Classification of Clay and Properties of Clay

Clay involves one of the major constituent in the construction process.Clay is an important construction material,so should know about the properties of clay.The important raw material used for making brick is clay.When it is wet state,clay is highly compressive.But when it dried,it becomes very hard material.Sufficient hardness and strength is acquired by heating clay after moulding to a required shape

Welcome to our readcivil website,today we are going to study about the classification of clay and its properties.We studied in tha last class,what are the properties of construction material.

Classification of Clay

The classification of clay can be divided into based on its mode of transportation.That is,residual clay and transported or sedimentary clay.The residual claysare orginated through decay of underlying rocks.Residual clay are used for making portery.Weathering agency are the main reason for transported or sedimentary clay.

Another classification of clay is based on the resistance to high temperature.

These classifications of clay include

Refractory : The refractory clay is highly plastic and disperse

High melting point-High melting point clay contains high refractoriness and a small number of impurities

Low melting point-Low melting clay have refractoriness less than 1350º C.

These are the important classification of clay.

Properties of Clay

1.Plasticity

Plasticity of clay is the property which wetted clay has of being permanently deformed without cracking.The quantity of water required for making clay plastic condition varies from 15 to 35 percent.Plasticity of clay is the important properties of clay

2.Porosity of clay

We know that porosity is general term in geotechnical engineering.Porosity of clay meant the ratio of pore space into dry volume

3.Temperature

Temperature affects the properties of clay in terms fusibility.The temperature at which clay fluxes is determined by proportion of fluxes,textures and uniformity of clay.If you dont understand we can simply say that if the clay material is non uniform in composition,the different particles in clay body melt at different temperature,it will cause more time to change from liquidity nature into plastic nature while molding a brick or any other material.

4.Shrinkage

Shrinkage is the last properties of clay.Shrinkage depends upon the pore space and availability of water in the clay material.The amount of shrinkage forms is an index of degree of burning of the clay mould.