Development of an energy-saving technology for sintering of bricks from high-siliceous clay by the plastic molding method

Abstract In the work, the possibility of using the method of plastic molding of blanks and realizing an energy-saving sintering of building bricks from high-siliceous clays have been considered. It has been established that the addition of sand containing a small amount of montmorillonite to such clays makes it possible to perform of plastic molding, and the introduction of low-melting glass additives allows sintering of bricks at 800 °C for 8 h. The data of X-ray diffraction analysis and IR spectroscopy have shown that the synthesized material contains quartz, feldspar, and glass phase, i.e., glass ceramics has been formed. The basis of low-temperature sintering is the formation of a low-temperature eutectic between the molten glass, feldspars, and silica. It has been established that the density, porosity, water absorption, and mechanical properties of ceramics depend on the ratio of the components in the initial mixtures. The developed technology has made it possible to synthesize high-quality building bricks from high-siliceous clays under low-temperature sintering conditions.