Characterization of Ceramic Tiles Added with EAF Slag Waste

Abstract

The increasing production of steel leads to an increment of solid wastes generated especially Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) slag. This becomes a serious concern as the slag has to be disposed in a proper manner in order to avoid dumping in landfills which will eventually occupy available land and may cause permanent damage to the flora and fauna. In this project, an attempt was made to utilize the EAF slag as one of the raw materials in ceramic tiles. Results obtained showed that as percentage of EAF slag added was increased up to 60%, percentage of apparent porosity and water absorption were found to increase, accompanied by reduction in flexural strength due to more severe porosity was observed in the tiles. On the other hand, reducing the percentage of EAF slag up to 40% while increasing percentage of ball clay added led to formation of higher total percentage of anortite and wollastonite minerals. This would contribute to higher flexural strength of tiles. In addition, by adding silica and feldspar, the flexural strength of tile produced was further improved due to optimization of densification process. Highest flexural strength of EAF slag based tiles was attained at composition of 40% EAF slag 30% ball clay 10% feldspar 20% silica. It was observed that properties of ceramic tiles added with EAF slag, especially flexural strength are comparable with commercial ceramic tiles. Therefore, the EAF slag ceramic tiles have great potential to be made into high flexural strength or wear resistant floor tiles.