China clays

This is essentially hydrated aluminium silicates derived from natural deposits. There are soft clays, hard clays, calcined clays and treated clays. This is a common filler in the manufacture of acid resistant ebonites, natural soft rubbers and in Neoprene compounding for phosphoric acid duties. 

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Acid refractory materials include fireclays, flint clays, china clays (kaolins), silica, flint, chalcedony, ganister and titanium dioxide. 

Aluminium is not found free but its compounds are so widespread that it is the most abundant metal in the earth s crust. Aluminosilicates such as clay, kaolin (or china clay), mica and feldspar are well known and widely distributed. The oxide. AI2O3. occurs (anhydrous) as corundum and emery, and (hydrated) as bauxite. Cryolite. Na,AlF. (sodium hexafluoroaluminate). is found extensively in Greenland. 

The ECLP tube press was originally developed for the filtration of china clay but has been used with many other slurries such as those in mining, Ti02, cement, sewage sludge, etc. The typical cycle time is about four minutes or more. 

Ultramarine blues are prepared by a high temperature reaction of intimate mixtures of china clay, sodium carbonate, sulfur, siHca, sodium sulfate, and a carbonaceous reducing agent, eg, charcoal, pitch, or rosin. 

Particulate fillers are divided into two types, inert fillers and reinforcing fillers. The term inert filler is something of a misnomer as many properties may be affected by incorporation of such a filler. For example, in a plasticised PVC compound the addition of an inert filler will reduce die swell on extrusion, increase modulus and hardness, may provide a white base for colouring, improve electrical insulation properties and reduce tackiness. Inert fillers will also usually substantially reduce the cost of the compound. Amongst the fillers used are calcium carbonates, china clay, talc, and barium sulphate. For normal uses such fillers should be quite insoluble in any liquids with which the polymer compound is liable to come into contact. 

For electrical insulation china clay is commonly employed whilst various calcium carbonates (whiting, ground limestone, precipitated calcium carbonate, and coated calcium carbonate) are used for general purpose work. Also occasionally employed are talc, light magnesium carbonate, barytes (barium sulphate) and the silicas and silicates. For flooring applications asbestos has been an important filler. The effect of fillers on some properties of plasticised PVC are shown in Figure 12.21 (a-d). 

Fillers are often employed to reduce the surface tack of the final product. Examples are talc and china clay. If powdered materials are added directly to a latex they compete for the emulsion stabiliser present and tend to coagulate the latex. They are therefore added as an aqueous dispersion prepared by ball milling the filler with water and a dispersing agent, for example a naphthalene formaldehyde sulphonate at a concentration of about 1% of the water content. Heat and light stabilisers which are solids must be added in the same way. 

Soon after World War II the hard thermoplastic floor tile was developed. These tiles use coumarone resins as a binder for the other ingredients, which may contain fibrous fillers such as asbestos, inert fillers such as china clay and softeners such as paraffin wax. 

Asbestos may be used for improved heat and chemical resistance and silica, mica and china clay for low water absorption grades. Iron-free mica powder is particularly useful where the best possible electrical insulation characteristics are required but because of the poor adhesion of resin to the mica it is usually used in conjunction with a fibrous material such as asbestos. Organic fillers are commonly used in a weight ratio of 1 1 with the resin and mineral fillers in the ratio 1.5 1. 

Mineral fibres are incorporated to reduce cost and to raise the softening point. China clay, natural silicas, talc and slate dust are frequently used. 

Drew, B.L. and Burns, R.S. (1992) Simulation of Optimal Control and Filtering of an Industrial China Clay Dryer. In European Simulation Symposium on Simulation and AI in Computer Aided Techniques, The Society for Computer Simulation, Dresden, 5-8 November, pp. 531-535. 

China clay waste, Quarrying Mainly tipping and in As fine aggregate in... 

Silicates with layer. structures include some of the most familiar and important minerals known to man, partieularly the clay minerals [such as kaolinite (china clay), montmorillonite (bentonite, fuller s earth), and vermiculite], the micas (e.g. muscovite, phlogopite, and biotite), and others such as chrysotile (white asbestos). 

China clay or kmlin, which is predominantly kaolinite, is particularly valuable because it is essentially free from iron impurities (and therefore colourless). World production in 1991 was 24.7M1 (USA 39%, UK 13%, Colombia, Korea and USSR 7% each). In the USA over half of this vast tonnage is used for paper filling or paper coating and only 130000 tonnes was used for china, crockery, and earthenware, which is now usually made from ball clay, a particularly fine-grained, highly plastic material which is predominantly kaolinite together with clay-mica and quartz. Some 800000 tonnes of ball clay is used annually in the USA for white ware, table ware, wall and floor tiles, sanitary ware, and electrical porcelain. 

As with mineral wools, there are different types of ceramic fiber, but they are all made from a combination of alumina, silica and china clay and may be made by blowing or extruding the liquid melt. 

This class of material does not set and must be held in position by a rigid cement or some mechanical means. A material commonly used is asbestos fibre mixed with various other substances such as china clay, sand, etc. and plasticised with some form of oil or tar. 

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