Relation between EBS of Some Syrian Clay Minerals and Atterberg Limits

The demand of clay as a raw material for many industries has increased in recent years due to their
physical–chemical and plastic properties. The main property that distinguish the clay is its plasticity
therefore; several attempts have been made to achieve a numerical index to emphasize the relationship
between mineralogy and plasticity. (EBS) Equivalent Basal Spacing maybe is the most recent
contribution for this purpose. In this paper, we analyze different types of Syrian clay samples, from five locations, by measuring their Atterberg limits and their mineralogical composition, in order to check the
validity of the EBS method. As consequence, we find a positive connection between Atterberg limits and
the relative amount of phyllosilicates present in samples. The EBS factor provides a good relationship
between mineralogy and plasticity of the samples, by giving an easy and reliable correlation based on the
direct determination of the liquid limit and plasticity index based on the mineralogical composition of the
studied clays. We recommend for further researches to study the relations between EBS and Atterberg
limits for other types of clay around Syria in order to validate EBS parameters in most applications.