Oven dry method To acquire the bentonite with water
content less then nature water content, the bentonite
is poured over a 65cm × 100cm flat stainless steel
pan. The thickness of the bentonite layer is 1 cm. The
pan is put into an oven with constant temperature at
105°C. The change of water content over time is
SiO2 Al2O3 Fe2O3 K2O CaO Na2O MgO TiO2
MX-80
bentonite 64.5 18.5 3.45 0.39 1.18 1.94 2.48 0.29
shown in Figure 5. After this relationship is
established, the bentonite sample with different water
content can be also prepared with putting it in the
oven within corresponding time interval.
The bentonite prepared with both methods is
first sieved with a #100 sieve to remove the clotted
blocks, and then stored in re-sealable plastic buckets
for further use. The reason to use a re-sealable bucket
is to retain the water content more efficiently. The
water content should be checked before each test.