Caracterização física e mecânica de argilas utilizadas para produção de blocos cerâmicos por uma empresa na região de Crateús

Abstract

Ceará is among the states with the largest number of ceramic companies in the country, especially in the red ceramic segment, which is the object of study of this work. However, due to the simplicity of the production process, the technical study is often undervalued, which encourages the sector to make mistakes, such as the lack of technique in production control and the absence of normative tests about their technological properties. The objective of this work was to perform the technological characterization of clays, from three deposits, used for the manufacturing of blocks in a company in Crateús, in order to enable the improvement of the production process and to spread the importance of knowing the normative domain about the commercialized product. For this, nine mixtures of ceramic masses were formulated and tests of water absorption, apparent porosity, linear shrinkage, apparent specific mass and tensile strength by flexion were performed. The results for physical and mechanical characterization, showed good solutions, being of the nine formulations: four satisfactory, three regular and only two unsatisfactory. The study can provide important information that contributes to a better control of production and enable a better economic use of the raw material, besides encouraging the improvement of existing production techniques.