QUANTITATIVE FABRIC OF CONSOLIDATED KAOLINITE.
Abstract
Structure is the combination of the geometrical arrangement of particles and the forces operating between them. The geometrical arrangement of particles and associated voids is called fabric and is the component of structure that is most amenable to measurement. Since the structure concept has been invoked to explain so many features of clay behavior, a reliable quantitative method for determining the fabric of a moist clay is extremely important. A method is described for quantitatively expressing orientation of kaolinite particles in a wet clay mass. Wet clay is impregnated with a polyalcohol which permits grinding of a very flat surface (without disrupting the original fabric) for quantitative X-ray measurement. In the specific procedure discussed, a Norelco diffractometer equipped with a pole figure device and a Gieger detector was employed to measure by reflection the diffracted intensity of the 002 and 020 kaolinite reflections. The amplitude of the 002 peak to the amplitude of the 020 peak is called the Peak Ratio, PR, which quantitatively expresses particle orientation at any chosen angle to the specimen surface. For the kaolinite investigated, fabric varied from random to maximum orientation. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1965
- Accession Number
- AD0632061
Entities
People
- R. Torrence Martin
Organizations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology