STRUCTURE OF CLAY MINERALS
The clay minerals are built up by different ratios of silica layer to octahedral layers. Different combinations of layers and chemical modification of layers have given rise to over 26 different clay minerals. The most important clay minerals of interest to the drilling fluid engineer are kaolin, mica, illite, montmorillonite, sepiolite, attapulgite and chlorite. Before the structures and therefore the effects of the clay minerals can be discussed in any detail, the two mechanisms by which electrical charges may be developed on the clay surfaces, must be described.