| dc.description.abstract | Clay is a stony or earthy mineral aggregate composed of
fine-grained minerals, which are plastic at appropriate water
content and hardens up when fired. Clay soils have various
mineral groups such as kaolinite, smectites, illites and
palygorskite-sepiolite with unique properties for industrial
applications. Uses of clay include manufacture of cement, tiles,
ceramics, bricks, drilling clays, lead pencils, printing inks and
paints. This project determined elemental and mineralogical
composition of clays from Githima (00 46’ 40” S, 370 6’ 31”E),
Kimathi (00 40’ 0”S, 370 10’ 28”E) and Ithanje (00 36’ 30” S, 370
6’ 46”E). The elemental and mineralogical composition were
determined using AAS and XRD techniques respectively. The
results indicated that clays composed of SiO2, Al2O3, and Fe2O3
as the major components in the following ranges of 40.80-55.40%,
16.27-30.33% and 3.90-20.53% for SiO2, Al2O3, and Fe2O3
respectively. Mineralogical results showed that the main mineral
present in the clays were kaolinite, illite and quartz. Apparent
porosity, linear shrinkage, bulk density, refractoriness and thermal
shock resistance were 26.31-31.33%, 1-3 %, 1.56-1.68 g/cm3
1609-1686 0C and 20-26 cycles, respectively | en_US |
