From Clay Minerals to Ceramics: Progress and Challenges

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Clays and Engineered Mineral Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 26 September 2025 | Viewed by 1532

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Mineralogy, Petrology and Applied Geology, University of Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
Interests: industrial minerals; ceramics and glass-ceramic; bioceramics; glass; geopolymers; waste recycling; supplementary cemetitous materials; calcined clays
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Guest Editor
Departament Enginyeria Minera, Industrial i TIC, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, 08242 Manresa, Spain
Interests: ore deposits; stable isotopes; geochemistry; quantitative mineralogy; geometallurgy; environmental pollution; waste recycling; supplementary cemetitous materials; calcined clays
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The use of different types of clay for the manufacture of ceramics has been well known since ancient times; man has evolved along with the production of ceramics. Humans have always experimented to improve the applications of clays, introducing them as raw materials to help them enhance ceramics for uses that improve their living conditions. The processes investigated include the pre-treatment of natural clay to purify it and extract its finer parts, the selection of the type of clay according to the desired shape, the introduction of degreasing agents to control tensions and plasticity, the use of fluxing minerals, and so on.

The world of ceramics is evolving towards the sustainable use of raw materials. This is leading to experimentation with the introduction of waste in their formulation, as well as research into the manufacture of glass ceramics and geopolymers. This avoids the generation of waste that affects the environment and reduces the need to extract raw materials from nature.

Finally, clays are the most promising raw material as a complement to increase the reactivity of industrial, mining, construction, and demolition wastes so that they can be used for the production of new materials, such as geopolymers or supplementary cementitous materials. This application is of critical importance for the reduction of CO2 emissions produced during the manufacture of portland cement, which is fundamental in the battle against climate change. In view of the above, there is still a lot of research to be carried out in the field of clays and their ceramic applications.

Dr. Maite Garcia-Valles
Dr. Pura Alfonso
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • clay minerals
  • thermal properties
  • supplementary cementitious materials
  • calcined clays
  • technological behavior
  • glass ceramics
  • recycling

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

13 pages, 3958 KiB  
Article
Effect of Recycling Chicken Eggshell Waste as a Pore-Forming Mineral Source in Low-Water-Absorption Bi-Layered Red Ceramic Tiles
by Thaís Queiroz Gomes Vigneron and José Nilson França Holanda
Minerals 2024, 14(12), 1285; https://doi.org/10.3390/min14121285 - 18 Dec 2024
Viewed by 979
Abstract
This work evaluated the effects of incorporating chicken eggshell waste in a low-water-absorption bi-layered red ceramic tile composition, focusing on its porosity. Red ceramic tile formulations were prepared with incorporations of 0, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 wt.% of chicken eggshell waste. [...] Read more.
This work evaluated the effects of incorporating chicken eggshell waste in a low-water-absorption bi-layered red ceramic tile composition, focusing on its porosity. Red ceramic tile formulations were prepared with incorporations of 0, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 wt.% of chicken eggshell waste. The bi-layered red floor tile processing method consisted of dry powder granulation, double uniaxial pressing and firing at 1220 °C using a fast-firing cycle. The physical properties and microstructural development of the tile specimens were investigated. It was found that chicken eggshell waste exhibited good chemical compatibility for use in red ceramic tile formulations, enabling its recycling. The novel bi-layered red ceramic tiles presented water absorption between 0.34 and 0.97% and apparent density between 2.09 and 2.14 g/cm3. The results demonstrated that chicken eggshell waste, when incorporated up to 15 wt.%, can be used as an efficient pore-forming carbonate source to manufacture low-water-absorption bi-layered red ceramic tiles (BIa and BIb groups—ISO 13006), which allows use in ventilated façades. It was concluded that the proposed approach is suitable for recycling chicken eggshell waste into red ceramic tile formulations, with relevant repercussions for the circular economy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue From Clay Minerals to Ceramics: Progress and Challenges)
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