Clays and bodies for ceramic tiles: Reappraisal and technological classification

• Technological evolution in the ceramic tile sector and effect on product typologies.
• Chemical, mineralogical and granulometric features of ceramic clays worldwide.
• Ceramic properties and application of clay materials in tilemaking are reappraised.
• A new, industry-oriented classification of clays for ceramic tiles is proposed.
• Design criteria and guidelines for batch formulation of each type of ceramic tile.

The ceramic tile industry is a dynamic sector whose technological innovation and market trends have drawn a complex picture of products and processes. Raw materials have been deeply involved in such an evolution: the flexibility of current manufacturing cycles enables the use of a very wide range of clays, whose chemical and mineralogical composition, particle size distribution and ceramic properties were reappraised. The classical reference schemes are no longer able to properly describe and predict the role of clays in tilemaking. In order to fill this gap, an industry-oriented, technological classification of clay raw materials is proposed on the basis of chemical (Fe2O3 content) and mineralogical parameters (amount of phyllosilicates and carbonates) together with particle size (fractions < 2 μm and > 63 μm) and plasticity (methylene blue index and Atterberg plastic index). It firstly discriminates light-firing and dark-firing clays according to an iron oxide threshold of 3%. Light-firing clays are distinguished by the amount of kaolinite group minerals and plasticity in “kaolins” (high-grade, low-grade, and raw kaolins, kaolinitic loams) and “plastic clays” (ball clays, pyrophyllitic clays, white bentonites); the distinction of three classes of ball clays with increasing plasticity is envisaged. Dark-firing clays are classified according to coarse-grained fraction and amount of carbonates in carbonate-rich types (marly and carbonatic clays), red loams and red clays; these latter are furtherly differentiated by the relative abundance of clay minerals. Such a classification is essential to draw the guidelines for body formulation and to explain the criteria followed in the industrial practice for each category of ceramic tiles. Key properties are discussed to design batches for porous tiles, vitrified and semi-vitrified red stoneware, and vitrified light-firing bodies. Both the clay classification and the guidelines to body formulation are intended to provide up-to-date tools to assess the ceramic potential and correct use in tilemaking of clay materials, but they cannot substitute a throroughful technological characterization, adequately simulating the industrial processing.

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