Development of blends of minerals destined to reduce the pyroplastic deformation of porcelain tiles

• Grant number: 17/08632-7
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Innovative Research in Small Business - PIPE
• Start date: February 01, 2018
• End date: July 31, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Materials and Metallurgical Engineering - Nonmetallic Materials
• Agreement: FINEP - PIPE/PAPPE Grant
• Principal Investigator: Fábio Gomes Melchiades
• Grantee: Fábio Gomes Melchiades
• Company: Centro de Serviços e Materiais Cerâmicos Ltda
• CNAE: Fabricação de produtos cerâmicos não-refratários não especificados anteriormente
• City: São Carlos
• Associated researchers: Anselmo Ortega Boschi ; Douglas Franco de Souza ; Suelen Zenatti
• Associated scholarship(s): 19/17313-8 - Selection of minerals to reduce the pyroplastic deformation of bodies destined to porcelain tiles, BP.TT; 18/16724-1 - Formulation of blends of minerals destined to bodies of porcelain tiles, BP.TT; 18/04934-1 - Selection of minerals to reduce the pyroplastic deformation of bodies destined to porcelain tiles, BP.TT

Abstract

The production of porcelain tiles has presented growing rates in Brazil and in the world in the last decades related to acceptance of this product in the market, where it became a reference of quality and durability to cover floor and walls. In Brazil, between 2000 and 2015, porcelain tiles presented annual growing rates higher than 10 percent. Besides the increase of this product in the market, in the last years, the demand for porcelain tiles of big sizes (higher than 60 x 60 cm2) increased expressively, allowing the increment of the benefit of these products. However, the production of porcelain tiles of big sizes brought some technical difficult, which were less expressive when the porcelain tiles were produced just in small sizes. The deformation presented by pieces of large dimensions during sinterization - pyroplastic deformations - became determinants to the dimensional precision of the porcelain tiles produced. They shall present deformations lower than some millimeters in tiles higher than 1,0 m width and length. The pyroplastic deformations are defined as permanent deformations that occur in high temperatures, deriving from the mechanism of sinterization with the presence of liquid phases predominant in the production of porcelain tiles. The deformations are related to the volume and viscosity of the liquid phases produced during the sinterization, among other factors. Considering the demand of the production of porcelain tiles of large sizes with big dimensional precision, the purpose of this study is to develop blends of minerals that could be added to the composition of the porcelain tiles aiming to reduce the pyroplastic deformation suffered by them during the sinterization. Therefore, the project intends to study the potential of several minerals and blends prepared with them to reduce the pyroplastic deformation of compositions of porcelain tiles through the formation of liquid phases of high viscosity in the temperatures of sinterization used in the industrial sector. In this way, the methodology is divided in two steps: first, the individual potential of several minerals in different granulometry (including after micronization) will be evaluated. In the second step, it will be prepared blends with minerals of highest potential identified in the first step of the work to generate compositions to be employed as additives to reduce the pyroplastic deformation of porcelain tiles during firing. Software NeosAware will be used to define the compositions of the blends. The developed blends will be added in different contents in bodies destined to the production of porcelain tiles and their performances will be evaluated by comparative analysis of gresification curves, pyroplastic index, water absorption, thermal expansion coefficient, chromatic coordinates, etc. It is expected, by the analysis of the obtained results, to develop compositions of minerals with potential to be commercialized in the sector of ceramic tiles, in a way to contribute to the fabrication of porcelain tiles of large sizes and high dimensional precision. The presence of these blends in bodies destined to the production of porcelain tiles is innovative considering that in the current market we do not have raw materials or additives which may be incorporated into the product for that purpose. (AU)