The effect of colouring agent on the physical properties of glass ceramic produced from waste glass for antimicrobial coating deposition

Abstract

Domestic waste glass is utilized as raw material for the production of glass ceramic material (GCM) via sinter crystallisation route. The glass ceramic material in a form of tiles is to be utilized for the deposition of Ag-TiO2 antimicrobial coating. Two types of soda lime glass (SLG) that are non-coloured and green SLG are utilised as main raw materials during the batch formulation in order to study the effect of colouring agent (Fe2O3) on the physical and mechanical properties of glass ceramic produced. Glass powder were prepared by crushing bottles using hammer milled with milling machine and sieved until they passed through 75 µm sieve. The process continues by mixing glass powder with ball clay with ratio of 95:5 wt. %, 90:10 wt. % and 85:15 wt. %. Each batch mixture was then uniaxial pressed and sintered at 800°C, 825 °C and 850 °C. The physical and mechanical properties were then determined and compared between those produced from non-coloured and green coloured SLG in order to evaluate the effect of colouring agent (Fe2O3) on the GCM produced. The optimum properties of non-coloured SLG is produced with smaller ball clay content (10 wt. %) compared to green SLG (15 wt. %). The physical properties (determined thru ASTM C373) of the optimized GCM produced from non-coloured SLG and green SLG are 0.69 % of porosity, 1.92 g/cm3 of bulk density, 0.36 % of water absorption; and 1.96 % of porosity, 2.69 g/cm3 of bulk density, 0.73 % of water absorption; respectively. Results also indicate that the most suitable temperature in producing GCM from both glasses with optimized physical and mechanical properties is at 850 °C.