Obtainment of chemically bonded ceramics from industrial waste

Abstract

In this work, chemically bonded ceramics were studied from four different industrial waste: foundry sand, ceramic shell, nickel slag and MgO-C refractory brick. The system consisted of 17 wt% of monopotassium phosphate, 12 wt% of caustic magnesia and incorporating 71 wt% of waste. Three curing times were tested (1, 7 and 28 days). K-struvite crystalline phase was identified by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The compressive strength increased with the curing time, ranging from 7 to 17 MPa. The formulations containing ceramic shell and nickel slag, nevertheless, showed the best results because of the higher relative density presented and the plate-type crystals in the microstructures obtained. The results showed that it is possible to incorporate industrial waste to obtain chemically bonded ceramics using the acid-base cement technique.