Development of porous ceramic bodies from kaolin deposits for industrial applications

The possibility of fabricating porous ceramic bodies from kaolin using maize, rice, saw-dust, charcoal, millet and Styrofoam as pore formers have been explored in this work after chemical analysis of two kaolin deposits located at Assin Fosu and Saltpond both in the Central Region of Ghana.Batch formulations of the Kaolin samples were formed into greenbodies and fired to 1400 °C at a controlled rate. Samples with charcoal, millet, sawdust, maize and rice pore formers showed severe surface cracks and low thermal shock after firing. A control batch process using Styrofoam exhibited uniform surface characteristics with pores, high strength, thermal stability and no surface cracks thereby confirming the viability of the process modules. Apparent porosity as high as 38% has been calculated.