INVESTIGATION OF STRUCTURAL FEATURES OF NATURAL AND ENRICHED KAOLINS OF THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS

IR-spectroscopic results of study of primary kaolins of the Belarusian deposits «Sitnica» and «Dedovka» in a natural state and enriched by hydraulic sieve method are presented. The structural features of Belarusian kaolins as compared with known high-quality kaolin of Ukrainian deposits «Prosyanovskoe» are revealed, the values of crystallinity index are determined. Analysis of IR-spectra in the high-frequency region allowed us to establish the water connection forms in natural and enriched kaolins, the presence of OH-groups in the interlayer space, inside and on the surface of the octahedral layer and adsorbed water molecules, which can affect the rheology of kaolin suspensions. Silicate absorption band of kaolin, as well as intense peaks of deformation vibrations of quartz, typical for unenriched natural kaolin of Belarusian deposits, are in the lowfrequency region. Investigation using IR-spectroscopy made it possible to establish the structural features of natural kaolins related to the presence in the primary kaolin of the «Sitnitsa» and «Dedovka» deposits of the mineral of the kaolinite group of dikkite. The crystallinity index values (according to Hinckley) are established for natural and enriched kaolins «Sitnica» (0.94 and 1.11) and «Dedovka» (0.98 and 1.04) in comparison with kaolins of Prosyanovskoye deposit (1.31). 

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