Contact angles of aluminosilicate clays as affected by relative humidity and exchangeable cations

Contact angles of aluminosilicate clays are difficult to determine. Not only does their small particle size present measurement difficulties, but contact angles may vary with relative humidity and cation composition. In this paper, we determined the effects of relative humidity and exchangeable cations on contact angles of three aluminosilicate clays (smectite, kaolinite, illite). Contact angles were measured on clay films with the sessile drop method under different relative humidity (19, 33, 75, 100%), and with clays saturated either with Na, K, Mg, or Ca. The results showed that the water contact angles on smectite increased with relative humidity between 19 and 75%, but for kaolinite and illite, little differences in water contact angles between 19 and 75% relative humidity were observed. For all three clays, however, the water contact angles decreased at 100% relative humidity as compared to the lower relative humidities. Cations affected not only the adsorption of water but also the surface charge, and both factors influenced the contact angles of the clays. Negligible effect of the different cations Na+, K+, Mg2+, or Ca2+ on contact angles was observed.