Locally available Clays of Bangladesh as a Replacement of imported Clays for Ceramic Industries

Abstract

In Bangladesh, generally imported clays are used as the main ingredient in ceramicware industries. Though locally available clays can be refined and used instead of imported ones to minimize the high manufacturing cost. In this research, 3 locally available clays were investigated both mechanically and spectrally. The XRF analysis of local non-refined clays in contrast to imported clays has indicated the presence of excess SiO 2 content (about 35%) in the form of free silica as well as TiO 2 and iron oxide but the Al 2 O 3 content are a presence in lower amount (around 8.7%). In the ceramic body, a high amount of silica content shows low plasticity which creates a crack and iron oxide could adversely affect the translucency of ceramic ware. After the refining process from those local clays, the amount of SiO 2 content was reduced up to 40.2% along with 5.5% increment in Al 2 O 3 content. From the mechanical analysis of those clays, hardness, impact and compressive strength show very good results compared with imported clays. Copyright VBRI Press.