Montmorillonite based artificial nacre prepared via a drying process

Taking advantage of the specific behaviour of Na/Ca montmorillonite in aqueous dispersion, textured films were prepared by progressive evaporation of dispersions with low concentrations of delaminated platelets. The increase of the concentration of ions during evaporation changes the nature of the clay mineral platelet face interactions from repulsive to attractive. After complete drying, a dense brick-like structure is obtained when a sodium salt is used as deflocculant. The bending strength of the textured film is strongly affected by cracks formation during drying, specially when the sample thickness increases. After optimisation, crack-free textured samples with a 140 mu m thickness, 20 cm x 25 cm area and 120 MPa bending strength were obtained. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.