Characterization of Two Clay Raw Materials from Côte d’Ivoire with a View to Enhancing Them in Eco-Construction

Abstract

This study was carried out with a view to appreciate the value of clay, raw materials in eco-construction. To achieve this, we sampled two clay raw materials denoted Aga and Bak and then characterized. The results obtained from geotechnical and mineralogical tests have shown that the clay samples Aga and Bak are fine soils moderately plastic class A soils consisting essen-tially of quartz with 73.13% and 74.56% respectively for Aga and Bak and clay minerals (kaolinite and illite) with 12.73% kaolinite and 8.55% illite for Aga against 8.31% kaolinite and 13.72% for Bak. Moreover, these samples do not contain swelling clays and contain a sufficient quantity of iron oxides which allows them to be valued in ceramics, in particular in compressed earth bricks (CEB).