Abstract
The Brazilian red ceramic industry monthly consumes about 10.3 million tons of clay, its main raw material. In most potteries, characterization of the clay is made empirically, which can result in roof tiles and blocks not according to standards. In this sense, this paper aims to characterize clays used in the manufacturing of red ceramic products in a factory located in Colatina-ES, which appears as a ceramic pole with about twenty small and midsize industries. The clays were characterized by: X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction, thermal analysis (DSC/TG), granulometry, Atterberg limits and content of organic matter. Specimens of clay and mixture containing four clays were shaped. Specimens were shaped, dried at 110°C, and burned at 850oC in an industrial furnace-type tunnel for 24 hours. The ceramics and mechanical properties evaluated were: mechanic strength, water absorption, apparent porosity, apparent specific mass and shrinkage by drying and firing. The characterization showed that kaolinitic clay presents high plasticity, but high porosity. The mixture formed by the four clays does not meet the requirements of the Brazilian standard clays for red ceramic. It is possible to confirm the use of the methodology of the spheres in potteries for analysis of ceramics raw materials.
Highlights
The clayey raw material is natural, earthy, fine-grained, and susceptible to the modeling on the basis of the plastic consistency that it acquires in the presence of a certain amount of water[1,2]
Considering the importance of the characterization of clays in use in industrial processes, emphasized by Morais and Sposto[7] and Macedo et al.[8], this paper aims to characterize four clays used in the manufacture of red ceramics products in the ceramic industry located in Colatina-ES-BR, which has a ceramic pole with about twenty small and mediumsized companies supplying the region and neighboring cities
Clays B, C, and D met the maximum value of 25% for water absorption (WA), while clay A and mixture (4clay) did not meet
Summary
The clayey raw material is natural, earthy, fine-grained, and susceptible to the modeling on the basis of the plastic consistency that it acquires in the presence of a certain amount of water[1,2]. The clays may present chemical and mineralogical compositions, different color and plasticity depending on the formation and change factors during their consolidation[3] These chemical and mineralogical characteristics, in addition to the physical and microstructural, interrelate and influence the ceramic properties of roof tiles and blocks, the final products of the red ceramic industry. The clayey raw material used in the Brazilian factories, in most cases, is chosen empirically, without characterization tests and classification of use. This fact makes standardization difficult and influences the quality of the final product[4,5] generating nonconformity with the standards
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