International Master in Advanced Clay Science
Erasmus Mundus Master course
Why clay minerals ?
Clay minerals are abundant in the Earth’s surface and have played an important role to the development of human civilisation.
They originate from the interaction between lithosphere with atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere. They form out of different parent rocks under variable conditions and display significant variability in chemical composition, structure and properties.
They also undergo spontaneous modification as environmental conditions change, including anthropogenic effects.
Interest in clays results from their common availability, and their unique physical and chemical properties. No other minerals currently attract so great an interest.
Clay research is extremely inter- and multidisciplinary and includes geological, geotechnical, mineralogical, physico-chemical and bio-geochemical aspects. In addition to their conventional ancient use as bricks, tiles, ceramics and for paper coating and waste management more recently, clays have found many novel applications. Clay minerals have provided a boost in technology, because they are inexpensive nanomaterials, and as such, they have a huge potential for the synthesis of polymer nanocomposites with superior mechanical and thermal properties.
The optimisation of adsorption, colloidal and rheological properties also opens prospects of using clay minerals for medical uses, pollution control, and environmental protection. Clay minerals play a role in economic geology (both as important mineral resource and in energy resource exploration) and soil management. Clays also have many negative effects in geotechnical engineering, manifested in the form of landslides, mudflows, and the deterioration of clay-based construction materials. In this case, the only way of responding to such destructive processes is prevention and remediation.
Thus, the complex and versatile nature of clays, as well as their numerous uses and applications, demand that clay scientists have a multidisciplinary education.
Objective of the IMACS program
