Use of glass waste as a raw material in porcelain stoneware tile mixtures

Porcelain stoneware tile has excellent technical characteristics such as flexural strength, chemical resistance, surface hardness, etc. Nowadays, research of new materials, for example non-hazardous wastes, that are able to replace the traditional fluxing agents without changing the process or quality of the final products has been realized. The aim of this work is to study the possibility of the use of glass powder waste, in ceramic mixtures, for manufacturing of porcelain stoneware tiles. It was prepared by mixtures containing different amounts of clay, glass waste, feldspar and quartz. The samples were fired reaching different maximum temperatures in the range 1000–1250 °C, with a soaking time of 30 min. The fired samples were characterized and the use of small amounts of glass powder in addition with feldspar showed good results of mechanical–technological properties. The 25F5G was the only product that can be classified as a porcelain stoneware tile due to its properties.