Clay dispersion as influenced by pH and net particle charge of sodic soils

Soil Research ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 1243 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Chorom ◽  
P Rengasamy ◽  
RS Murray

The effect of changing pH on the dispersion of clay from sodic soils was investigated in relation to changes in net charge on clay particles. A positive relationship was obtained between pH and the percentage of dispersible clay for each soil clay. The percentage increase in net negative charge was also positively correlated with pH. However, the slopes of these relationships varied between soil clays. In general, the net negative charge was the primary factor in clay dispersion and the pH affected clay dispersion by changing the net charge on clay particles. In comparing the values for pure clay minerals quoted in the literature with soil clays having similar mineralogy, it was found that soil clays had higher flocculation values. This is shown to be due to higher net negative charge on soil clays than the corresponding values for pure clay minerals found in the literature. The effect of soil organic matter in enhancing the net negative charge probably contributes to the higher charge on soil clays. The critical dispersion concentration for clay dispersion from soil aggregates was lower than the flocculation values observed for the separated soil clays. The separated soil clays had high negative charge due to exposure of surfaces which were originally bonded in the aggregates. The dispersive potential of a number of Alfisols, Oxisols, Aridisols (calcareous soils) and Vertisols collected from different parts of Australia was highly correlated with soil pH. The relationship with CEC was poor because CEC was estimated at a pH different to the natural pH of the soil. This study has brought out the importance of pH in the management of dispersive soils.

Soil Research ◽  
1977 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 235 ◽  
Author(s):  
P Rengasamy ◽  
JM Oades

The adsorption of poly [Fe(III)-OH] cation by claysurfaces led to flocculation of clay particles possibly by polymer bridging while the addition of iron(III) from hydrolysed ferric nitrate solutions resulted in flocculation and cementation by precipitated iron(III). Electrokinetically clays with adsorbed iron(III) behaved similarly to amorphous ferric hydroxides with positive mobilities below the point of zero charge (PZC). Polycations reversed the charge on the clay particles at maximum adsorption, which probably represents neutralization of charge due to surface hydroxyls. When hydrolysed ferric nitrate solutions were added to kaolinite and illite charge reversal occurred at pH values below 6. Adsorption of iron(III) resulted in a partial reduction of negative charge in clays. The reduction of negative charge in kaolinite and illite was close to the charge due to surface hydroxyls. The net charge estimated at all pH values corresponded with the electrophoretic mobility in all the iron(III) clay complexes except bentonite with adsorbed polycations.


Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 2128
Author(s):  
Paulo F. Teixeira ◽  
José A. Covas ◽  
Loïc Hilliou

The dispersion mechanisms in a clay-based polymer nanocomposite (CPNC) during twin-screw extrusion are studied by in-situ rheo-optical techniques, which relate the CPNC morphology with its viscosity. This methodology avoids the problems associated with post extrusion structural rearrangement. The polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) matrix, which can be processed at ambient and low temperatures, is used to bypass any issues associated with thermal degradation. Local heating in the first part of the extruder allows testing of the usefulness of low matrix viscosity to enhance polymer intercalation before applying larger stresses for clay dispersion. The comparison of clay particle sizes measured in line with models for the kinetics of particle dispersion indicates that larger screw speeds promote the break-up of clay particles, whereas smaller screw speeds favor the erosion of the clay tactoids. Thus, different levels of clay dispersion are generated, which do not simply relate to a progressively better PDMS intercalation and higher clay exfoliation as screw speed is increased. Reducing the PDMS viscosity in the first mixing zone of the screw facilitates dispersion at lower screw speeds, but a complex interplay between stresses and residence times at larger screw speeds is observed. More importantly, the results underline that the use of larger stresses is inefficient per se in dispersing clay if sufficient time is not given for PDMS to intercalate the clay galleries and thus facilitate tactoid disruption or erosion.


Soil Research ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 883 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. N. Nelson ◽  
J. A. Baldock ◽  
J. M. Oades

Measurement of dispersible clay is important for the diagnosis of structural stability problems in soil. However, clay dispersibility is known to change with water content and time. The purpose of the present study was to determine how incubation of sodic soil under different water content regimes influences clay dispersibility. Two topsoils (depth 0-0·1 m), one sodic [exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) 9 · 7] and the other non-sodic (ESP 3·8), were collected from an experimental pasture at Kyabram, Victoria, and 2 soils, a sodic topsoil (depth 0-0·1 m, ESP 6·9) and the corresponding subsoil (depth 0·2-0 m, ESP 25·7), were collected from a cropped field at Two Wells, South Australia. The soils were incubated for 264 days in a split-plot design. The main treatments were soil type and incubation water content: continuously air-dry, continuously wet (-50 kPa), or with wet/dry cycles. The subtreatment was water content at analysis: air dry or wet (-50 kPa). Clay dispersion was greater when measured on wet soils than dry soils, irrespective of water contents during the prior incubation. Electrical conductivity increased, and sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), pH, and organic carbon content decreased as a function of the time for which the soils were wet. In the Kyabram soils that were wet when analysed, easily dispersible clay content increased with SAR. Decreases in moderately dispersible clay under the wetting/drying regime were not related to electrolyte composition, and were attributed to particle rearrangement and cementation. The decreases in clay dispersibility with time occurred despite net losses of carbohydrate and aliphatic materials. An implication of the work is that the decomposition of soil organic matter, even in the absence of fresh additions, may reduce clay dispersion in sodic soils by altering electrolyte concentration and composition.


Soil Research ◽  
1978 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 327 ◽  
Author(s):  
KW Perrott

A series of synthetic amorphous aluminosilicates, hydrous oxides and allophanic soil clays were treated with aqueous extracts of humified clover. The resulting changes in surface charge due to organic treatment were determined by comparing the charge characteristics of these organic treated samples and samples treated with a synthetic mixture of the inorganic components of the humified clover extract. Organic treatment caused a change of net surface charge to more negative values. The change in surface charge varied with the mole ratio Al/(Al+Si) of the aluminosilicate, being largest at low values of Al/(Al+Si). Where the aluminosilicates contain positive charges these are reduced by the organic treatment. This is a major contributor to the alteration of net surface charge in the more aluminous samples. The effect of organic treatment on the charge characteristics of allophanic soil clays was similar to that for the synthetic aluminosilicates of intermediate composition. The inorganic treatments also caused an increase in negative charge, and this is attributed to the neutralization of positive charge by the adsorption of phosphate and the removal of charge-balancing aluminium-hydroxy material. The effect of the organic and inorganic treatments on the positive and negative charge components of amorphous aluminosilicates is discussed in terms of the degree of polymerization of chargebalancing hydroxy-aluminium as envisaged in current models of the structure of amorphous aluminosilicates.


Soil Research ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 45 (8) ◽  
pp. 586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oagile Dikinya ◽  
Christoph Hinz ◽  
Graham Aylmore

The paper examines the effects of electrolyte concentration and sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) on the relative saturated hydraulic conductivity (RHC) and the ionic behaviour of calcium (Ca) and sodium (Na) ions in the Na–Ca exchange complex. Batch binary exchange and saturated column transport experiments were carried out to quantify these effects using an agricultural Balkuling soil and a mining residue. Generally, RHC has been found to decrease with time, with increasing SAR, and with decreasing electrolyte concentration. The more rapid decrease in RHC in the mining residue, particularly at the lowest concentration (1 mmol/L), was consistent at all SAR values. The decreases in RHC were likely to be caused by partial blocking of pores by dispersed clay particles, as evidenced by the appearance of suspended clay particles in the effluent during leaching. Significant differences in RHC were observed in the passage of fronts of decreasing electrolyte concentrations for CaCl2 and SAR 15 solutions through the soil columns. These differences were attributable to structural alterations (slaking) of the media and the nature of the particles released and mobilised within the porous structure at any given point in the column. Measurements at the critical threshold concentration and turbidity concentration at SAR 15 revealed structural breakdown of the pore matrix system as evidenced by decreased RHC. The increase in SAR to 15 is initially accompanied by erratic RHC, presumably due to the break up of soil aggregates under the increased swelling forces. The less coherent mining residue soil was substantially more vulnerable to blockage of pores than the Balkuling soil in which clay particles are likely to be more readily mobilised, and hence available to re-deposit and occlude the matrix pores.


Soil Research ◽  
1977 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 255 ◽  
Author(s):  
WW Emerson ◽  
CL Chi

Samples of illites, two extracted from soils, one from a shale, prepared with a range of exchangeable calcium, magnesium, sodium were immersed dry into water. The extent of dispersion with time was estimated visually and also deduced from the O.D. of the suspensions derived from the dispersed clay. The dispersion of wet calcium and magnesium soil illites sheared at a given water content and then immersed in water was also assessed visually. The dispersion of all three illites was enhanced when magnesium was the dominant cation rather than calcium. For the soil clays a lower ESP was required to initiate dispersion of the dry clay when immersed in water. Both calcium and magnesium forms of the shale illite dispersed partially over a period of several days when immersed dry into water, the magnesium to a greater extent than calcium. The magnesium form of the coarser of the two soil illites also dispersed slowly. By comparing the calcium-magnesium and calcium-sodium forms of the last clay, it was deduced that about 10 times the equivalent concentration of exchangeable magnesium as sodium was needed to cause the same degree of dispersion. For the other soil illite the water content for dispersion of the wet, sheared magnesium clay was found to be less than for the calcium clay. The O.D. of suspensions of the clays was found to decrease with increasing ESP and when magnesium was the dominant cation rather than calcium. This is explained in terms of particle aggregation. The ease of dispersion of the illites was correlated with particle size. Possible reasons for this, and the effect of magnesium, as opposed to calcium, on the forces between the clay particles are discussed.


1995 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. G. Fuller ◽  
Tee Boon Goh ◽  
D. W. Oscarson

The objective of this study was to examine the effect of long-term cultivation on clay dispersibility of four aggregate size fractions (2.0–9.5 mm, 0.85–2.0 mm, 0.25–0.85 mm, and < 0.25 mm) obtained from a Chernozemic soil by comparing two cultivated sites with an adjacent native prairie site. Aggregate size fractions (ASF) were subjected to increasing levels of ultrasonic energy and the amount of clay dispersed at each energy level was determined. Organic carbon, hexose carbon, soluble hexose C, total clay, cation exchange capacity (CEC), and exchangeable cations were measured for each ASF. Clay contained within prairie aggregates was held much more strongly within the aggregate and therefore showed greater stability towards dispersion by ultrasonic vibration. More energy was required to disperse one-half of the ASF clay under prairie than under cultivated soils (228–425, and 95–229 kJ L−1 for prairie and cultivated macroaggregates, respectively; 370–433, and 249–334 kJ L−1 for prairie and cultivated microaggregates, respectively). Clay dispersibility was significantly correlated with organic C, hexose C, soluble hexose C, non-hexose C, CEC, and exchangeable Ca and Mg but was not correlated with total ASF clay. Long-term cultivation of this soil resulted in a decrease in the energy required to disperse an equivalent proportion of clay from aggregates relative to that of the grassland soil. Thus, cultivation of these soils has resulted in aggregates which are more susceptible to clay dispersion and therefore prone to water erosion and surface crusting. Key words: Clay dispersion, aggregation, carbohydrate


Clay Minerals ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 543-549 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Petit ◽  
D. Righi ◽  
J. Madejová ◽  
A. Decarreau

AbstractThe IR spectra of -saturated smectites were examined in terms of their charge characteristics. The υ4 band near 1440 cm-1, observed in the DRIFTS spectra (obtained without use of a KBr matrix), was assigned to the vibrations of ions compensating the negative charge of the clays. When KBr was used as a diluting matrix, the υ4 band was located at 1400 and/or 1440 cm-1. The band at 1400 cm-1, related to NH4Br, originated from the replacement of in the clay by K+ from the KBr. For swelling clay minerals this band indicates that layers have permanent low charge density and/or variable charge. For non-swelling clay minerals, the 1400 cm-1 band characterizes the presence of variable charges only. The υ4 band at 1440 cm-1 suggests that in the clay was not replaced by K+ from KBr and remains in the interlayer space of the clay minerals. This absorption is due to compensating only permanent charge in the interlayers, or part of the interlayers with a high charge density. The presence of both bands at 1400 cm-1 and 1440 cm-1 in the IR spectrum suggests that the clays studied have a heterogeneous interlayer charge.


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