Recycling of the Granite Quarries and Municipal Incinerator Wastes for the Processing of New Materials as Porcelainized Stoneware

Abstract

In the 1980s started in the ceramic sector the material conception of porcelainized stoneware, a product with versatile and modern characteristics similar to those of the natural stone, depicting improved properties to the marble and granite. Porcelanized stoneware is a compact ceramic material, very hard and homogeneous, generally not fully vitreous (unglazed) in its surface, obtained by fast firing from compositions enriched in kaolinite, which contain a large quantity of fluxes. The raw materials for body are a mixture that contains an adequate relationship of kaolinitic clays, feldspars and quartz. Such material is characterized by its low or almost zero porosity, being adequated to sustain heavy and high traffic intensity for uses in and outside of buildings with wide range of aspects, desings and colors. By considering the chemistry and mineralogical composition of the granite and incinerator wastes, this paper describes their use in the processing of construction materials, specifically, in a new type of stoneware flooring and covering materials. According to the most of the physical and mechanical properties here determined, these "Modified Porcelainized Stoneware" (MPS) materials are close to the conventional porcelainized stoneware and glass ceramics products.