Effects of slag addition and sintering temperature on the technological properties of dolomite based porous ceramics

This work focuses on the synthesis of basic porous ceramics prepared from Moroccan dolomite. The effect of the addition of slag on the technological and mechanical properties of the final product was also described. The starting materials were characterized in terms of chemical composition (XRF), mineralogical (XRD), and thermal characterizations (DTA-TG). Next, Different ceramic bodies were prepared by the uniaxial pressing and sintering methods at different temperatures up to 1300 °C. The effect of sintering in the range of 1100–1300 °C on the morphology, composition of the developed phases, technological properties (i.e., porosity, water absorption, density and shrinkage), resistance to flexural stress, and also chemical resistance were investigated. The optimum sintering temperature is 1200 °C, in which the porosity was 50.28–41.4%, the density was 1.7–1.89 g/cm3, the water absorption was 28.07–24.8%, and the shrinkage was 1.55–6.25% as well as varying the amount of slag added. The experimental results showed clearly that slag was a good candidate to enhance the quality of ceramic products especially for mechanical properties.