Ceramics
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CLAY

Feldspars | Types of Clay | Drying and Firing | Technical Info

One might think of clay as almost a representative sample of earth's crust after it has been pulverized to very fine particle size by the action of erosion. Clay differs from the average of all rocks more in its physical state than in its chemical make-up. But then clays vary widely in their chemical composition. One thinks of the more pure clay, such as kaolin, consisting largely of other oxides and looked at as impurities. Chemical analyses of clay indicates considerable water. Chemically combined water is the result of the hydrating process, or hydrolysis, by which clay was formed.

koalinite - mineralogical name given to pure clay

parentage of clays takes us to feldspars - rock