Investigation of industrial waste quartz for utilization in manufacturing traditional stone tile

Materials that occur from the production to the consumption stage and that are no longer unwanted and useless are called waste. These wastes can be formed in three different forms: solid, liquid and gas. When the environmentally damaging wastes are evaluated in a beneficial way, various advantages are obtained. Wastes that are similar to ceramic materials in terms of content can be evaluated in tile and ceramic production. Traditional tile has its own unique structure and it in an art product which is decorated with traditional patterns glazed, and then fired. When the old tiles are examined, it is seen that there is a high percentage of quartz. It is known that this body structure was developed in Egypt in the 10th century, then it was used by the Seljuks and thus entered to Anatolia. Nowadays, this type of body, also known as quartz mud or frit mud, is called as Stone Tile (Taş Çini in Turkish). In this study, the usability of waste quartz sludge from İzmir Çimstone factory with a SiO2 content of 93,80 % was investigated. First, the characterization of the waste material was done. Then, stone tile recipes were developed and waste materials were added to the recipes at 70% and 90% by weight. The recipes contained three different types of clay and alkaline frit. Water absorption, strength and firing shrinkage values of the samples fired at 850, 900 and 950 oC were measured. Phase analysis of the samples was performed by XRD. In the last stage of the study, the stone tiles were decorated, glazed and fired. As a result of the data obtained from the study, it is concluded that high quartz content sludge can be used as a raw material in stone tile production. Keywords: Characterization, Traditional Stone Tile, Waste Quartz