Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2024
For the last 20 years, the Ceramic Division at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has been carrying on basic work with the kaolinite-water system. The results have been published from time to time in the Journal of the American Ceramic Society under the title of “Fundamental Study of Clay.”
At the start, it was realized that natutal clays were so complex that it would be impossible to consider them as a basis for quantitative calculations. Therefore, most of our research has been carried out on specially prepared samples taken from the natural clay. These kaolinite samples had a known particle size, were free from organic matter, and had controlled adsorbed ions. In this way, the effect of anyone variable on the rheological properties could be studied in a logical way.