LAB REPORT

SUBJECT:
Engineering Ceramics and Glasses

Submitted To:

Engr. Muhammad Ishtiaq

&

Dr. Mohsin Ali Raza

Submitted By:

Usman Liaqat

Roll No:

17MME-S1-313

College of Engineering and Emerging Technology,

University of the Punjab
To determine the effect of silica on the bending angle of china clay, bentonite
and fireclay and plasticity of samples containing different fractions of clays.

Principle:

Clays become plastic with the addition of certain quantity of water. Bending angle of
clays depend on plasticity. High plasticity indicates higher angles. Plasticity depend upon
moisture, particle size and addition of binder.

Background History:

Plasticity term is used in reference to clays. Plasticity assigns what is the flexibility of
clay or how flexible clays are? Clay’s plasticity can be determined by the clay’s particle size,
content of water and mellowing. It’s also known as “the quality or state of being plastic;
especially: a capacity for being altered." Plasticity in clays is easy to find. “Make a coil of the clay
and wrap it around the finger. If the crack or break will not found then clay is plastic. If found
clay will non-plastic.”

Plasticity of clay is basic property of clay that allows material to form a plastic body. When action
of force is done on plastic body it deforms and perfectly conserves that after the force applied is
cancelled [1]. Clay’s plasticity is related to the morphology. Clay’s mineral having particle
structure “plate like” that slide over the others, water is added to it which acts as lubricant. Water
content is increased the plasticity of clay increase to maximum, depending on the nature of the
clay [2].

The plasticity and shrinkage relationship is direct in most of cases but sometimes it is indirect
depending on different conditions. The shrinkage characteristic of bentonite clay is lower as
compared to elongation. Bentonite is the most plastic common clay.

Apparatus:

 Weighing Balance
 Pot or Bowl
 Ruler
 Protector
 Match Box
 Steel Tray
 Dry Oven
Raw Materials:

 Bentonite Clay
 China Clay
 Fire Clay
 Silica Sand
 Water (as a binder)

Procedure:

 A bowl was taken washed, cleaned and dried.

 Bowl was weighed on weighing Balance and weight was noted
 Four samples were taken separately with different composition of bentonite clay
and silica sand.
 Samples were mixed with water to form paste for easy gripping.
 A rod was made about 5-6 inches long from each sample.
 The rod was placed on protector to measure bending angle.
 Index finger was used to move one side of the rod until break or crack appeared.
 Bending angle was measured where the crack appeared.
 Readings were noted on each sample with different % of clay.
 Then sample were placed in match box to make rectangular shape.
 Dimensions height, width and length were noted.
 After shaping these samples placed on steel dish and then placed in dry oven for
drying.
 Samples were heated for 20 minutes at 210oC.
 After drying the dimensions of samples again noted.

Observations and Calculations:

Table 1: Composition % of Bentonite Clay and Silica Sand

Composition of Composition of
Bentonite Clay Silica Sand
% %
100 0
90 10
80 20
70 30
Table 2: Effect of silica sand on the bending angle and shrinkage (%) of bentonite clay

No Weight of Weight of Bending Initial Final Percentage

of Bentonite Clay silica sand Angle Volume Volume Shrinkage
Obs (g) (g) (o) (cm3) (cm3)
1 50 0 45 15.75 17.16 -8.95
2 45 05 42 29.14 22.55 22.61
3 40 10 27 28.728 23.1 19.59
4 35 15 25 28.49 30.24 -6.14

Bending Angle
0 2 4 6 8 10
10

45

40
Bending Angle (°)

35

30

25

0
-2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Silica Sand (%)

Graph 1: Graphical Representation Silica Sand (%) vs. Bending Angle

 Table 3: Bending angle of pure clays

No. Clay Weight of Bending

of Type Clay Angle
Obs (g) (o)
1 Bentonite Clay 50 45
2 Fire Clay 50 50
3 China Clay 50 51

Graph 2: Graphical representation of pure clays (%) vs. bending angle (o)

Result:

We can see from table 2, bending angle of observations 1, 2, 3 and 4 decreased

respectively.

Bending Angle: Obs1 > Obs2 > Obs3 > Obs4

Shrinkage has also changed at various conditions.

Percentage shrinkage: Obs2 > Obs3 > Obs4 > Obs1

Discussion:

Bentonite clay has very fine particles. Because of fine particle and electrolyte behavior
bentonite clay has high plasticity [3]. Plasticity has direct relation with bending angle. If there is
increase in plasticity the bending angle should increase. Bentonite is the most common plastic
clay. From experiment it can be seen that the bending angle of bentonite decrease respectively by
adding silica sand in it, more silica sand added more the plasticity and bending angle decrease.
The bending angle of pure bentonite is 45o. And with the addition of 10% silica sand angle
decreased to 42o. With 30% increase in silica sand angle decreased to 27o. By adding silica
plasticity of clay decrease because of this angle also decrease. From table 3 it can be seen that
the bending angle of bentonite clay is less than the fire clay and china clay. The plasticity of
bentonite clay is more than other clays. So bending angle of bentonite could be more than other
clays. In experiment it may be human error that’s why the angle of bentonite is less than other
clays. From literature it can be seen that the plasticity of bentonite clay is more than the other
clays. “Active electrolyte behavior and fine particle size, bentonite shows high plasticity. It is 10
times finer than ball clay. As we know plasticity of clays decrease with the addition of silica it
has direct relation with bending angle” [4]

Conclusion:

Pure bentonite is the most plastic common, kaolin’s the least plastic. Bentonite have high
affinity for water, it can take a week to dry a material and can shrink half of the size. In
experiment it can be seen that shrinkage show unpredictable changes. So it could be human
error.

Reference:

[1] Determination of clay plasticity: Indentation method versus Pfefferkorn method

Claudio de Oliveira Modesto, Adriano Michael Bernardin.

Volume 40, issues 1-4, June 2008

[2] Measuring the plasticity of clays: A review

F.A. Andrade, H.A. Al-Qureshi, D. Hotza.

[3]

Experimental study on shrink-swell behavior of bentonite (Page #10)

By Qiong Wang

[4] Research article on bentonite clay (Page # 2)

By Drik Cresswell