Properties of Verkhnealkunsky deposit mudstones used as raw materials to manufacture clinker tiles

Abstract

The article writes about the development of mudstone-based raw material compositions used to manufacture clinker tiles with improved physical and technical properties. Clinker tiles are one of the popular roofing materials. Compared to other roofing covering options, clinker tiles have higher strength, more resistance to aggressive environments, and better aesthetic characteristics. Clinker tile production is relevant due to the fact that currently architects and building constructors are showing great interest in such an elite roofing material, but due to the economic situation, this roofing material is no longer imported to Russia, with an empty market niche having been formed. Many Russian brick factories are planning to install additional technological lines to manufacture ceramic tiles, but the current demand is to produce clinker tiles. The main unresolved issue concerns raw materials since traditional raw materials – loams and clays – are very rarely suitable for the production of low-temperature sintering clinker tiles. Having studied a large amount of academic literature and carried out the necessary laboratory studies, the authors of this article, under the guidance of the Chair of the Construction Materials Department, Prof. V.D. Kotlyar, pay serious attention to such raw materials as mudstones from the Verkhnealkunsky deposit of the Russian Republic of Ingushetia. The article provides a general description of mudstones, including their chemical and mineral composition as well as their structural features for the production of clinker tiles. It has been experimentally established that the degree of their grinding has a significant influence on technological properties of both mudstones and the end products. Based on raw material mixtures with a grain composition of 0-0.16 and 0-0.08 mm, it is possible to manufacture clinker tiles using the extrusion molding method without introducing corrective additives. The data obtained will make it possible to develop technological regulations to manufacture clinker tiles based on Verkhnealkunsky deposit mudstones.