Incorporação do resíduo gerado na produção de alumina eletrofundida à cerâmica vermelha

Abstract

Activities developed by the industries are the main capital sources for the countries, however, to the final product obtention, numerous residues are generated during the productive process. Their disposal in landfills increases production costs. Thus, the incorporation of waste into another production process becomes a viable alternative both economically and environmentally. This work aimed to incorporate the residue generated in the production of electrofused alumina in traditional ceramics. The raw materials were physically characterized by the granulometric distribution. The clay that was used had already been characterized in a previous work. Mass compositions were made up to 15% by mass of residue. Test specimens were prepared by uniaxial pressing, then subjected to firing temperatures of 950 °C, 1000 °C, 1050 and 1100 °C. In order to analyze the influence of the temperature and the incorporated residue content, the test specimens were evaluated for linear retraction, water absorption, apparent density, apparent porosity and three-point bending stress. After cooling, the samples were submitted to linear retraction, water absorption, apparent density, apparent porosity, and three point bending tensile tests. The results indicated that the residue proved to be effective as a fluxing material, making it possible to form the liquid phase during sintering. It was possible to incorporate up to 15% of the residue into the ceramic mass without the values of water absorption diverging from what is established by the current norm. In addition, it was found that for the temperature of 1100 °C the samples containing 15% of residue in their composition were those that presented the highest mechanical resistance.