Novel Insights on Swelling and Dehydration of Laponite

This paper investigates water sorption and dehydration of a model synthetic clay (Laponite) and highlights the large differences with natural clays (montmorillonite, hectorite) belonging to smectite family of structure and composition. Measurements were done by combining for the first time thermogravimetric analysis and X Ray diffraction methods on Laponite powders stored in atmospheres with controlled relative humidity. Laponite exhibits a very good reproducibility of sorption diagram and appears as the most hygroscopic among smectites. The interlayer space increases from 11 to 20 Angstrom when r = n H2O /n Na increases from 2 to 22 in agreement with recent numeric simulations by Morrow et al. We show that the desorption process, for 2 < r < 22, in isothermal conditions follow a first order kinetic identifying two regimes around r* = 7 which is close to the coordination number of Na in concentrated NaCl solution. Activation energies and frequency factors are derived for the two regimes of water desorption and discussed in relation with stability of the cationic complex.