Transactions of the Indian Ceramic Society

ISSN: 0371-750X (Print) 2165-5456 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tcer20

A Study on Body Formulation for Production of

Fast Single Fired Ceramic Wall Tile in Gulf

S. N. Laha

To cite this article: S. N. Laha (2001) A Study on Body Formulation for Production of Fast Single
Fired Ceramic Wall Tile in Gulf, Transactions of the Indian Ceramic Society, 60:2, 77-81, DOI:
10.1080/0371750X.2001.10799972

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0371750X.2001.10799972

Published online: 10 Feb 2014.

Submit your article to this journal

Article views: 9

View related articles

Citing articles: 1 View citing articles

Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at

http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=tcer20

Download by: [RMIT University Library] Date: 10 April 2016, At: 02:39
 A Study on Body Formulation for Production of Fast
Single Fired Ceramic Wall Tile 1n Gulf
S.N.Laha
Natasha Ceramic Services
P-32 Motijee/ A venue. Dum Dum
Kolkata - 700 074

The characteristics of raw materials sourced from Gulf countries
(viz., Saudi Arabia and Turkey) used in formulation of fast single
fired wall tile body (monoporosa) have been described. The
results of pilot level investigation on five different bodies have
been given. The test results with glaze have also been included.
Based on the properties of material produced, the final compo-
sition was selected for semi-industrial tests. After obtaining sat-
isfactory results, commercial production was taken up.
Introduction
Downloaded by [RMIT University Library] at 02:39 10 April 2016
diopside (Ca0.Mg0.2Si0 2 ) etc, which are stable
against moisture attack.
(g) Body development through low cost local raw
materials, as far as possible, for cost economy
(h) Satisfactory colour (red or white) and aesthetic level
(medium-high) with relatively contained cost.
Literature was searched to have basic idea on body
formulation techniques, 1 · 2 · :>but actually works on deve-

lopment of tile body sourced from desert raw mat&rials were

The present work deals with the formulation of an
rare.
optimum body (monoporosa) composition for a new wall
tile plant at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (Sacmi, Italy, know-how)
with the following technical parameters : Experimental
The block diagram for different phases of production
(i) to produce glazed ceramic wall tile according to group process of monoporosa tile is as follows :
Bill, EN 159 standard;
(ii) the production capacity should be, 5000 m2 /day or RAW MATERIALS GRINDING IN BALL MILL
1.65 million m 2 per year; .....
(iii) the size of tiles : 200 x 250, 200 x 300, 250 x 360 STORAGE AGITATOR
mm; and .....
(iv) single and fast firing in a roller hearth kiln with 40-60 SPRAY DRYING
min cycle.
.....
SPRAY DRIED POWDER STORAGE
The following key factors were considered for develop- .....
ment of body composition and selection of suitable raw SIEVING
materials for the wall tile (monoporosa) : .....
PRESSING
(a) High dimensional stability which is obtained by using
.....
composition of low firing shrinkage <1 %.
FAST DRYING
(b) Some porosity to have water absorption, 10-20% (typi- .....
cally 12-16%). This helps in good adherence of tile
ENGOBE & GLAZE APPLICATION
with wall and low weight per sq meter of laying. .....
(c) An adequate dry strength, dry MOR >20 kg.cm-2 (typi- UNFIRED TILE STORAGE IN CARS
cal25-30), to have minimum breakage losses during .....
multiple handlings of tile in glaze and screen printing. FAST FIRING IN ROLLER HEARTH KLIN
(d) Fired strength to have MOR > 200 kg.cm- 2 (typically .....
200-300 kg.cm-2 ). FIRED TILE STORAGE IN CARS
(e) Proper expansion of body to have best fitting of glaze .....
and body. SORTING
(f) High porosity of the body allows water absorption Keeping these in view and prior knowledge of local raw
either from the atmosphere or liquid suction during materials, the present investigation was made using
or after laying and with passage of time resulting in follow1ng raw materials for wall tile body.
hydration of the vitreous and amorphous phases.
This hydration can lead to an expansion of the body (i) Red clay, (ii) White clay, (iii) Silica sand,
and finally causes curvature or crazing of the glaze. (iv) Limestone and (v) Feldspar
All these make it necessary for fired body to have a Evaluation techniques of red and white clays have
minimal fraction of amorphous phases and consider- already been described by the author. 4 Rest of input raw
able proportion of crystalline phase, viz., anorthite materials, viz .. limestone, silica sand and feldspar was
(Ca0.AI 2 0 3 .2Si0 2 ), gehlenite (2CaO.AI 2 0 3 .Si0 2 ), evaluated as per Sacmi, lmola, Italy internal Standard.

VOL. 60 (2) APRIL -JUNE 2001 77

 Table I : Body compositions (monoporosa) for wall tile at
pilot level study
Limestone
Raw Body #1 Body #2 Body #3 Body #4 Body #5
materials (%) (%) (%) (%) (%)

51 51
~ }ss
Red clay 48 }65
34 }so
White clay 16 17 - - c a c
Silica sand 30 18 14 24 24
A
Limestone 12 11 16 14 15 Feldspar
a
Feldspar 8 6 15 11 10

A few body compositions were defined and they were

tested in the pilot level. Table I gives the five compositions,
which were tested for detailed study in the pilot level.
The experimental investigations in pilot scale was done a
>
1- White Clay
in a systematic manner keeping in view the modern iij
production method for fast single firing of monoporosa wall z
w
tile.1 00 kg of body was prepared for each batch in the 1-
:!!!:
following way.
Downloaded by [RMIT University Library] at 02:39 10 April 2016

Firstly, all required raw materials were carefully weighed

taking into account the respective natural moisture content
of each component. The above batch was wet milled in a
ball mill with suitable dosage of deflocculant (sodium tri
Red Clay
poly phosphate). The amount of deflocculant varied from K
0.5 to 0.8% which was previously determined by carrying a
out an experiment on the deflocculant demand of body as K
per standard practice, with water percentage at various
levels of 35, 40 and 45% respectively in the slip. One must
keep in mind that in industrial practice, cost of energy for
evaporation in spray drying and cost of deflocculant must
be balanced for best cost economy in production. Each
batch was ground for 8-10 h in ball mill in order to reach a
preset residue (5-7%) on 631Jm (BS 240 mesh) for slip. 0 20 40 60
After this, density, relative viscosity and water content of 29 (degree)
the slip was checked. Standard Ford cup with 4 mm bore
was used for the purpose of measuring relative viscosity Fig. 1 - X-ray diffraction data of raw materials.

as Engler degree (0 E) where 0 E=t1/t2 , t 1 and t 2 being slip K= Kaolinite,. M= Illite, Q = Quartz, C= Calcite,
outflow time and water outflow time (from the Ford cup) F= K-Feldspar, A= Albite

Table II: Chemical and mineralogical analysis of raw materials respectively. The slip was then sieved through 150 1-1m
Oxide Red White Silica Lime Feldspar (BS1 00 mesh) and spray dried to make powders for
Mass clay clay sand stone (Turkey) pressing. The pressing of tile in the size 250 x 200 mm was
(%) (%) (%) (%) done at specific pressure of 250-300 kg.cm-2 in a hydraulic
(S.A.) (S.A.) (S.A.) (S.A.) press. Powder moisture varied from 5.5 to 6.0%. The tiles
Si0 2 52.1 49.4 98.8 7.3 72.9 were dried at 11 ooc for 24 h to bring down the moisture
Al 20 3 24.1 34.1 0.4 1.5 13.6 level at 0.5-1 %. After this stage, dry tiles with suitable
Fe203 9.2 0.8 tr 0.7 0.7 engobe and glaze were fired in an electric kiln at peak
Ti0 2 1.3 1.8 0.1 0.1 0.1 temperature of 11 00°-1120°C with cycle time of 45 min.
CaO 0.8 0.4 0.2 48.1 2.0
Results and Discussion
MgO 1.2 0.2 tr 0.6 0.5 Table II gives the chemical analysis of all the raw
N~O 0.3 0.5 tr 0.9 5.6 materials along with mineralogical information. Chemical
K20 2.1 0.1 0.1 1.1 3.8 analysis was done instrumentally by using ICP (inductively
LOI 8.9 12.7 0.4 39.6 ·o.8 coupled plasma, Bruker, Germany) and X-ray diffraction
Minera- Kaolinite Kaolinite Quartz Calcite K-Feldspar was carried out employing CuKa (Y=1.5406A) and scan
logical Illite Quartz K-Feldspar N-Feldspar speed of 0.02°/ sec. Figure 1 gives the X-ray diffraction
analysis Quartz Quartz profile for all the major raw materials used in this work.
Calcite
Except feldspar, all other raw materials were sourced from
S.A. - Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia.

78 TRANSACTIONS OF THE INDIAN CERAMIC SOCIETY

 Table Ill (a) : Physical properties of clays highly desirable in tile making due to low hours of grinding
(red and white types) in ball mill. Fired colour was white. Its quality was
Properties Red clay White clay satisfactory for the body.
The Limestone had high calcite content(> 85%) with
Residue on some amount of quartz, K-feldspar and other minerals. Its
180 IJm 1.2% 16.2%
grain size, 95% < 2 mm is also suitable for low grinding
1251-Jm 2.2% 18.1% hours. The quality is satisfactory for tile body.
The Feldspar was a mixture of orthoclase and albeit
631Jm 5.9% 22% with some quantity of calcite as an impurity. Its grain size,
90% < 3 mm is suitable for the body formulation.
Forming pressure (kg.cm-2 ) 300 300 The results generated during pilot plant study have been
Powder Moisture (%) 6.1 5.9
given in Table IV. Following are the observations and
remarks.
Expansion after pressing (%) + 0.6 + 0.8 Body # 1 : This body had some rheological problem as
viscosity was high (3.SOE) even with 42.4% water. Viscosity
Green MOR (kg.cm-2 ) 9.6 6.8 below 2.5°E is desired. Fired MOR for the unglazed
Dry MOR (kg.cm-2 ) 25 8.9 (support) and glazed body (167 kg.cm-2 and 198 kg.cm-2)
were inadequate. Thermal expansion (expressed as volume
Table Ill (a) provides physical properties of red and white expansion, 3a) was also high (219.1 o-7 oc- 1) and the body
Downloaded by [RMIT University Library] at 02:39 10 April 2016

clays. In order to simulate with actual production process,
dry pressing of clay powders with approx 6% moisture was
done under 300 kg.cm-2 pressure. Similarly, fired properties
[Table Ill (b)] were evaluated by fast firing with 70 min cycle
at various temperatures (1 040° to 1200°C).
The Red Clay was kaolinite-illitic in nature with low resi-
due on 63 ~m and having high iron content (-9%), and it
developed good green and dry strength. After firing, con-
siderable shrinkage and low water absorption together with
very good fired strength were observed. It is expected to
add a considerable proportion of silica and lime stone in
the body formulation to control desired fired shrinkage and
porosity for wall tile body.
The White Clay was a good quality kaolinite with high
coarsely sized residue. It showed poor green and dry
strength and even after firing up to 1200°C the fired strength
was not sufficient and water absorption was also high. It is
expected that its use will be limited. Moreover, the rl:lserve
for this clay in Saudi Arabia· was not adequate for long
time exploitation for tile body.
The Silica Sand was of very good quality quartz with
approximately 99% Si02 . Its grain size, 98.5% <1 mm, is
Table lll(b) : Fired properties of clays (red and white types )
was not acceptable.
Body # 2 : This body also presented some rheological
problems as high viscosity (3.4°E) was observed with 45%
water in the slip.This body had improved green and dry
strength than those of the Body# 1. But its firing shrinkage
(1.27%) was high. The body was not acceptable.
Body# 3 : This body had also rheological problem. Its
dry MOR (15 kg.cm-2 ) and fired MOR (158 kg.cm-2 ) values
were inadequate. Water absorbtion (20.7%) was found to
be high. This body was also not acceptable.
Body # 4 : This body showed satisfactory rheological
properties. It had good dry strength (MOR, 24 kg.cm-2 ). In
planarity test, support (body only) was found to be in order,
but with glaze it showed very little convexity. A little
convexity was preferred as with the passage of time due to
water absorption, tile gets straightened and may result in
concavity, which was not acceptable as tiles may come
out from the wall during long time use.
Body # 5 : This body showed good rheological pro-
perties. It had also good dry strength (MOR 28 kg.cm-2 ).
Water absorption (16.1 %), fired MOR (228 kg.cm-2 )and fired
shrinkage (0.53%) all were also satisfactory. This body was,.
acceptable and chosen for semi-industrial scale production.

RED WHITE
Fired
properties Fired Water MOR Fired Water MOR
(70 min cycle) shrinkage absorption (kg.cm-2 ) shrinkage absorption (kg .cm-2 )
(%) (%) (%) (%)

1040°C - 5.2 12.9 310 -3.1 29.4 25.1

1080°C - 8.3 8.0 460 -3.2 28.9 26.2

1120°C - 11.0 1,5 580 -3.3 26.8 26.7

1160°C - 11.8 1.4 720 -4.8 24.7 28.1

1200°C -12.0 0.2 805 -7.4 21.0 41.0

Fired colour red off white

VOL. 60 {2) APRIL- JUNE 2001 79

 The semi-industrial level trials were conducted for the Table IV : Test results of pilot level study on wall tile
following purposes : (monoporosa)
1. To check all technological parameters during
Properties Body #1 Body #2 Body #3 Body #4 Body #5
processing stages with a large batch size.
2. To effectively simulate the production process of Residue on 5.3 6.4 6.6 6.9 5.8
future factory production. 631Jm (%)
3. To check possible tolerances of parameters during Density of 1.582 1.521 1.581
1.580 1.560
manufacturing stages. slip (g.cm-3 )
In this test, 1000 l<g of batch with composition of Body
Relative vis- 3.5 3.4 3.9 2.2 2.4
# 5 was prepared for semi-industrial scale trials. The cosity (DE)
sequence of operations and controls during grinding, spray
drying, pressing, drying, glazing and firing process Water in 42.4 45 44.7 40.2 41.0
slip(%)
practically remained same as per procedure, described
earlier. Powder 5.4 6.1 5.4 5.7 5.8
moisture(%)
The quality of the glaze, its preparation, control of tech-
nological parameters and application process have Specific 250 300 300 300 300
considerable effect on the final product. The choice of forming
pressure
engobe and glaze quality was determined after studying (kg.cm-2 )
the expansion and body characteristics along with the
Downloaded by [RMIT University Library] at 02:39 10 April 2016

suitability for fast firing. Size of tile 200x250 200x250 200x250 200x250 200x250
The frits were procured from standard manufacturer and
two types of frits, such as glossy and transparent were
.
(mm)
Expansion 0.62 0.73 0.60 0.64 0.68
tried. Requisite quantities of china clay, deflocculant and after press-
ing (%)
other additives like binders etc along with respective frit
were ball milled for a specific time. Application of engobe Green MOR 6.76 8.6 10.2 7.5 8.9
was made by double disc method; while glaze was applied (kg.cm-2 )
by bell method. Drying 110 110 110 110 110
Thermal expansion of the body, engobe and two types temp (DC)
of glaze (glossy, transparent) and working parameters for
Dry MOR 19.8 23.2 15 24 28
them are given in Table V.
(kg.cm-2 )
Table VI shows the properties of tiles after drying and
firing as manufactured in semi-industrial scale. This also Dry shrink- -0.05 -0.08 -0.06 -0.18 -0.16
includes other useful data generated during processing age(%)
stage. Max firing 1100 1100 1100 1120 1120
It was found that the Body #5 fulfilled all the require- temp (DC)
ments and quality as per standard, Bill, EN159. Therefore, Firing cycle 45 45 45 45 45
it was decided to start industrial production with Body #5. (min)
On an average, daily 85-90 tons of body were wet- Fired shrink- -0.38 -1.27 -0.69 -0.65 -0.53
ground utilizing large size rubber lined ball mill (17 ton age(%)
capacity) with silica pebbles as grinding media. 7-8 h
grinding was sufficient to reach a residue level of 7-7.5% Fired MOR
(kg.cm- 2 )
on 63 ~m sieve, relative viscosity: 1.5-2.SOE, density: 1.56
Support 167 182 158 242 228
-1.58 g.cm-3 and water content in the slip : 42-42.5%. A
spray drier of capacity 4 ton I h was used for granules Glazed 198 219 187 268 251
(powder) making. A hydraulic press of 1400 t capacity was Water absor-
used for pressing of tiles. A vertical fast drier having ption (%)
temperature 130D·140DC with 65-70 min cycle was used Support 18.1 16.6 20.7 14.3 16.1
for drying the tiles to bring down the moisture percentage Glazed 17.25 15.4 18.8 12.8 15.5
below 0.5%. Modern glaze line with three screen printing Thermal
machines were utilized for glaze application. Firing was expansion
carried out in a 90 metre long roller hearth kiln with LPG as 3a.1 o-7 . Dc-1 219 178 201 202 206
a fuel and specific consumption of energy, in the tune of
Planarity
500 ± 10 kcal/kg. A cycle of 42 min was followed for
Support good good OK good good
200x250 mm sized tile. Figure 2 shows the actual firing
Glazed convex little very little too little little
curve for the klin operated at a peak temperature of
concave concave convex convex
1120DC and cycle time, 42 min. The cycle time used for tile
size, 250 x 360 x 8 mm thick was 52 min and temperature, Crazing test, - - - OK OK
1120D/1130DC. 3.5 atm. 5 h

80 TRANSACTIONS OF THE INDIAN CERAMIC SOCIETY

 Table V : Working parameters of engobe, glaze Table VI : Semi-industrial trial results
and thermal expansion (250 x 360 x 8 mm size, wall tile)

Properties Engobe Glaze (glossy) Deflocculant (STPP) (%) 0.4705

Slip density (g.cm-3) 1.56
Residue on 45 ~m (%) 2 3.2
Relative viscosity (2 E) 2.37
Density (g.cm-3 ) 1.55 1.82
Residue on 63 ~m (%) 7.12
Relative viscosity ( E) 0
10.77 61 :oo Granulometry (%)
Pick-up weight (g) 36.46 93.79 > 600 ~m 7.92
> 400 ~m 7.97
> 300 ~m 35.10
Thermal Expansion (3a. 10-7."C-1 ) > 250 ~m 15.37
> 180 ~m 10.68
Body 204.3 > 125 ~m 6.90
Engobe 184.2 > 63~m 4.81
< 63 ~m 0.87
Glaze (glossy) 174.9
Powder moisture (%) 6.8
Glaze (transparent) 176.7
Forming pressure (kg.cm-2 ) 300
1200~--------------------------------------~
Dry MOR (kg.cm-2 ) 28.74
Downloaded by [RMIT University Library] at 02:39 10 April 2016

42 minutes cycle Firing temperature (QC) 1120

(Tile size 200 x 250 x 7 mm)
1000 Firing cycle (min) 52
Fired MOR (kg.cm-2 ) 232
~BOO Firing shrinkage (%) 0.61
w
a: Water absorption (%) 15.3
~
a: Flatness OK
w
a. Crazing & chemical resistance OK
:::E
w
~
• -Temperature below rollers
Table VII : Sorting results of different grades of tiles
o- Temperature above rollers
Grade I 75-85%
Grade II 10-22%
0 10 20 30 42
Grade Ill 5-10%
TIME(min)
Scrap 3-5 %
Fig. 2- Firing curve for wall tile (monoporosa) in roller hearth kiln.

The sorting line was equipped with an automatic
planarity measurement equipment (electronic) beside
automatic size measurement equipment and at the end,
automatic packing in boxes was done. The production of
finished wall tiles was maintained in the range 4800-
5800 m2/day which depends on the size of tile produced
and other operational factors. Typical sorting results as
per different grades of tiles during 1st month's production
based on on-line automatic glazed tile inspection instrument
are given in Table VII.
Conclusions
The present work demonstrated a systematic method
of industrially oriented body formulation study for a newly
set-up highly automatic modern single fast fired wall tile
(monoporosa) plant with 5000 m2/day capacity following
fast firing cycle of 42-52 min.
References
1. G. Biffi, "Technology for the Production of Single Fast Fired
Wall Tile," Industrial Ceramics, 9. (1) 11-17 (1989).
2. A. Es. Cardino, "Single Fired Ceramic Wall Tile Manufacture,
Part 1," Ceram. Forum Inti., 69 (5/6) 210-19 (1992).
3. P. G. Burzacchini, "Monoporosa and Eco-friendly Technology,"
Ceramic World Review, 41, 114-21 (2001).
4. S. N. Laha, "Recent Evaluation Techniques for Clays for Utili-
zation in Fast Single Fired Ceramic Tiles," lndoceram, 37 (3)
4-10 (2000).

[MS received November 14, 2000; revised copy received April 25, 2001]

VOL. 60 (2) APRIL- JUNE 2001 81