STUDY OF CLAY FABRIC THROUGH ELECTRON MICROSCOPE

Abstract

Study of clay fabrics of 25 soil samples has been done, among which 20 samples are from different parts of India and the remaining five samples are obtained from U .5.A. The specimens for scanning electron microscope (SEIVi) have been prepared by various techniques and clay mineral identification has been done through X-ray diffraction (XRD) Different methods are applied for preparing samples for SEM examination. In addition to natural specimens in normal slide specimens, glycol and heating treatment has been given to normal slides to see the changes in the fabric by glycolic and heating action. Gold coating; has been done on the soil/clay specimen so that there would be no charging problem and the details could be seen with greater resolution in SEM, At suitable magnifications the micrographs have been taken which reveal that structural changes occur due to a number of factors. With the help of the micrographs, the micro and mes©'fabric study of soil/clay specimens have been done and several conclusions are drawn. The X-ray diffractions have been done by using £~:olybdenium target with Zirconium filter. The results of X-ray diffractions have been used to identify clay minerals present in the soil samples. The number of clay minerals present in a soil sample are correlated with Atterberg limits.