Effect of different treatments on waste porcelain to the physical and mechanical properties of porcelain production

Abstract

Waste porcelain (WP) has the opportunity to be recycle into a new of porcelain product by processing the waste through appropriate treatments. The WP powder was prepared by crushing and milling until the particle size ≤50 μm. Then, two different treatments were designed for WP powder: acid and heat treatment. The untreated WP powder was remained as reference. The chemical compositions of untreated and treated WP powder was analysed by X-ray fluorescence analyser (XRF). The untreated and treated WP powder were pelleted at 91MPa mould pressure and sintered at 1100℃, 1150℃, 1200℃ and 1250℃ with 1 hour dwell time. The physical and mechanical properties of untreated and treated sintered samples were measured. The sintered sample was analysed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The properties of sintered sample were influenced by the presence of mullite as shown by SEM images.