Sintering behavior of waste serpentine from abdasht chromite mines Abdasht chromite mines and kaolin blends

The aim of this study is investigating on sintering behavior of Abdasht waste serpentine and kaolin blends. According to this, three formulations of dry milled waste serpentine with 25%, 50% and 75% high grade kaolin were wet milled. The slurries were then dried, sieved and uniaxially pressed at 100 MPa and fired for 2 h soaking time at temperatures between 1100 and 1400 °C. Sintered samples were investigated by bulk density, apparent porosity, water absorption, linear shrinkage and phase changes with raising temperatures in order to characterize their sintering process. It was revealed that all samples were starting to melt at 1350 °C and the sintering was completed for all specimens at 1300 °C. The only phases of fully sintered samples were cordierite and enstatite. Cordierite concentration, however, increased with enhancing kaolin percentage in composition. The results of this study can introduce Abdasht waste serpentine as magnesium silicate source into the ceramic industries and may help to solve environmental problems caused by several million tones wastes in Abdasht chromite mines.