Geotechnical, mineralogical and thermal properties of Etoumbi soils (Republic of Congo)

In order to characterize the Etoumbi soils (Wounza and Otsiantendé) samples for technological application, the geotechnical, mineralogical and thermal analysis were used. The X – ray method was used for mineralogical study, The sieve analysis by wet sieving and sedimentation of the material was carried out. The samples, finely ground, were used for characterization by X-ray diffraction on raw powder. The diffraction measurements were carried out on a XPert PRO MPD PAN analytical diffractometer, operating at 40 kV and 30 mA, using the cobalt Kα line with a length about λ = 1.789 Å. Mineralogical X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyzes and thermal analyzes (ATD and ATG) have allowed us to affirm that these samples are composed mainly of quartz and kaolinite. However, the Woundza sample contains nontronite and illite kaolinite, while Otsiatendé contains muscovite. This study shows that only the soil of Otsiatendé is suitable for the manufacture of raw bricks.