What is kaolin? Introduction to kaolin types, characteristics and uses!

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What is kaolin?

Kaolin is a very important non-metallic mineral that is widely used in papermaking, refractory materials, ceramic and rubber fillers, coatings, white cement raw materials, enamel glazes, daily cosmetics, building materials, petroleum , chemical industry and other industrial fields. Below we will learn about kaolin clay from its types, characteristics and uses.

Types of kaolin

Kaolin is a clay or clay rock mainly composed of kaolinite clay minerals. Naturally produced kaolin ores can be divided into different types based on their origin, quality, plasticity, sand content and other factors. There are several types of coal-based kaolin, hard kaolin, soft kaolin, sandy kaolin, metakaolin, calcined kaolin, and washed kaolin.

Coal-measure kaolin: Kaolin that exists in the form of coal seam central gangue, roof and floor, or separate mineral seam.

Hard kaolin: Unweathered massive kaolinite, which becomes plastic when ground into fine particles.

Soft kaolin: Mainly earthy kaolin, with a sand content of less than 5O% and strong plasticity.

Sandy kaolin: Contains earthy kaolin, but the sand content is more than 50% and its plasticity is weak.

Metakaolin: A product formed by using kaolin as raw material and calcining it at an appropriate temperature (600"C~900"C) to remove structural water.

Calcined kaolin: A product formed from kaolin as raw material and calcined at a high temperature above 900"C.

Washed kaolin: The product obtained by dispersing soft or sandy kaolin in water and removing its associated sandy minerals. 

Characteristics of kaolin

Pure kaolin has high whiteness , soft and easily dispersed and suspended in water, good plasticity and high adhesion, excellent electrical insulation properties, good acid solubility resistance, very low cation exchange capacity, high refractoriness and other physical and chemical properties.

Uses of kaolin

Kaolin in my country was developed and utilized earlier and has been traditionally used in ceramics and refractory materials since the 1980s. Since then, large-scale development and utilization has begun, and the application fields have gradually expanded. It is used in ceramics, papermaking, coatings, refractory materials, cement, plastics, rubber, cables, petroleum, chemicals, medicine and light industry.

In recent years, the rapid development of modern science and technology has made the application fields of kaolin more extensive. Some high-tech fields have begun to use kaolin as a new material in large quantities. Even the high-temperature porcelain parts of atomic reactors, space shuttles and spacecrafts also use kaolin. Made of. The application of all-round properties makes kaolin a strategic mineral raw material.