| Abstract |
The need to reduce energy consumption and the carbon footprint generated by firing ceramics has stimulated research to develop sintering processes carried out at lower temperatures (ideally not above 300 degrees C) and high pressures (up to 600 MPa), the so-called cold sintering process (CSP) (Grasso et al., 2020, Maria et al., 2017). To evaluate the applicability of CSP to clays, we focused on two representative clay minerals, kaolinite and illite, and on the natural clay material obtained from a Slovenian brick manufacturer. The selected clay materials were characterized on the basis of mineralogical-chemical composition (XRD, XRF) and particle size distribution (SEM analysis, PSD, BET). The powders of clay minerals and natural clay material were first sintered in a heating microscope to determine the sintering conditions and then in a laboratory furnace at 1100 degrees C for 2 hours and additionally at 1300 degrees C for kaolinites. The effect of compression of the initial powders on their final properties was also investigated. |
