Structural clay products | Manufacturing, Uses & Benefits (2024)

structural clay products, ceramic products intended for use in building construction. Typical structural clay products are building brick, paving brick, terra-cotta facing tile, roofing tile, and drainage pipe. These objects are made from commonly occurring natural materials, which are mixed with water, formed into the desired shape, and fired in a kiln in order to give the clay mixture a permanent bond. Finished structural clay products display such essential properties as load-bearing strength, resistance to wear, resistance to chemical attack, attractive appearance, and an ability to take a decorative finish.

In this article the raw materials, properties, and general applications of structural clay products are reviewed. At certain points reference is made to industrial processes employed in the manufacture of structural clay products; for more detailed description of these processes, the reader is referred to the article traditional ceramics.

Raw materials and processing

Structural clay products are made from 35 to 55 percent clays or argillaceous (clayey) shales, 25 to 45 percent quartz, and 25 to 55 percent feldspar. As with all traditional ceramic products, the clay portion acts as a former, providing shaping ability; the quartz (silica) serves as a filler, providing strength to the formed object; and the feldspar serves as a fluxing agent, lowering the melting temperatures of the clay and quartz during firing. The proportions cited above are often found directly in shale deposits, so that blending is often not necessary. In addition, little or no beneficiation, or crushing and grinding of the mined material, is employed. Local clays or shales of highly variable composition are used in order to keep transportation costs as low as possible. The colour of the finished product derives from impurities, most notably iron oxides, present in the raw materials. Colours can range from buff and other light shades of brown through red to black, depending upon whether an oxidizing or reducing atmosphere exists in the kiln.

In the processing of structural clay products, stiff-mud plastic-forming operations predominate—for example, pressing operations for brick and extrusion for brick or pipe (see Figure 1). These processes are described in the article traditional ceramics. Formed objects are usually fired in continuous conveyor belt or railcar operations, with the ware, as it traverses the tunnel kiln, proceeding from room temperature into a hot zone and finally to a cooler zone at the other end.

Properties

The properties exhibited by structural clay products are determined by particle size, firing temperature, and ultimate microstructure. Compared with finer ceramic products such as whitewares, much coarser filler particles are used, and lower firing temperatures are employed—typically in the range of 1,050° to 1,100° C (approximately 1,925° to 2,000° F). At such low temperatures the filler particles (usually crushed quartz) are normally not affected. Instead, the clay or shale ingredients contain sufficient impurities to melt and form a glass, thus bonding the particles together. As is the case with whitewares, crystalline mullite needles grow into this glassy phase. The resulting microstructure consists of large secondary particles embedded in a matrix of fine-grained mullite and glass—all containing a substantial volume of large pores.

Because of the presence of large and small particles in their microstructures, fired clay products have relatively high compressive strengths. This ability to bear relatively heavy loads without fracture is the prime property qualifying these products for structural applications. The size and number of pores is also important. If underfired, structural clay products have low strength and poor resistance to frost and freezing, owing to the presence of many small pores in the clay regions. Overfired ware, on the other hand, has too much glass. It is strong but brittle and is susceptible to failure under mechanical and thermal stress. Furthermore, it is impossible to obtain a good bond when glassy products are used with mortars. Small pores and high glass content are desirable, however, when chemical resistance and imperviousness to water penetration are required.

Products

By some estimates structural clay products make up as much as 50 percent of the entire ceramics market. The industry is highly conservative, with development aimed primarily at automation and labour minimization rather than the introduction of new products.

There is a wide variety of structural clay products, broadly classified as facing materials, load-bearing materials, paving materials, roofing tile, and chemically resistant materials. Examples of facing materials are face brick, terra-cotta, brick veneer, sculptured brick, glazed brick and tile, and decorative brick. Building brick, hollow brick, and structural tile for floors and walls are examples of load-bearing materials. Paving materials include light traffic pavers, quarry tile, and paving brick—this last product once in more common use than at present. Roofing tiles are quite common in many parts of the world, red and black colours being of particular note. Chemically resistant materials include sewer pipe, industrial floor brick, drain tile, flue liners, chimney brick, and chemical stoneware.

The manufacture, properties, and uses of brick and tile are covered in detail in the article brick and tile.