Possible use of trachyte as a flux in floor tile production

Abstract

The possible use of trachyte as an alternative fluxing agent in a commercial floor tile body was investigated. The experiments were carried out two parts: In the first part, standard tests were applied to the products obtained from the experimental tile bodies modified with varying amounts (0-40 wt. %) of non-magnetic trachyte following single fast-firing under industrial conditions. The results indicated that 20 wt. % of trayte (TRA2 formulation) as a substitute of albite completely and pegmatite partially in the standard formulation (STD) was satisfactory to carry out further experiments. In the second part, both STD and TRA2 formulations were further fired at different peak temperatures under laboratory conditions in order to establish their vitrification ranges and optimum firing temperatures. Consideration was also given to the phase and microstructural evolution of the tile bodies using x-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in combination with energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS), respectively. The preliminary results showed that it was possible to incorporate trachyte into a floor tile formulation as a fluxing agent and to obtain meaningful technological properties.