Mineralogical, Thermal and Morphological Analysis of some Clay Materials from Tunisia

A combination of analytical techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential thermal analysis (DTA) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were employed to characterize clays from different regions from Tunisia. The X-ray diffraction studies showed that the clay samples consist predominantly of clay minerals such as kaolinite, smectite, illite and halloysite, and quartz with trace amounts of magnetite, dolomite, calcite and gypsum minerals. The thermal analysis revealed thermograms that provided valuable information on the purity of materials and the mode of the reactions of the various clay samples.