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Mineralogy and physico-chemical properties of Wadi Badaa clays (Cairo-Suez district, Egypt): a prospective resource for the ceramics industry

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Abstract

The Wadi Badaa (WB) Upper Miocene clays, Cairo-Suez district, Egypt, represent materials for the ceramic production. The clay raw materials are composed mainly of smectite and kaolinite with minor quartz, calcite, and rare feldspar. The plasticity indices vary between 24 and 30%, suggesting that these clays are plastic raw materials. IR bands of the investigated clays were observed at 3695, 3619, 1032, 916, 794, 690, 534, 466, and 423 cm−1 for kaolinite; at 3436, 1635, 916, and 466 cm−1 for smectite; and at 1179, 1104, 794, 690, and 466 cm−1 for quartz. The <2 μm particle sizes of samples are relatively abundant in clays (∼33%), which is adequate for uses of the ceramic products because of containing fine particle sizes. The studied WB clays contain 7.95 and 12.35% moisture water and interlayer water, respectively, with a maximum drying shrinkage of 7.87% at room temperature; therefore, the WB clays could be used in the ceramic manufacture.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Prof. Dr. Abdullah M. Al-Amri Editor-in-Chief Arabian Journal of Geosciences and for the Associate Editor Prof. Dr. Mehmet Sabri Çelik for their kind help. Thanks are also due to two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments that helped to improve the manuscript.

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  1. Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Suez University, Governate, El Salam City, Suez, 43518, Egypt

    Sherif Kharbish & Hassan I. Farhat

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  1. Sherif Kharbish
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Correspondence to Sherif Kharbish.

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Kharbish, S., Farhat, H.I. Mineralogy and physico-chemical properties of Wadi Badaa clays (Cairo-Suez district, Egypt): a prospective resource for the ceramics industry. Arab J Geosci 10, 174 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-017-2969-1

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