TITLE:
Thermal Properties of Some Turkish Peloids and Clay Minerals for Their Use in Pelotherapy
AUTHORS:
M. Çelik Karakaya, N. Karakaya, H. Cingilli Vural
KEYWORDS:
Clay Minerals, Health, Heat Dissipation, Peloid, Pelotherapy, Specific Heat
JOURNAL NAME:
Geomaterials,
Vol.6 No.4,
October
27,
2016
ABSTRACT: The thermal
properties such as specific
heat capacity and heat dissipation of peloids play an important role in therapeutic
applications. Therefore, these properties were determined on the peloids samples
taken from spas where peloid applications are used in Turkey. In addition, some
pure clay minerals were investigated to determine their suitability as possible
constituents of therapeutic peloids and to make recommendations for preparing the
most usable peloids for thermal therapy. For this aim, the mineralogical and thermal
properties of samples were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Differential
Scanning Calorimeter (DSC). The mineralogical compositions of the peloid samples
are not homogenous, and their clay mineral content is approximately 60%, and the
most abundant clay mineral is calcium montmorillonite. The cooling time of peloids
are between 20 and 25 minutes, which is suitable for therapy and thus these peloids
are suitable for using in health problems requiring heat treatment. The samples
have favorable heat dissipation capacity and partially cooling kinetics. Specific
heat capacity of the peloid samples is partially appropriate
for heat therapy and these values range from 0.60 to 1.41 J/g·°C,
and partially high in peloids with high smectite content. The pure sepiolite samples
have higher heat dissipation properties than those of other clay minerals especially
illites and kaolinites. Ca-montmorillonite and kaolinite have the lowest specific
heat values while sepiolite samples have higher
values. Sepiolite and partly Na-Ca-montmorillonite are more appropriate than
the other studied clay minerals as a peloid constituent especially for therapy of
musculoskeletal pain.