Also: clay minerals, bentonite, montmorillonite, earth (building)
Clays are fine-grained layered silicate minerals. Beyond pottery and brick, researchers use them as nano-fillers in plastics, adsorbents for pollutants, low-cost filter membranes, and in modern earth building.
Readiness: lab lab studies · prototype demonstrated objects · commercial products or buildings in real use · review summaries of other studies.
Examined how to measure the compressive strength of pressed earth building blocks.
Built / tested: compressed earth block test specimens
As reported in: Morel, Pkla, Walker (2007). Compressive strength testing of compressed earth blocks. Construction and Building Materials. doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2005.08.021
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Added date-palm fibres to compressed earth blocks and measured strength and moisture behaviour.
Built / tested: fibre-filled earth blocks
As reported in: Taallah, Guettala, Guettala et al. (2014). Mechanical properties and hygroscopicity behavior of compressed earth block filled by date palm fibers. Construction and Building Materials. doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2014.02.058
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Reviews rammed earth walls stabilised with cement as a lower-impact building method.
As reported in: Kariyawasam, Jayasinghe (2016). Cement stabilized rammed earth as a sustainable construction material. Construction and Building Materials. doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2015.12.189
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A case study of rammed earth buildings made with local granitic residual soils.
Built / tested: rammed earth buildings
As reported in: Silva, Oliveira, Miranda et al. (2013). Rammed earth construction with granitic residual soils: The case study of northern Portugal. Construction and Building Materials. doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2013.05.047
Studied how layered-silicate clay in polymers changes their flammability and heat stability.
Built / tested: polymer nanocomposite samples
As reported in: Gilman (1999). Flammability and thermal stability studies of polymer layered-silicate (clay) nanocomposites. Applied Clay Science. doi:10.1016/s0169-1317(99)00019-8
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An early study dispersing layered clay inside epoxy resin to make a nanocomposite.
Built / tested: epoxy nanocomposites
As reported in: Lan, Pinnavaia (1994). Clay-Reinforced Epoxy Nanocomposites. Chemistry of Materials. doi:10.1021/cm00048a006
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A review of clay minerals used to adsorb heavy metals from water.
As reported in: Uddin (2017). A review on the adsorption of heavy metals by clay minerals, with special focus on the past decade. Chemical Engineering Journal. doi:10.1016/j.cej.2016.09.029
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Spin-coated a thin bentonite clay layer onto a porous perlite ceramic support to make a low-cost ultrafiltration membrane, then tested it for removing dissolved dyes from water.
Built / tested: ceramic membranes
As reported in: Saja, Bouazizi, Achiou et al. (2020). Fabrication of low-cost ceramic ultrafiltration membrane made from bentonite clay and its application for soluble dyes removal. Journal of the European Ceramic Society. doi:10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2020.01.057
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Produced microfiltration membranes from locally sourced clay for water treatment.
Built / tested: microfiltration membranes
As reported in: Belibi Belibi, Nguemtchouin, Rivallin et al. (2015). Microfiltration ceramic membranes from local Cameroonian clay applicable to water treatment. Ceramics International. doi:10.1016/j.ceramint.2014.10.090
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