Clay, Especially Smectite

This chapter explains clay. When making things with clay, the basis is whether or not the structure of the clay and its characteristics are known. Even if you do not understand everything by reading this chapter, it is fine if you can unravel it as needed later. This chapter explains the structure, composition, and characteristics of clay, especially about a water-swelling clay called smectite. Smectite is a highly hydrophilic clay, and its characteristics are suitable for certain applications. However, not all applications prefer hydrophilicity, and there are many cases where hydrophobicity is preferred. For those applications, various smectites have been developed that have changed their hydrophilicity to hydrophobicity through ion exchange. The various smectites and the unique viscosity behavior of the clay dispersion are explained. In addition, the Clayteam's initiative, the Clay Library, is explained.