What is Kaolin?

aka: Kaolin, Clay, China Clay,

Calcined or Hydrous Clay, or
Aluminum Silicate
What is Kaolin?

„ Whatever you call them, Kaolin clays can be

chemically described as a group of stacked
hydrous aluminum silicates composed of
approximately 45% silica (SiO2), 37%
alumina (Al2O3), and minor naturally
occurring trace impurities.
What is Kaolin?

„ The term Kaolin originates from the

Mandarin Chinese word kao-ling meaning
“high ridge”, which probably relates to
where these deposits existed.

„ In modern times, Kaolin generally refers to

a naturally occurring mineral, kaolinite,
which is white or off-white in color, in the
form of hexagonally shaped,stacked
platelets, of irregular orientation.
Kaolin, Commercial Processing
Methods
What is Kaolin? - Grades by Process

Commercial grades of Kaolin are generally either available as one of four forms:
„ Air floated
„ Water Washed
„ Calcined
„ Surface Modified

„ Air Flotation: a relatively inexpensive process to reduce residue, grit, and moisture
to consistent levels acceptable to the end users. The crude kaolin is ground,air
classified to acceptable size distributions, and dried. An air floated clay is generally
poor in color, higher in residue, and abrasive, as compared to more refined grades.
What is Kaolin? - Air Float Process

Graphic Courtesy Thiele Kaolin Company

What is Kaolin? - Grades by Process

Commercial grades of Kaolin are generally either available as one of four forms:
„ Air floated
„ Water Washed
„ Calcined
„ Surface Modified

„ Water Washing: a much more intense and expensive process of blunging, slurrying,
sieving, grinding, centrifuging, classifying, chemically and possibly magnetically
treating, concentrating and drying the crude to achieve a desired level of impurity,
particle size, brightness, and residue. Further, some grades may be processed
through attrition milling to delaminate or shear the stacked platelets into the individual
constituent plates. Regardless of a finished free moisture content, water washed
clays retain their originally crystalline bound water of hydration at 14% weight.
What is Kaolin? - Water Wash Process

Graphic Courtesy Thiele Kaolin Company

 BLUNGING DE-GRITTING

CENTRIFUGING DELAMINATION
FILTERING

DRYING
What is Kaolin? - Grades by Process

Commercial grades of Kaolin are generally either available as one of four forms:
„ Air floated
„ Water Washed
„ Calcined
„ Surface Modified

„ Calcination: in the simplest sense, water washed grades, chosen to achieve a

desired finished product requirement, are ground, heat treated at temperatures near
or above 650°C, and ground again to reduce fused particles formed during the
calicination. Calcining methods can be either flash with pneumatically conveyed feed
material experiencing a residence time measured in seconds, but at elevated
temperatures, or by soak methods which take as much as twenty or thirty minutes to
complete. Soak calciners can be of either vertical or rotary design, as opposed to
flash calincations pneumatic conveyance, are consistent in terms of being gravity fed.
What is Kaolin? - Grades by Process

Commercial grades of Kaolin are generally either available as one of four forms:
„ Air floated
„ Water Washed
„ Calcined
„ Surface Modified

„ Surface Modification: uses calcined material as a substrate for chemical surface

treatment. The range of treatments is quite varied and application specific.
Generally treatments are mercapto, amino, or organofunctional silane treatments
reacted on the kaolin surface to later crosslink with an intended polymer system. Due
to the improved chemical bond strength achieved, improved physical & electrical
properties of the final product are realized.