Classical Ceramics Investigation on usage of the Karaköy granites (Bilecik, NW Turkey) in porcelain tile production

Abstract

The investigations on the usage of alternative raw materials have been always popular for porcelain tile production. Manufacturers have been interested in this subject for both increasing product quality and decreasing production costs. In the study, the possibility to use granite, as fluxing agent, in a body recipe used for porcelain tile, was determined. Our standard composition (STD GR) was comprised of 30 wt % Na-Feldspar + 40 wt % plastic clay + 30 wt % pegmatite. We have formed three different body recipes, namely “GR 1, GR 2 and GR 3” replacing by different amounts of Na-Feldspar (7.5, 15 and 22.5 wt%) by the complementary amounts of granite (22.5, 15 and 7.5 wt % respectively). The results showed that 15 wt. % as a substitute of albite completely in the standard formulation was satisfactory to carry out further experiments. In the second part, both “STD GR” and “GR 2” formulations were further fired at different peak temperatures under laboratory conditions in order to establish their physicomechanical ranges and optimum firing temperatures. X-Ray diffraction (XRD) was used in order to analyze the phases formed after firing. In addition, SEM was also employed in order to observe the microstructural characteristics of the selected fired bodies. Obtained results revealed that the possible use of granite material as an effective fluxing agent in porcelain tile bodies.