CONSERVATION OF RESOURCES

USE OF ELECTROPLATING SLUDGE IN THE PRODUCTION

OF CERAMIC FACE PLATES

I. A. Levitskii and E. M. Dyatlova UDC 666.715.2:66.087.7.002.68

Sludges from nonferrous metallurgy and the chemical and engineering industries are
used in the production of ceramic plates for various purposes.
Analysis of the chemical and phase compositions of electroplating sludges [i] suggests
that they can be used beneficially in the production of face plates. A characteristic fea-
ture of the sludges is their high content of iron oxides (primarily in the ferrous form) as
well as calcium oxide.
Iron oxide acts as a strong flux during sintering of ceramic mixtures [2]. Calcium
oxide helps to reduce shrinkage of the materials and, acting as grog and flux, it enhances
the strength and freezing resistance of the plates. These factors can be associated with
the formation of calcium- and iron-containing crystalline phases during firing as well as
with the synthesis of low-melting compounds from the iron, copper, and alkali components
of the sludges.
Calcium-containing ceramic mixtures, however have disadvantages due to their high
water absorption. Fluxes, which ensure minimal shrinkage at allowable levels of water ab-
sorption, are customarily used to alleviate this.
The use of wastes in ceramic mixtures makes it possible to reduce the demand for im-
ported raw material in short supply and also to decrease the harmful effect of technogenic
wastes on the environment as well as improving the economic indicators of the works. A high
content of coloring oxides in the sludges means that ceramic bodies can be colored in the
mixture stage. This ensures a lower content of coloring components in the body and in the
glaze.
The composition of the mixtures studied are given in Table I. The compositions of
ceramic mixtures (with correction) used at the "Minskstroimaterialy" Production Association
to produce face plates were chosen as the base compositions.
The ceramic mixtures were prepared by the clinker technology, in which the components
were ground in a drum mill to a 3% residue (here and below, mass content) of the first charge
of raw materials on a No. 0063 screen and up to 1.5% of the second charge.
We determined the optimum granulometric composition to ensure minimum density of the
pressing for identical compositions of the ceramic mixture. The content of particles larger
than 1 mm is 2%, that of particles of 1 to 0.5 mm is 8%, particles smaller than 0.5 to 0.25
mm is 64%, and of particles less than 0.25 mm is 26%.

TABLE 1

Mass content, in ceramic

Component mixtures

Clay
Novorai DNPK-I 20 26 24 21 16 14
Nikiforov 44 38 34 32 35 32 ~ ~ 49
Veselov (VGP)
Nikolaev
17
Perlite 9
Glass waste 2 18
Nepheline-syenite
concentrate 5 I0 15 20 25 30 5 I0 [5
g.ectroplatin~
sludge

Belorussian Technological Institute. Translated from Steklo i Keramika, Nos. 11-12,

pp. 9-11, November-December, 1992.

496 0361-7610/92/1112-0496512.50 9 1993 Plenum Publishing Corporation

 TABLE 2
Sample of mixture
Index | P-3 P -4 P-6'
~-I M-2 .~-3 M-4 I M-5 ,~,6 P.1 P 5

~Total shrinl~. 3,0 3,2 3.4 3,5 3,7 . 3,0 3,0 3,2 ~,4 3,1 3,0 2,8
[age, % |
~ater absor-I 8,2 6,4 5.9 5,5 5,7 7,2 7,3 6,2 k4 6,1 7,0 7,8
Lption, % |
~pen poros- lO,O 9,1 8,6 8,1 7,6 " 9,5 11,6 9,2 3,7 7,6 8,4 10,2
it:y, % 7 57,7 60,7 62,8 63,3 ,2,7 61,0 58,9 62,1 3,2 ~2,s i 51,2 57,8
~C, IO-
I~ z 0,30 0,22 ),06 0,054 0,22 0,28 26 ),13 0,14 O,OI
IM~ss loss%, 0,43 0,41
~uring deter-
~ination of
~reezing
[resistance*
*After 35 freezing cycles.

a) w.% s,%

S f

b) w,% s,%/ 2 J
R20:RO

> 7"-'~ I

F 2 5
R~8:RO

F i g . 1. Dependence of shrinkage S
and water content W of samples on
the ratio R20:RO i n s e r i e s - M (a) and
series-P (b) mixtures.

The samples were made from powders with 7-8% moisture content by two-stage pres~,.g:
first stage - pressing at 3-4 MPa, second stage - at 20-23 MPa.
The samples were fire. at I050-I070~ in a roller-hearth traveling furnace for 40 min.
The physicomechanical properties the fired samples are given in Table 2.
Analysis of the results shows that the optimum compositions are M-4 and M-5 in the M
series and P-3 and P-4 in the P series, containing 20-25 and 15-20% electroplating sludges,
respectively.
The dependence of the water absorption, shrinkage, open porosity, thermal expansion
coefficient (TEC), and bending strength on the waste content is nonlinear.
The total shrinkage of the plate samples increases with the waste content to the op-
timum value of 25% for the M-series mixtures and 20% the the P-series mixtures, and then de-
creases again. This indicates that body firing rate increases with the waste content. It
is also due to the fact that the mixtures has a considerable content of silicon oxide, which
is the most effective grog addition and as a result of polymorphic transformations slightly
increases the volume of the material. When the sludge content increases the formation of a
framework also reduces the shrinkage.
As the waste content rises to the optimum value the water absorption of the samples
and the open porosity drop to 5.5 and 7.6%, respectively, for the series-M mixture and 5.4
and 7.6% for the P-series mixture, respectively, after which these indices rise. An im-
portant role is obviously played here by a melt that forms during the sintering and fills
the pores between particles, i.e., the fraction of liquid-phase sintering increases the first

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