OREANDA-NEWS Russian scientists from the Tomsk Polytechnic University have developed a new technological scheme for obtaining high-quality ceramics for the construction of walls and facades of buildings. The new material was based on inexpensive clay raw materials with additives of zeolite rocks, which is especially important in a situation of depletion of high-quality clay reserves. The research results are published in the journal Construction and Building Materials.

The scientists claim that today many deposits of high quality clays are being depleted. However in the production of ceramic bricks, low-grade, waterlogged, low-melting clays and loams are often used semi-finished products from this raw material, but when they are dried, defects and cracks appear in them. Therefore, it is so important to look for ways to create high-quality ceramics from low-grade mineral raw materials.

According to the scientists from the Tomsk Polytechnic University, to solve this problem, it is necessary to learn how to reduce the moisture content of clay in a state of plastic consistency and to create moisture-conducting paths during the drying process that help the formation of crack-resistant ceramic structures.

For this purpose they investigated the possibility of using zeolite rocks to obtain wall building ceramics and found that the addition of ten to thirty percent of zeolite rock to mixtures with low-melting, highly sensitive to drying clay or clay with high natural moisture reduces their sensitivity to drying by 3.5-4 times without deteriorating the cohesion of the clay.

So the research results allowed TPU scientists to develop a new technological scheme for obtaining high-quality building ceramics.