Effects of waterjet cutting waste addition on properties of building ceramics

The purpose of the paper is to investigate the possibility of using wastes of waterjet metal cutting in the manufacture of building ceramics. A complex study of the composition and properties of the abrasive and hydroabrasive cutting wastes was carried out. The behavior of waste in the composition of the ceramic mass and the ceramic body was investigated. Positive results of the effect of addition of waste on the properties of ceramics were obtained on two types of polymineralic argillaceous raw materials: increase of strength at the optimum content of waste in the mixture, reduction of air and fire shrinkage in all compositions with waste content, possibility of varying the color of products, etc. The similarity of the chemical composition of argillaceous raw materials and wastes was established: oxides of iron, silicon and aluminum are predominant. Electron microscope research has demonstrated that the introduction of waste modifies the structure of the ceramic shard, but does not affect its uniformity. The obtained results allowed to draw conclusions about the possible use of wastes of waterjet metal cutting in the production of ceramics: as a fluxing agent – flux, component for volumetric staining, thinning agent