Diagnosis of the heating effect on the electrical resistivity of Ouargla (Algeria) dunes sand using XRD patterns and FTIR spectra

• Sand dunes of Ouargla are mainly consisted of quartz and gypsum.
• The electrical resistivity of Ouargla natural sand dunes is 6 × 1014 Ω cm.
• The heat affects the crystallographic composition and the resistivity of sand dunes.
• Sand dunes heated at 400 °C have the lowest resistivity, 6.75 × 1012 Ω cm.
• Sand dunes heated at 1200 °C have the greatest resistivity, 8.55 × 1014Ω cm.

XRD patterns and FTIR spectra have shown that dunes sand of Ouargla's region, in its natural state, is formed of a high percentage of quartz, gypsum and very low percentage of kaolinite and hematite, in addition to some organic compounds. The electrical resistivity of the natural sand has been measured, it was 6 × 1014 Ω cm. Six samples of the sand were heated separately at 200, 400, 600, 800, 1000 and 1200 °C. The XRD patterns and FTIR spectra of these samples were carried out. On the other hand, the electrical resistivities of these samples have been measured. The change of the electrical resistivity with heat shows a nonlinear behavior. The heated sample of sand at 200 °C has lost some water. Most of the gypsum in the 200 °C heated sample has transformed into anhydrite, and the rest has transformed into bassanite, and its electrical resistivity has fallen down to 3.5 × 1014 Ω cm. By heating at 400 °C, the gypsum has lost all its water and it has transformed entirely to anhydrite, and its electrical resistivity became 6.75 × 1012 Ω cm, it has the lowest measured resistivity. At 600 °C and 800 °C, in addition to anhydrite, the kaolinite transformed to meta-kaolin due to the continuous breaking of OH bond and formation of water vapor, and the electrical resistivity increased to (1.5−1.9) × 1014 Ω cm. Heating at 1000 °C leads to the initiation of the interaction between anhydrite and quartz, the wollastonite appears, and the meta-kaolin transforms to aluminum-silicon and cristobalite. The wollastonite is a good electrical insulator. It raises the electrical resistivity of sand to 2.6 × 1014 Ω cm. The heating at 1200 °C makes all anhydrite to interact with quartz due to the increasing of volume of wollastonite, the anhydrite disappears completely, the quartz transforms into cristobalite. The cristobalite increases due to the dissociation of aluminium-silicon into mullite and cristobalite, as well as the transformation of quartz into cristobalite at 1050 °C, then the electrical resistivity reaches the highest measured value 8.55 × 1014 Ω cm.