Mud peeling is a common phenomenon whereby horizontal cracks propagate parallel to the surface of a drying clay. Differential stresses then cause the layer of clay above the crack to curl up to form a mud peel. By treating the clay as a poroelastic solid, we analyse the peeling phenomenon and show that it is caused by the gradient in tensile stress at the surface of the clay, analogously to the...

The adsorption of textile dyes by clay was investigated using basic dye (Methylene Blue). Adsorption of dye effluent onto clay samples was carried by batch studies at room temperature, 25oC. The effects of adding clay with zeolite, pH and shaking time towards adsorption performance were investigated. The results from the mixture of 1.0 g clay and 0.01 g zeolite, the increases of pH, pH 9 and th...

Fe3+-ion-exchanged delaminated pillared clays (PILCs) have been found previously to be more active than the vanadia-based catalysts for selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO by NH3. The effects of acid treatment of the clay (before pillaring) and base treatments of the TiO2-PILC (before ion exchange) on the activities of the Fe–TiO2-PILC catalysts were studied. It was found that the acid tr...

This paper presents Virtual Clay as a novel, interactive, dynamic, haptics-based deformable solid of arbitrary topology. Our Virtual Clay methodology is a unique, powerful visual modeling paradigm which is founded upon the integration of (1) deformable models, (2) free-form, spline-based solids, (3) procedural subdivision solids of arbitrary topology, and (4) dynamic objects governed by physica...

Partially exfoliated poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) / montmorillonite clay nanocomposite was synthesized via the free radical polymerization of MMA in the presence of alkyl ammonium substituted polysilsesquioxane surfactant-modified clay and AIBN initiator in supercritical CO2. MMT clay was initially cation exchanged with the surfactant to enhance its hydrophobicity and to expand the interla...

Clay-based nanocomposites have been studied for several decades, mainly focusing on clay-polymer nanocomposites. Here, we report on a simple wet chemical method to synthesize clay-APTES-Au (CAAu) nanocomposites, where 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) acts as the linkage. The silane terminal of APTES formed bonds with the clay surface, while the other -NH(2) terminal bonds to gold nanopartic...

Bricks whose solid ingredient is 100% fly ash have been manufactured. The manufacturing process uses techniques and equipment similar to those used in clay brick factories. The bricks produced were about 28% lighter than clay bricks. The bricks manufactured from fly ash possessed compressive strength higher than 40 MPa. This exceeds some of the best of load carrying clay bricks available by mor...

The Clay Minerals Society (CMS) Nomenclature Committee was asked by CMS Council to produce a glossary of clay science in 2003. The Committee developed several constraints on the development of the glossary: (1) it was decided to produce a glossary of clay terms, based on clay science. Terms may have other meanings in other disciplines, but the Committee did not want to include how other discipl...

Geophagy of multani mitti (MM) clay is very common in central Pakistan especially amongst women. It was therefore mandatory to establish baseline levels of toxic elements in this clay for its safe dietary consumption by consumers of different genders, age groups and physical states. Instrumental neutron activation analysis and atomic absorption spectrometry techniques were used to determine the...

Early Mars (>3 Ga) underwent aqueous alteration as evidenced by fluvial/lacustrine morphologies and the recent discovery of widespread hydrous clays. Despite compelling evidence for diverse and localized aqueous environments, the possibility for sustained liquid water globally on the martian surface and over geological timescales is still highly debated. Instead, a durably cold and dry Mars sce...