Mineralogical transformations of calcareous rich clays with firing: A comparative study between calcite and dolomite rich clays from Algarve, Portugal

Abstract Mineralogical transformations during firing of two extremely calcareous clays, one calcite and other dolomite rich, and relatively poor in silica were studied. Original clays were mineralogical and chemically characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF). Firing of both clays was carried out in the temperature range 300–1100 °C under oxidizing conditions and the mineralogical transformations were investigated with XRD, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and scanning electron microscopy associated with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). Important compositional differences in the neoformed phases were observed between calcite and dolomite rich clays. In the Ca-rich clay the assemblage gehlenite + wollastonite + larnite was observed. In the Mg(Ca)-rich clay the reaction products included akermanite, diopside, monticellite, forsterite, periclase and spinel. XRD and SEM-EDS showed the presence, in both clays, of a potassium–calcium sulfate in samples fired between 900 and 1100 °C.