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Slovak Clay Group

Welcome to Slovak Clay Group homepage!

We are civil association for encouragement of all activities linked with research and utilization of clays. We help to arrange contacts between individual persons and institutions that are interested in clays. We support discussions about clays, professional and educational activities. The object of our group's interest is not only research of clays and clay minerals, but also in development of the experimental methodologies that we use and which are useful in understanding of the parameters and properties of various raw materials.

We are a representative of Slovakia in International Clay Group Association, which brings together similar groups in other countries. We organize and/or take part in international events about clays in Slovak Republic and abroad. An association of Central European clay groups (Croatian, Hungarian, Polish, Slovak) formed during EUROCLAY in 1999 in Krakow, decided to organize a Mid-European Clay Conference (MECC) in a two-year cycle. It was our group that organized the first conference in Stará Lesná in 2001 and after fifteen years 8th MECC 2016 in Košice.

Research on clays and clay minerals has a long tradition in Slovakia. The first clay group, which was connected to Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences and brought together those interested in these natural materials, was established in 1963. An independent scientific society of the Czech and Slovakian Clay Group was founded in 1991. The decision about splitting of this formation was made during 5th Meeting of the European Clay Group in Brno in 1998. The Slovak Clay Group itself was formed in 2001. Presently, the Society operates as one of the scientific societies of the Slovak Academy of Sciences.

Institutions

Slovak Academy of Sciences

  • Department of hydrosilicates, Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Bratislava
  • Institute of Geotechnics, Košice
  • Earth Science Institute, Banská Bystrica

Comenius University, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Bratislava

  • Department of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry,
  • Department of Geology of Mineral Deposits
  • Department of Engineering Geology

Slovak University of Technology, Bratislava

  • Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Technology and Materials
  • Department of Geotechnics, Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology

State Geological lnstitute of Dionýz Štúr, Bratislava

Building Testing and Research Institute, Bratislava

Clays and clay minerals around us

In industrial applications, "clay" means rock, while "clay mineral" is the component of the clay rock. Several types of clay rocks are recognised: bentonite, kaolin, palygorskite and sepiolite and other common clays. As clay minerals we refer to fine-grained inorganic materials with a layer structure belonging to the group of aluminosilicates (eg. montmorillonite, kaolinite, talc, etc.).

Clays and clay minerals are modest but extremely useful natural materials that we encounter in our everyday life. Archaeological research has confirmed that the first use of clay is associated with the development of agricultural lifestyles in human society. Nowadays, with continuous development of advanced materials, the clays are still important materials, applied in the construction industry, the chemical industry (fertilizer carriers, paint fillers, etc.), in the protection of environment (waste dumps, adsorption of toxic substances), cosmetics, as well as in the preparation of composite materials with polymers (eg. rubber industry).