Novel Ecological Tiles Made with Granite Fine Quarry Waste and Oil Palm Fiber Ash

Abstract

Floor tile body recipes were prepared using granite fine quarry waste (GFQW) and oilpalm fiber ash (OPFA) as raw materials with clearly defined physical and chemical propertiesat single sieve residues and different fast fired temperatures under industrial conditions. Themost suitable formulations with the corresponding optimum moisture contents weredetermined and further fired at different peak temperatures under laboratory conditions inorder to establish their vitrification ranges and optimum firing temperatures. The tested peakfiring temperatures were varied at 20ºC intervals from 1140 to 1180ºC for floor tile bodies.The physical and thermal properties of the fired bodies such as colour, water absorption, linearfiring shrinkage, and bulk density were measured. Furthermore, consideration was given tothe phase and microstructural evolution of the developed tile bodies. X-ray fluorescence, andX-ray diffraction (XRD) in combination with thermogravimetry were used to analyse thephases formed before and after firing. The experimental results showed that it was possible toobtain a floor tile body with the properties in accordance with TIS 37-2529.