Influence of Boric Acid Additive on Physical Properties of Utilizing Wastes for Producing Eco-Friendly Fired Clay Tiles

Abstract

This paper aimed at studying the influence of additive material boric acid in eco-friendly fired clay tiles. It is used as additive material by mixing with rice husk ash (RHA), brown glass cullet (BGC), local clay (LC), and sediment soil (SS). Effects of boric acid on the physical properties of ceramic bodies were investigated. The texture of specimen by utilizing waste materials was also studied. Mixture formulations consisted of 60% BGC, 10% RHA, 0-30% LC, and 0-30% SS with varying boric acid addition of 0-2%. Specimens were formed by uniaxial pressing with 100 bars, fired at 850 and 900°C, heating rate 100°C/h, and soaked for 1 h. The results showed that adding boric acid up to 2% had increased the flexural strength and decreased the water absorption of these specimens when fired at 850°C. On the contrary, the effects of adding boric acid fired at 900°C had decreased flexural strength and increased water absorption that showed the phenomenon of expanding specimens. However, the optimal formula of these clay tiles both fired at 850 and 900°C have passed the Thai Industrial Standards (TIS 2508-2555); Type BIII. Scanning electron microscope should they that microstructure characterization was in the glassy crystalline phase was found in high flexural strength specimens. In summary, exploiting boric acid can improve the physical properties of specimens with a low firing temperature, and fired clay wall tiles can be developed in this study. They can be identified as an environmentally eco-friendly building product.