Addition of residue from the cut and burnishing of basaltic rocks in red ceramic materials

Abstract

As a result of the transformation of basaltic rocks into civil engineering materials, powdered residues are profusely produced mainly from cutting, grinding and polishing processes. In southern Brazil, in the northern region of the Rio Grande do Sul state, a great amount of such residues is deposited without any control, causing severe environmental impacts. In the present work the possibility of using powdered basaltic rock residues in manufacturing red ceramic masonry blocks was investigated. In order to find the optimum amount of residue that could be add to a red clay to reach masonry ceramic blocks specifications, the residues were mixed with red clay in the mass proportions of 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%. Results have shown that it is possible to add up to 50% of residue from basaltic rock in red ceramic block production. Keywords: industrial residue, red ceramics block, absorption, strength.