CLAY-INORGANIC STUDIES. II. HYDROXY ALUMINUM PHOSPHATE–MONTMORILLONITE COMPLEX

Abstract

Two specimens of hydroxy aluminum phosphate interlayer materials in montmorillonite clay were prepared with 7.20 meq Al and 11.29 meq H3PO4/g clay and with 14.40 meq Al and 22.58 meq H3PO4/g clay, and the resulting complexes studied by chemical and mineralogical methods. Both interlayer materials were slightly positively charged and except for different water contents their chemical compositions were almost identical. They contained Al, PO4 and H2O and a minor amount of Ca and approximated hydrous AlPO4∙nH2O. The mole ratios of Al:Ca:PO4:OH were 1.00:0.08:0.92:0.24 and 1.00:0.05:0.91:0.24, respectively. The interlayer materials appeared to be loosely packed and distributed sparsely in interspaces of the montmorillonite. The degree of packing was greater for the preparation with the larger amount of interlayer material. The materials increased the montmorillonite basal spacing to 23.3 Å under air-dry condition (30–40% relative humidity) but did not affect the lateral dimensions. The basal spacing varied somewhat with relative humidity at room temperature and decreased markedly as water was driven off by heating. Heat treatments between room temperature and 300 C sharply reduced the d001 spacings to 16.7 Å which persisted up to 700 C. It is postulated that the large basal spacings occur because the hydrated interlayer materials have a framework structure with tunnels along the c-axis. This being so, changes in the spacings with different humidities might result from the movement of water molecules among interstitial spaces existing around and between the loosely distributed molecules of interlayer material. The 16.7 Å spacing for the dehydrated phase corresponds to the sum of 7.0 Å, the edge dimension of an orthorhombic anhydrous AlPO4 and 9.7 Å, the silicate layer thickness.