New Empirical Method for Kaolin Clay Analysis

Applied Rigaku Technologies, Inc have announced a new empirical method for the elemental analysis of analysis of titanium and iron in kaolin clay. Application Note #1187 demonstrates the effectiveness of the filtered direct excitation design of the Rigaku NEX QC energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) analyser for analysis during the QA/QC process in the production of clay-based products.

Kaolin clay has a broad range of uses, from pottery and ceramics to coated paper and as an additive in toothpastes and cosmetics. It is also widely used in the production of paper. The titanium and iron present affect the colour and physical properties of the clay, and so must be closely monitored throughout QA/QC processes to ensure proper ratios for each given product type.

For this application the samples were ground to <200 mesh (<75um particle size). Typically, a shatterbox or a ball mixer/mill is used to grind samples. To eliminate any potential contamination bias from the grinding surfaces, iron or steel grinding accessories should not be used. For optimum grinding, it is recommended to use zirconium agate, tungsten carbide, or other suitable hard surface grinding equipment. For this study, 3g of powder was placed into a standard 32mm XRF sample cup and tap-packed before analysis.

The results show that the Rigaku NEX QC analyser provides exceptional performance for the measurement of titanium and iron in kaolin clay and offers a simple and fast means of analysis during the QA/QC process, as well as for screening at the quarry.