Animal arena surface amendment
First Claim
1. An animal competition arena surface comprising:
- a subbase layer; and
a running surface layer located above the subbase layer and comprising calcined clay granules having at least 3% by weight of calcium bentonite clay and at least 3% by weight of at least one of illite clay and kaolinite clay.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A soil amendment for use in the running surface of an animal competition arena comprises highly absorbent and durable calcined clay granules. The clay granules are porous and contain micropores and microstructures to capture and retain moisture for release over time. Additionally, because the clay granules are formed of a particularly hard calcined clay, they are sufficient to support the weight of even heavy animals even when mixed with soft soil such as sand. Methods of fabricating the soil amendment and amending soil include methods which provide the soil amendment granules and arena surface with selected hardness and porosity for the particular soil and use of the arena surface.
-
Citations
63 Claims
-
1. An animal competition arena surface comprising:
-
a subbase layer; and
a running surface layer located above the subbase layer and comprising calcined clay granules having at least 3% by weight of calcium bentonite clay and at least 3% by weight of at least one of illite clay and kaolinite clay. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
-
- 27. A soil amendment composition comprising granules each at least having at least 3% by weight of calcium bentonite clay, at least 3% by weight of illite clay, and at least 3% by weight of kaolinite clay.
- 29. A soil amendment composition for an animal arena, the composition comprising calcined clay granules having at least 3% by weight of calcium bentonite clay and at least 3% by weight of at least one of illite clay and kaolinite clay.
-
54. A method of fabricating a soil amendment composition comprising granules having a minimum hardness and a minimum porosity, wherein the method comprises the steps of:
-
admixing solid sacrificial material to a clay composition mixture;
forming the clay composition mixture into clay granules; and
flash kilning the clay granules at a temperature of approximately 1,800°
F. to approximately 2,000°
F. for a duration of approximately 5 minutes to approximately 30 minutes to release and burn out at least a portion of the solid sacrificial material, thereby bloating at least a portion of the clay granules and forming a porous microstructure of interconnecting micropores and microchannels in each of the at least a portion of the clay granules for providing the minimum porosity, and thereby partially vitrifying the at least a portion of the clay granules for providing the minimum hardness;
wherein the step of admixing sacrificial material further comprises admixing at least one of a gas forming material, an organic lint, and any combination thereof to the composition mixture. - View Dependent Claims (55, 56, 57, 58)
-
-
59. A method of fabricating a soil amendment composition comprising granules having a minimum hardness and a minimum porosity, wherein the method comprises the steps of:
-
admixing sacrificial material to a composition mixture;
forming the composition mixture into the granules;
flash kilning the granules at a temperature of approximately 1,800°
F. to approximately 2,000°
F. for a duration of approximately 5 minutes to approximately 30 minutes to release and burn out at least a portion of the sacrificial material, thereby bloating at least a portion of the granules and forming a porous microstructure of interconnecting micropores and microchannels in each of the at least a portion of the granules for providing the minimum porosity, and thereby partially vitrifying the at least a portion of the granules for providing the minimum hardness;
wherein the step of admixing sacrificial material further comprises admixing at least one of a gas forming mineral, an organic lint, an organic dust, and any combination thereof to the composition mixture.
-
-
60. A method of fabricating a soil amendment composition comprising granules having a minimum hardness and a minimum porosity, wherein the method comprises the steps of:
-
admixing sacrificial material to a composition mixture;
forming the composition mixture into the granules;
flash kilning the granules at a temperature of approximately 1,800°
F. to approximately 2,000°
F. for a duration of approximately 5 minutes to approximately 30 minutes to release and burn out at least a portion of the sacrificial material, thereby bloating at least a portion of the granules and forming a porous microstructure of interconnecting micropores and microchannels in each of the at least a portion of the granules for providing the minimum porosity, and thereby partially vitrifying the at least a portion of the granules for providing the minimum hardness;
wherein the step of flash kilning the granules further comprises forming each of the micropores with an opening length of approximately 0.1 nm to approximately 30 nm and forming each of the microchannels with an opening length of approximately 100 nm to approximately 600 nm.
-
-
61. A method of fabricating a soil amendment composition comprising granules having a minimum hardness and a minimum porosity, wherein the method comprises the steps of:
-
admixing sacrificial material to a composition mixture;
forming the composition mixture into the granules;
flash kilning the granules at a temperature of approximately 1,800°
F. to approximately 2,000°
F. for a duration of approximately 5 minutes to approximately 30 minutes to release and burn out at least a portion of the sacrificial material, thereby bloating at least a portion of the granules and forming a porous microstructure of interconnecting micropores and microchannels in each of the at least a portion of the granules for providing the minimum porosity, and thereby partially vitrifying the at least a portion of the granules for providing the minimum hardness;
wherein the step of flash kilning the granules further comprises flash kilning at a temperature and for a duration to obtain an LA Abrasion hardness value of approximately 3 to approximately 60.
-
-
62. A method of fabricating a soil amendment composition comprising granules having a minimum hardness and a minimum porosity, wherein the method comprises the steps of:
-
admixing sacrificial material to a composition mixture;
forming the composition mixture into the granules;
flash kilning the granules at a temperature of approximately 1,800°
F. to approximately 2,000°
F. for a duration of approximately 5 minutes to approximately 30 minutes to release and bum out at least a portion of the sacrificial material, thereby bloating at least a portion of the granules and forming a porous microstructure of interconnecting micropores and microchannels in each of the at least a portion of the granules for providing the minimum porosity, and thereby partially vitrifying the at least a portion of the granules for providing the minimum hardness;
wherein the step of flash kilning the granules further comprises flash kilning at a temperature and for a duration to obtain an absorption capacity of approximately 0.5 ml/g to approximately 2.5 ml/g.
-
-
63. A method of fabricating a soil amendment composition comprising granules having a minimum hardness and a minimum porosity, wherein the method comprises the steps of:
-
admixing sacrificial material to a composition mixture;
forming the composition mixture into the granules;
flash kilning the granules at a temperature of approximately 1,800°
F. to approximately 2,000°
F. for a duration of approximately 5 minutes to approximately 30 minutes to release and bum out at least a portion of the sacrificial material, thereby bloating at least a portion of the granules and forming a porous microstructure of interconnecting micropores and microchannels in each of the at least a portion of the granules for providing the minimum porosity, and thereby partially vitrifying the at least a portion of the granules for providing the minimum hardness;
wherein the step of kilning the granules further comprises flash kilning at a temperature and for a duration to obtain an absorption rate in a 52 mm diameter column of approximately 90 milliliters or more within 10 minutes.
-
Specification