The Mechanism of Dehydration of Mg-Vermiculite

Abstract

The hydrated Mg-vermiculite lattice contains double sheets of water molecules interleaved with silicate layers. In the fully hydrated condition, each water sheet is arranged in a regular hexagonal pattern and the interlayer cations are located midway between water sheets in octahedral coordination.Release of water molecules from interlayer positions leads at first to a gradual contraction of the basal spacing from 14.81 A, during which the water network becomes increasingly distorted. The contraction ceases temporarily at 14.36 A while further water is withdrawn. When the probability that a cation has a complete octahedral “shell” of water molecules at a given instant falls below a certain value, an abrupt contraction to 13.82 A takes place during which the cations are displaced to sites near the silicate layer surfaces.Release of further water causes a contraction to a lattice (11.59 A) in which single sheets of water molecules are interleaved with the silicate layers. The 11.59 A phase is stable until only a small proportion of the interlayer water remains, when an approximately regular interstratification of 11.59 A and 9.02 A (dehydrated) layers develops. The final traces of interlayer water are retained in the interior of the crystal with great tenacity owing to the sealing of the crystal near the edges.