Emanation thermal analysis of intercalated montmorillonitic clay

Emanation Thermal Analysis (ETA), based on the measurement of the release of radon from previously labelled samples, has been used for 'in-situ' characterisation of the morphology changes of intercalated montmorillonitic clay. The thermal behaviour of hydroxyaluminium intercalated montmorillonite was monitored in course of the preparation of alumina pillared montmorillonite, making possible to determine optimal temperature for the isothermal treatment of the intermediate product. Moreover, the thermal stability of alumina pillared montmorillonite porous structure was determined from the ETA data. A good agreement of ETA data and surface area, XRD patterns, DTA, and TG results was found.