TECHNOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF RAW CLAY BASED CERAMIC TILES: INFLUENCE OF TALC

Abstract

Local clay from Burkina Faso has been used as a basic raw material in the formulation of ceramic tile with a natural talc (0 - 4% wt) as a flux. The used sintering temperatures are between 950 and 1100 °C with one hour as hold at heating rate of 5 °C∙min-1. The different technological properties (shrinkage, water absorption and mechanical strength) are improved when the sintering temperature exceeds 1000 °C. The mixture with 4% wt of talc provides better properties than the other grades. The tiles obtained at 1050 °C with 4% wt of talc have similar characteristics to those obtained at 1100 °C without talc. An energy gain with a difference of temperature of 50 °C could be made with the use of talc as the adjuvant.

Keywords

• ceramic tiles
• energy gain
• low temperatures
• raw clay
• sintering
• talc