Characterization of organophilized clays by contact angle measurement

Reference	Presenter	Authors (Institution)	Abstract
16-052	Francesca Tatiana Albino	Albino, F.T.(Federal University of Santa Catarina); Alfaro, M.E.(Federal University of Santa Catarina); Hotza, D.(Federal University of Santa Catarina); Garcia, D.E.(Federal University of Santa Catarina); da Silva, H.C.(T-cota Laboratório Cerâmico Ltda);	Quaternary ammonium salts are surfactants widely used in the organophilization of clays, process in which organic molecules are placed between clay layers, the expansion of the clay inter-layer spacing is necessary to produce high hydrophobic clay. In this work, we estimate the degree of organophilization by measuring the contact angle between distilled water and a flat surface of an organophilic clay pellet using a goniometer. The higher the measured angle, the higher the level of repulsion to water presented by the sample tested, i.e., the greater the hydrophobic effect. In the initial point, the purified clay shows the water-static contact angle of 12±2°. After a proper combination of processing temperature, surfactant concentration and suspension viscosity of clay, the contact angle obtained was greater than 120°.
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