The evaluation of Balıkesir Dursunbey region clay and the red clay waste of Seydişehir aluminium factory as a raw material in ceramic bodies

Ceramic products which are being produced in a wide range and used from the construction materials to the every field of the daily life are manufactured from different raw materials known as ceramic raw materials. The raw material is the most significant element for clay bodies, glaze, pigment and engobe in the industrial and artistic ceramic production.Today, apart from the clay, kaolin, quartz, feldspar, and the other auxilary raw materials that are used as the components of the traditional ceramic products like tile, sanitary, stoneware and porcelain; many researches are being done related to the usage of alternative raw materials, which have already exist in the several parts of our country in order to utilize in the ceramic bodies .A great many of raw materials; which have different melting property, chemical, physical, minerological properties and the appropiate forming chararcteristics for wet, semi-wet or dry shaping and which display the desired colours and texture on the ceramic surface after the firing are researched from various points. Türkiye is a rich country from the mineral ores, rocks and especially clay deposites that are available for using in the artistic produces.Evaluation of the solid wastes resulting from the various industrial production input beside the natural resources is an another substantial subject in the ceramic sector.This study has four parts. In the first part of this study the formation of the clay minerals, their geology, properties and areas of usage, in the second part, the studies about the formation of the waste red clay resulting from the production of aluminium ore and information on its use in ceramics has been given. In the third part, the definition and properties of the functional and artistic ceramic bodies and artists who make use of these clays and samples of their works have been presented.In the forth part, the usability of Balıkesir Dursunbey clay and waste red mud taken from Seydişehir Aluminium factory has been investigated experientially in the ceramic bodies and ceramic applications have been done by using the bodies obtained from the receipts providing the optimal features from the point of technical and visual images.