The effect of sawdust, cow dung, and CaC2 wastes on properties of refractory bricks

Abstract

The effect of sawdust, cow dung, and CaC2 waste on fireclay was studied. The X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) analysis of the fireclay showed that it contains about 14.328% and 44.382% of Al2O3 and SiO2, respectively. The result of the scanning electron microscope (SEM) showed that the fireclay contained a mixture of coarse and fine grain particles. The analysis on the fireclay was; fireclay with cow dung only, sawdust only, Cow dung & CaC2 waste, and sawdust & CaC2 waste. In each phase, fireclay was combined in the ratio of 100, 90, 80, and 70%, for the additives used. All these properties were studied at 10000C and 12000C for all the additive combinations. The sample containing 30wt% of Sawdust and CaC2 waste had the highest apparent porosity of 74% and 74.48% at 10000C and 12000C, respectively. The lowest apparent porosity was seen in the sample containing 10wt% of cow dung which were 15.29% and 9.06% at 10000C and 12000C, respectively. In this work, apparent porosity, water absorption, apparent density, and bulk density showed similar graphical trends for all the samples produced. On the other hand, linear shrinkage decreased at constant temperature but increased as the temperature varied from 10000C to 12000C for all samples produced. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) carried out on the samples showed that most of the properties evaluated were significant