Extraction and characterisation of Montmorillonite nano clay from Sri Lankan clay deposits

Clay has been a predominant industrial raw material from ancient periods in Sri Lanka. Abundant availability and quality of available clay has been few of the many reasons why clay products have been very popular in the country. Not much has been changed in the technology used in the fabrication of clay products mined from various sources, since ancient time. But with the development of the technology more research has been focused on using the existing minerals of the country for advanced applications. In many recent developments in polymer-clay nano composites, it has been discovered that usage of Montmorillonite clay in a polymer composite can greatly enhance many of its properties. Hence more focus has been given on the isolating of Montmorillonite nano particles which are suited for these composites applications. This research has been focused on extracting Montmorillonite nano particles from already existing clay deposits of the country, which in turn can be used in the synthetization of polymer-clay nano composite. Preliminary analyses were conducted on selected clay deposits to confirm the presence of Montmorillonite and then they were subjected to various processed to increase the clay constituents while removing the impurity contents. Afterward selected specimens were subjected to the Montmorillonite extraction which involved mainly the isolation of this clay mineral from other types. Resultants were then analyzed by using various techniques to confirm the presence of required properties.