Avaliação do desempenho de blocos cerâmicos incorporados com resíduo de quartzito em pó.

Abstract

With the increasing demand of the civil construction for ornamental rocks, like granites, marbles and quartzites, environmental health problems arise due to the incorrect destination of the residues of these rocks in the environment during its stages of mining and processing. Located in the Seridó micro-region of Paraíba, the city of Junco do Seridó stands out in the quartzite trade and lacks waste management policies. This work aims to evaluate the physical and mechanicalproperties of ceramic blocks incorporated with quartzite residues from Junco do Seridó. Were performed tests of physical, chemical and mineralogical characterization of the raw materials used, known as X-ray fluorescence, thermal and thermogravimetric differential analysis, X-ray diffraction and granulometric analysis. Sequentially the compositions were determined and the test samples were conformed. These were submitted to drying in an oven for 24 hours and were sintered at temperatures of 800oC e 900oC. Finally, its physical and mechanical properties were determined and it was verified that the addition of a 20% quartzite content in the ceramic composition promoted an improvement in the mechanical resistance and reduction in the water absorption in the ceramic blocks produced in this study, especially in the higher burnning temperatures, proving the feasibility of the use of quartzite residues as components of ceramic compositions, besides to having similar compositions to the conventional raw materials that are used in them.