Influence of waste glasses on the physico-mechanical behavior of porcelain ceramics

Abstract

The use of wastes as substitute to traditional materials from non-renewable sources has recently increased as a result of growing interest in environmental preservation and solid wastes management. In this work, the effect of waste glasses on the physico-mechanical properties of soft porcelain is investigated. Soft porcelain bodies containing milled waste soda-lime and borosilicate glasses at varied percentage were composed and were uniaxially dry pressed under 40kN load using hydraulic pressing machine. The pressed bodies were oven dried at 110°C and were later subjected to firing at temperatures of 1000°C and 1200°C respectively. Tests such as water absorption, porosity, bulk density and firing shrinkage were used for physical characterization while flexural strength and wear loss was used for mechanical characterization under standard approach to investigate the behavior of the developed soft porcelain bodies at temperatures of 1000°C and 1200°C respectively. The results showed that higher densification was observed at 1200°C while water absorption drastically reduced below the required maximum 1% and porosity fall below 4% for both samples containing waste soda-lime and borosilicate glasses respectively. Improvements in terms of wear loss and strength properties were also observed for samples containing waste soda-lime and borosilicate glasses respectively subjected to temperature of 1200°C. This better behavior observed at temperature of 1200°C can be attributed to better glassy phase formation and mullite growth at that temperature.