Use of glass waste as a fluxing agent for manufacturing of porcelain stoneware tiles

Porcelain stoneware has excellent technical characteristics such as flexural strength, chemical resistance, surface hardness, etc. Nowadays, it has been realized research of new materials, for example nonhazardous wastes, that are able to replace the traditional fluxing agents without change the process or quality of the final products. The aim of this work is to study the possibility of the use of glass powder waste, in ceramic masses, for manufacturing of porcelain stoneware tiles. It was prepared mixtures containing different amounts of clay, glass waste, feldspar and quartz. The samples were fired reaching different maximum temperatures in the range 1000-1250 degrees C, with a soaking time of 30 minutes. The fired samples were characterized and the composition containing feldspar and glass powder waste, as fluxing agents, presented the best mechanical and technological properties. The addition of glass powder showed to be an efficient fluxing agent because this material can accelerate the densification process during firing and besides that, it can substitute feldspar which is becoming exhausted.