Incorporation of granite waste in red ceramics

This work has as its objective to evaluate the effect of granite powder waste incorporation in a red ceramic body. The granite waste came from an industry of stone sawing operations located in the municipal area of Santo Antônio de Pلdua, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Initially the granite sawing waste was characterized in terms of chemical composition, particles size distribution and X-ray diffraction. After that, clay mixtures with 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 wt.% of granite waste were prepared. Red ceramic specimens were fabricated by extrusion and then fired in an industrial furnace at 970 °C. The specimens were also tested to determine the water absorption, linear shrinkage and three points bending flexural strength. Microstructural evaluation was carried out by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and mercury porosimetry. The results indicate that granite waste presents favorable characteristics for addition into red ceramics due to facilities on the drying stages and decrease in porosity.