Rebekah Fowler, “Comparing Methodology in Clay Analysis for X-Ray Diffraction Using Natron Clay Samples”
Mentor: Lindsay McHenry, Geosciences, Letters & Science (College of)
Poster #33
There are multiple preparation techniques for clay minerals in X-ray diffraction analysis; each one is unique to represent a certain kind of clay mineral in XRD properly. There is no conclusion as to which preparation is the best version compared to other techniques. The goal of this research project is to explore the positive and negative qualities of twelve different preparation techniques for a single clay sample. The study pulled two different clay samples from Dr. McHenry’s Natron sample collection to compare two separate trials. Each sample was first subdivided into two separate containers. One container received sodium acetate, and the other received distilled water. From then on, both containers were divided into two more subcategories. From there, one container of sodium acetate and one container of distilled water received sodium metaphosphate overnight, while the other two containers of sodium acetate and distilled water received distilled water overnight. In total, there were four possible clay mineral preparation techniques. Each of these four were sonicated and centrifuged for the same amount of time to further separate the material that is greater than and less than two micrometers. Now, there are eight total samples from the original four. To test the different slide preparation techniques used in clay analysis, each four was loaded onto three separate slides. One slide was treated with distilled water, the second with ethylene glycol, and the third with glycerol. From there, one original Natron sample generated twenty-four comparative XRD graphs. This research hopes to find a significant peak count in XRD data to prove the superior clay analysis technique. This research is beneficial to geoscience because it can rule out clay analysis methods that are inferior and can lead to proper clay identification in XRD.