Characterization of industrial ceramic glazes containing chromite processing waste: Experimental factorial design effects on color parameters

Abstract

A new ceramic pigment material was obtained by the waste of processing chrome ore from the deposits of Pınarbaşı Village (Kayseri/Turkey) for industrial glaze application. The chemical analysis of waste powder was performed by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis and the particle size analysis was carried out laser particle sizer. The waste powder was calcined at 900 °C and 1000 °C to investigate the color effect of synthesized pigments with different type of frits in industrial glazes. The factorial design of experiment was used for defining the main factors on color formation and parameters. The used factors were calcination temperature of waste powder, amount of waste powder, type of glaze and firing temperature. The spectrometer was employed for comparison of the coloring parameters (L*, a*, b*) of glazed tiles. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM/EDX) analyses were performed in order to examine the phases and microstructures of glazed tiles. It was observed that the most effective factors were determined by factorial design of experiment as type of glaze and amount of waste powder for L* and b* parameters, type of glaze and firing temperature for a* parameter. Depending on the frit/glaze composition, the chromite processing waste provides a wide color range from brown to green tones in colored glazes for ceramic tiles.Factorial design experiment and microstructure analysis results reveal that chromite processing wastes is a strong alternative material as pigment to able to produce ceramic glazes and to contribute to waste elimination.