A green body is an unfired clay-based object, e.g., made from mixtures of milled clay, quartz, feldspar, and appropriate amounts of water, and formed by molding, pressing, or by a potter’s wheel. The green body is fired in kilns to obtain a ceramic object.
Syn., greenware;
Cf., ceramic, pottery

a) In clayware manufacture, the ability of an unfired, molded clay body to resist mechanical deformation.

b) In metal casting, a measure of the ability of a bentonite-bound sand mold to resist deformation (also called “green sand strength”).

A modulated 1:1 layer silicate based on the serpentine structure, with an approximate ideal composition of Fe²⁺₃Si₂O₅(OH)₄. Mn, Mg, and Al can substitute for Fe. There is an apparent excess of Si and an apparent deficiency in octahedral composition on the basis of 7 oxygen atoms. Earlier literature erroneously described greenalite as an iron serpentine, similar to the structure of lizardite. The 1T polytype (space group P31m) is dominant and the 1M polytype (space group Cc) is often intergrown. Greenalite is an “island” structure where Si-rich tetrahedra of a given layer have apical oxygen atoms coordinate to one octahedral sheet and others to the adjacent sheet (Guggenheim and Eggleton, 1998). The islands are saucer-shaped with some islands inverted, and the islands are domed. Island diameters depend on composition with larger-diameter islands having smaller average octahedral cation sizes (4 tetrahedral-ring diameters in greenalite, 3 rings in the Mn analogue, caryopilite). Island domains are randomly displaced within layers. Greenalite is commonly found in Precambrian iron formations.
Cf., caryopilite

A poorly described material, possibly chlorite, from Griffith Park, Los Angeles, California, USA.

A qualitative term in the clay-mining industry that refers to small, hard accessory minerals occurring in the bulk clay deposit, such as quartz, feldspar, rutile, ilmenite, and apatite, which imparts an undesirable “abrasive” character to the bulk clay.

Water existing underground in voids or pore spaces in rock or sediment.

Phyllosilicates are classified on the basis of characteristics involving planar structures, non-planar structures and regular interstratifications (e.g., Guggenheim et al., 2006). For planar structures and regular interstratifications, the layer type (e.g., 1:1, 2:1) is further divided by interlayer material present that is required to offset the net negative charge on the layer, and each division is given a group name. In addition, each group has a generally characteristic spacing [based on the d(001)] perpendicular to the stacking direction, i.e., csinβ. The group names (x ~ layer charge per formula unit) for the planar structures (interstratifications are not given here) are: serpentine-kaolin (x ~ 0, csinβ ~ 7.1-7.3 Å), talc-pyrophyllite (x ~ 0, csinβ ~ 9.1-9.4 Å), smectite (x ~ -0.2 to -0.6, csinβ ~ 14.4-15.6 Å), vermiculite (x ~ -0.6 to -0.9, csinβ ~ 14.4-15.6 Å), true mica (x ~ -1.0, csinβ ~ 9.6-10.1 Å), brittle mica (x ~ -2.0, csinβ ~ 9.6- 10.1 Å), interlayer-deficient mica (x ~ -0.6 to -0.85, csinβ ~ 9.6-10.1 Å), and chlorite (x ~ variable, csinβ ~ 14.0-14.4 Å). Groups are further divided into subgroups (e.g., serpentine, kaolin, talc, pyrophyllite, trioctahedral smectite, dioctahedral smectite, etc.) by mineral species based on the octahedral character (i.e., dioctahedral, trioctahedral) and subgroups are divided based on chemical composition to mineral species. Bailey (1980) designated the trioctahedral smectite subgroup as saponite and the dioctahedral smectite subgroup as montmorillonite.

“Groutellite” is a poorly defined phase that had been found in heating experiments as an intermediate phase from ramsdellite to groutite with a possible composition of Mn₂O₃OH. The phase is a synthesis product only, although it has been anticipated that it may occur in nature.

Groutite is a manganese oxyhydroxide, alpha-MnO(OH), and is isostructural with diaspore. The manganese is trivalent and coordinated with O to form edge-sharing Mn³⁺O₆ octahedra, which are linked three-dimensionally by sharing vertices. The three dimensional structure is comprised of tunnels, with the sizes of these tunnels determined by the chain widths. In groutite, the edge-sharing octahedra form double chains, whereas in manganite (gamma-MnO(OH); isostructural with rutile) the edge-sharing octahedra form single chains. Jahn-Teller distortions (Kohler et al., 1997) affect the octahedral shape with four short and two long Mn-O bond lengths and determine partially where the hydrogen links the octahedral chains to form the overall topologies. Groutite may be described as a distorted derivative of ramesdellite (MnO₂, with Mn⁴⁺ and a double octahedral chain; isostructural with gibbsite) and manganite as a distorted derivative of pyrolusite, beta-MnO₂ (and a single octahedral chain with Mn⁴⁺; isostructural with rutile). Feitknechtite, beta-MnO(OH), has not been well described. Pyrolusite occurs in low temperature hydrothermal deposits and as replacement after other Mn oxide minerals. Groutite and ramesdellite are rare, often altering to pyrolusite, and occur in low temperature hydrothermal deposits. Feitknechtite occurs as fine-grained mixtures with hausmannite.

A discredited name, now known to be a Mn-rich chlorite, pennantite.