Suitability of soils and river deposits from Marrakech for the manufacturing of earthenware

• Semi-arid soils and river deposits can be used for earthenware production.
• Clayey materials and their fired products have been characterised.
• The behaviour of materials on drying and firing was investigated.
• Technological properties are influenced by pressure exerted during shaping.
• A procedure for minimal defects on ceramic products is proposed.

This paper investigates the suitability of clayey materials originating from semi-arid soil and river sediments, used by potters in the Agafay region for the manufacture of ceramic products. The clay samples were subjected to particle-size analysis, X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence to investigate their physical, mineralogical and chemical characteristics respectively. The physical behaviour of the intermediate products was studied at the shaping and drying stages of the ceramics manufacturing process through the Atterberg limits and the plot of the Bigot curve respectively. The final product characteristics were determined through porosity tests, flexural and compressive strengths tests. Based on results obtained, the raw materials turn out to be suitable characteristics for the manufacture of earthenware products. The application of the suggested recommendations is worthy for the improvement of the products based on such raw materials.