Clay–water interaction

[1] In the dry state, clay packets exist in face-to-face stacks like a deck of playing cards, but clay packets begin to change when exposed to water.

Five descriptive terms describe the progressive interactions in a clay-water system.

(1) Hydration occurs as clay packets absorb water and swell.

(4) Deflocculation, or peptization, the opposite effect, occurs when a chemical de-flocculant is added to flocculated mud; the positive edge charges are covered, and attraction forces are greatly reduced.

(5) Aggregation, a result of ionic or thermal conditions, alters the hydrational layer around clay platelets, removes the deflocculant from positive edge charges, and allows platelets to assume a face-to-face structure.