The correspondence between optical and X-ray measurements of particle orientation in clays

The spatial arrangement of platy particles in a clay is defined by an orientation ratio which can be derived analytically from optical birefringence as well as from X-ray diffraction data. Measurements on kaolin slurries consolidated by increasing loads were used to verify that orientation ratios obtained experimentally by these two methods are in fact equivalent. In contrast it was found that particle orientation cannot be assessed objectively from electronmicrographs alone. A combined optical-X-ray study of two natural clays (London Clay and Lias Clay) revealed that the kaolinite crystals are oriented only slightly more than the illite crystals, and showed that the correspondence between optical and X-ray measurements is also valid for natural clays.