Physical and mechanical properties of clay recycle glass-paper ceramic by slip casting technique

A series of ceramics based on (x) incinerated paper - (80-x) cullet – 20 Kaolin clay (where 10= x= 45 wt %) has successfully been made by slip casting technique followed by sintering at 1000?C for 2 hours. The physical properties are evaluated based on their density, water absorption and thermal shrinkage. Meanwhile, the hardness, Young’s modulus and impact energy strength are determined using Vickers Indenter, Universal Testing Machine and Izod Impact Tester, respectively. The surface morphology and the elemental compositions of the ceramic are observed using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Energy Dispersive of X-ray Analysis (EDAX), respectively. The phase identification of the ceramic is performed by using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) technique. It is found that the density of the ceramic is in the range of 2.170 gcm-3 to 2.420 gcm-3 while the water absorption and thermal shrinkage are in the range of 0.63% to 31.60% and 6.50% to 18.10%, respectively, depending on the cullet-paper ratio content. It is also found that the mechanical property of ceramic increases as the cullet-paper ratio is increased. The hardness, Young’s modulus and impact energy strength are found in the range of 152.0 MPa to 1463.0 MPa, 1.522 kJm-2 to 7.124 kJm-2 and 195.4 MPa to 603.3 MPa respectively. The morphological studies show that samples at lower cullet level exhibit granular texture, rough surface area and more pores but at higher cullet level, the textures become smooth, vitrified and less pores. From EDAX analysis, the actual contents of the sintered samples are Si, Al, Ca, Na and K. The phases of ceramic are of Quartz (SiO2), Wollastonite (CaSiO3), Anorthite (Ca(Al2SiO8)), CaO and Al2O3. It can be concluded that this ceramic exhibits a potential application for refractory materials.