Abstract

Clay is a raw material interesting to the industry because it exhibits properties like plasticity, easy processing, and mechanical resistance alter sintering, besides of being abundant and having low cost. In this paper, clay was additives with feldspar or glass fines, a waste of the glass industry, to compare the physical and mechanical properties of sintered body and verify the behavior of these additives as a function of the sintering temperature. Compacts were sintered at temperatures of 900, 1000, 1100, and 1200°C, and fracture surface was examined through microstructural characterization in a Leo 1450 VP Scanning Electron Microscope in secondary electrons mode. Relative density, linear contraction, water absorption, and flexure rupture modulus were determined, and the obtained materials can be used as ceramic cove tiles. Microstructural analysis shows that the glass is a better flux than the feldspar to the same sintering conditions and that the physical and mechanical properties of materials depend mainly on the porosity present in its structure.