Gelatinization Technique Applied to the Processing of Porous Clay Bodies

Conventional processes for manufacturing porous ceramic sometimes provide bodies with low mechanical strength in addition to the high complexity or cost. This work proposes a new porous ceramic processing route: gelatinization, using as raw material clay with low plasticity, water and gelatin. The characterization of the clay was carried out and specimens of various compositions were produced by varying clay content (40, 50, 55 and 60% of solids) and keeping the water and gelatin content constant in the formulation. After cold forming the samples were fired under various conditions: initial temperature of 300 or 600 °C; maximum firing temperature of 800, 900, 1000, 1100 or 1350 °C. After firing, it was obtained the values of the water absorption, bulk density, apparent porosity, linear shrinkage and mechanical resistance. The best results were for samples fired in temperatures lower than 1100 °C and 50% and 55 % of solid content.