precipitation of aluminum hydroxide, gives brightness improvement in excess of that which can be ascribed to iron extraction. Aggregation of anatase, a primary discolorant confined mostly to the fine end of the kaolinite particle size distribution, is the suggested mechanism for complementary brightness improvement.

Precipitation of aluminum hydroxide in kaolinite systems substantially changes flocculation characteristics, surface area (methylene blue), and rheology. Edge-edge and edge-face flocculation are promoted where sulfate retention is high, becoming progressively more face-face with sulfate removal. The character of the flocculation can be interpreted by the combined use of surface area and low shear viscosity data.

The extent to which kaolinites can be dispersed after processing increases with increase in sulfate retention. Stability of suspensions deflocculated with polyphosphates shows an inverse relationship, decreasing with increase in sulfate retention.

The Maungaparerua halloysite deposit is located on the North Island of New Zealand some 210 km north of Auckland. The halloysite deposit was formed by hydrothermal alteration of rhyolite flow rocks. Superimposed on the hydrothermally altered halloysite is deep intensive surficial weathering resulting from the humid climate on the extreme tip of the North Island. The deposit has been drilled and the cores have been analyzed mineralogically and chemically. Drilling has shown that the deposit is circular or ovate and covers about 350 acres. The altered rocks contain about 50% quartz and fine amorphous silica and 50% of a mix of halloysite, kaolinite, and allophane with a small amount of plagioclase feldspar in the coarse fraction. The upper 8–30m, with an average of 15m, of the halloysite alteration deposit consists of relatively soft clay. Below this soft clay, which is the result of intense surficial weathering, the clay becomes hard and dense. The halloysite and kaolin from this deposit are mined and beneficiated using wet process techniques of dispersion, centrifugation, leaching, dewatering, and drying. The products are used as filler in paper, paint, and plastics and as a ceramic raw material for producing whiteware and fine china. This deposit is unique in that it contains a very high proportion of halloysite in the clay fraction. The detailed geology, mineralogy, geochemistry, and the physical properties of the clay will be discussed.

The Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Whitemud Formation is a potentially commercial kaolin deposit located in southern Saskatchewan and southeastern Alberta. The Whitemud Formation contains a lower kaolinitic sandstone, a middle lignite and carbonaceous shale, and an upper interbedded siltstone and claystone. The sediments that comprise the rocks of the Whitemud Formation were deposited on alluvial or upper deltaic plains located along the northwest flank of the Williston Basin.

Mineralogy and textures were determined by X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and optical microscopy. Kaolinite abundance increases upward from the underlying rocks of the Eastend Formation through the Whitemud Formation, and the abundance of smectite, micas, and feldspars decreases from the Eastend Formation into the Whitemud Formation. Vermiform kaolinite crystals are in close spatial association with feldspar and mica grains. Near the top of the Whitemud Formation, etched quartz and feldspar grains, and gibbsite suggest the presence of a strong chemical leaching environment.

Mineral distributions, presence of root remains, pedologic mottles, grain coatings composed of clay, and soil horizons indicate the Whitemud Formation sediments were modified by intense weathering in a paleosol environment.

Kaolin concentrated from selected kaolinitic sandstone deposits, and beneficiated by oxidation, leaching, and high-intensity wet-magnetic separation has a product brightness up to filler quality. Recovery of lowabrasion kaolin is low and viscosity of a fine-particle kaolin fraction is high. Economics of producing a wet-processed filler-grade kaolin is marginal.

The Porters Creek Formation is mined as an absorbent clay in Illinois, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee. The absorptive properties of the Porters Creek Formation are due to the high content of smectite which constitutes >50% of the minerals present. Analyses of 220 samples of the Porters Creek collected in Illinois, Missouri, and Tennessee indicate that the smectite content is highest on the western side of the Mississippi embayment and that the kaolinite content is highest on the northeastern side. The major influx of detritral clays appears to have entered the embayment from a large river on the northeast side. A major control of the distribution of clay minerals during the time of Porters Creek deposition was differential flocculation of kaolinite, illite, and smectite, as evidenced by the numerous syneresis cracks on bedding planes in the area of greatest kaolinite content. Estimates of the smectite, illite, and kaolinite contents suggest both horizontal and vertical variations among these clay minerals. In certain localities the oxidation of pyrite has created acid conditions, which apparently were conducive to the formation of authigenic halloysite.

Low-temperature FTIR spectroscopy was used to characterize the v(OH) region of kaolin-group minerals including well ordered to poorly ordered kaolins from Georgia, Brazil, and England, along with samples of discrete dickite and nacrite. Low-temperature FTIR spectra were useful in resolving dickite- and nacrite-like features present in the spectra of kaolins when cooled to <30 K. These features were not resolved at room temperature and only partially resolved at liquid N2 temperature (77 K). The room-temperature and low-temperature positions of the ν(OH) bands of kaolinite, dickite, and nacrite were linearly correlated with the interatomic OH⋯O distances and this relationship served as the basis for polytype/disorder identification. Dickite or dickite-like disorder was found in high Hinckley-Index kaolinite from Keokuk, Iowa, and from Cornwall, England. Dickite- and nacrite-like features were observed in both high- and low-Hinckley-index kaolinite and the amounts of these stacking sequences generally increased with decreasing Hinckley Index.

A new model is proposed for analysis of the source clays used to create ceramics, based on geographic, petrographic, mineralogical, mineral-chemistry, and geochemical criteria. The development of this model became feasible after the discovery of a Pliocene volcanic clay horizon on NWAegina Island, Greece. The volcanic clay contains smectite, mixed-layer chlorite-smectite, biotite, and palygorskite and has greater feldspar content than the underlying Pliocene marls, which contain R0 mixed-layer illitesmectite, mica, dolomite, serpentine, talc and gypsum, and, in some places, palygorskite. The two units have distinct geochemical characteristics. In general the Pliocene volcanic clay is richer in SiO2, Al3O3, and Fe2O3 and poorer in Na2O, MgO, and P2O2 than the Pliocene marls. The Nb, Zr, Hf, Th, and rare earth element (REE) contents are also significantly greater in the Pliocene volcanic clay and comparable to those of the dacitic rocks of the island, reflecting the volcanic origin of the clay.

The proposed model was used to identify the source-clay materials that were used for the production of ceramics on the island of Aegina (Aeginetan Ware). All five criteria should be considered in any provenance study. The use of individual criteria on their own can lead to ambiguous conclusions. In the present study the geochemical criterion was particularly helpful. It provided robust evidence for the nature of the source clay. The Pliocene volcanic clay horizon and the underlying Pliocene marls are the candidate raw materials for Aeginetan Ware. Although the Pliocene marls have been invoked as raw materials for Greek Bronze Age (~3000–1100 BC) Aeginetan ceramics and are used as raw materials by modern Aeginetan ceramists, the geochemical characteristics of a large set of Bronze Age Greek Aeginetan sherds with fine and coarse fabrics coincide with those of the Pliocene volcanic clay. This comparative and cumulative evidence suggests that the Pliocene volcanic clay was the main source clay for ancient Aeginetan ceramics, regardless of the fabric (coarse or fine) and that admixture of different sources might not be necessary for fine-grained ceramics.

Kaolins are used in a multiplicity of industries because of unique physical and chemical properties. Shape, particle size, color, softness, and non-abrasiveness are physical properties that are especially important. Chemical properties, such as comparatively low base exchange capacity, as well as other chemical properties of the kaolin surface, and relative insolubility, are governing in many uses. In 1960, well over 2,000,000 tons of kaolin was used in the United States, more than one-half of which was consumed by the paper industry. The relationships between physical and chemical properties are discussed in the application of kaolin to paper, rubber, ceramics, plastics, ink, catalysis, insecticides, and numerous other uses. A few new uses of kaolin are discussed along with a short gaze into a crystal ball to see what the future may hold for that useful mineral, kaolin.

An X-ray absorption method was utilized to determine rapidly and precisely the thickness and weight of inorganic coating layers applied to paper. The mass absorption coefficient μ/ρ was calculated for kaolins and substituted in the following formula

where I is the X-ray intensity after passing through a medium whose thickness is x centimeters, I0 Is the X-ray intensity before passing through a medium, μ. is the linear absorption coefficient, and ρ is the density of the absorbing medium.

The film thickness was calculated and related to coat weight. Coated sheets of variable basis weight, utilizing different adhesives and coat weights, were used. The method is rapid and coating thicknesses can be determined with an accuracy of plus or minus 0.5μ and coat weight of plus or minus 0.2 lb. It is believed that the method can be adapted for production control on the paper coating machines.

Previous work has demonstrated that the degree of crystal perfection in kaolinite can be correlated with many physical properties. In this paper some further relationships are shown, including surface area, base exchange capacity, total percentage of iron and titanium, and high-temperature mullitization. Surface area, base exchange capacity, and the total amount of iron and titanium in the clay increase as the degree of crystal perfection decreases.

A semiquantitative study of the surficial clay mineral distribution from 79 cores in the Recent sediments in the Gulf of Mexico shows a regional pattern which can be related to source and environment. The dominant factor controlling distribution of these surflcial sediments appears to be source. Montmorillonite is the most abundant clay mineral, and illite, chlorite, kaolinite and mixed-layer minerals are present in almost every sample.

Alteration of the clay minerals is influenced by (a) change of environment, and (b) length of exposure. Initial ion exchange, which is caused by a tendency to reach equilibrium with a new environment, occurs so rapidly in the clay minerals after they enter the marine environment that rate of sedimentation is a minor factor in comparison to environmental change. Slow alteration and adjustment toward a stable end state are most complete in areas of slow deposition and extended exposure of the clay minerals to the environment.