Thermal Properties of Illite-Zeolite Mixtures up to 1100 °C

Illitic clays are the commonly used material in building ceramics. Zeolites are microporous, hydrated crystalline aluminosilicates, they are widely used due to their structure and absorption properties. In this study, illitic clay (Füzérradvány, Hungary) was mixed with natural zeolite (Nižný Hrabovec, Slovakia) with up to 50 wt.% of zeolite content. The samples were submitted to thermal analyses, such as differential thermal analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetry, and dilatometry. In addition, the evolution of thermal diffusivity, thermal conductivity, and specific heat capacity in the heating stage of firing were measured and discussed. The amount of the physically bound water in the samples increased along with the amount of zeolite. The temperature of the illite dehydroxylation (peak temperature) was slightly shifted to lower temperatures, from 609 °C to 575 °C (for sample IZ50). On the other hand, the mass loss and the shrinkage of the samples significantly increased with the zeolite content in the samples. Sample IZ50 reached 10.8% shrinkage, while the sample prepared only from the illitic clay contracted by 5.8%. Nevertheless, the temperature of the beginning of the sintering (taken from the dilatometric curves) decreased from 1021 °C (for illitic clay) to 1005 °C (for IZ50). The thermal diffusivity and thermal conductivity values decreased as the amount of zeolite increased in the samples, thus showing promising thermal insulating properties

Thermophysical Properties of Kaolin–Zeolite Blends up to 1100 °C

In this study, the thermophysical properties such as the thermal expansion, thermal diffusivity and conductivity, and specific heat capacity of ceramic samples made from kaolin and natural zeolite are investigated up to 1100 °C. The samples were prepared from Sedlec kaolin (Czech Republic) and natural zeolite (Nižný Hrabovec, Slovakia). Kaolin was partially replaced with a natural zeolite in the amounts of 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 mass%. The measurements were performed on cylindrical samples using thermogravimetric analysis, a horizontal pushrod dilatometer, and laser flash apparatus. The results show that zeolite in the samples decreases the values of all studied properties (except thermal expansion), which is positive for bulk density, porosity, thermal diffusivity, and conductivity. It has a negative effect for thermal expansion because shrinkage increases with the zeolite content. Therefore, the optimal amount of zeolite in the sample (according to the studied properties) is 30 mass%