Manufacture of the ceramic

tiles and sanitary

Produced by : Framed by :

Amina Chahbouni Ilyass AINANASS

2019/2020
 SUMMARY:
Ceramic History

Introduction

FABRICATION OF CERAMIC TILES

I. RAW MATERIALS

1. CHARACTERIZATION OF RAW MATERIAL

II. METHODS OF MAKING CERAMIC TILES

1. Preparation of the raw material

2. Tile pressing
3. Cleaning
4. drying
5. Enameling
6. Packing
7. Control
8. Carton and pallet

PRODUCTION PROCESS FOR SANITARYWARE

1. The body preparation

2. Casting
3. drying
4. Inspection and glazing
5. Firing
6. Final selection
7. Refiring
8. Packaging

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Ceramic History
Ceramics are classified as inorganic and non-metallic materials that are essential to
our daily lifestyle. Ceramic and materials engineers are the people who design the
processes in which these products can be made, create new types of ceramic products,
and find different uses for ceramic products in everyday life.
Archeologists have uncovered human-made ceramics that date back to at least 24,000
BC. These ceramics were found in Czechoslovakia and were in the form of animal
and human figurines, slabs, and balls. These ceramics were made of animal fat and
bone mixed with bone ash and a fine claylike material. After forming, the ceramics
were fired at temperatures between 500-800°C in domed and horseshoe shaped kilns
partially dug into the ground with loess walls. While it is not clear what these
ceramics were used for, it is not thought to have been a utilitarian one. The first use of
functional pottery vessels is thought to be in 9,000 BC. These vessels were most
likely used to hold and store grain and other foods.

It is thought that ancient glass manufacture is closely related to pottery making, which
flourished in Upper Egypt about 8,000 BC. While firing pottery, the presence of
calcium oxide (CaO) containing sand combined with soda and the overheating of the
pottery kiln may have resulted in a colored glaze on the ceramic pot. Experts believe
that it was not until 1,500 BC that glass was produced independently of ceramics and
fashioned into separate items.

Since these ancient times, the technology and applications of ceramics (including
glass) has steadily increased. We often take for granted the major role that ceramics
have played in the progress of humankind. Below are just a few examples of how
important ceramics are to society.

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 INTRODUCTION

The ceramic tiles and sanitary ware productions start to be industrially organized from
the first seventies with a major role played by some European countries, the present
leaders in marketing the final product and supplying equipments. Nowadays, the
sector is mature, technologies and raw materials are available in the markets and the
physical productions are more and more integrated in the global foreign trade system.
Whilst the delocalization of the production capacities from the most developed
countries to the emerging economies is important and continuous, the competitive
advantages are no more only based on lower labor costs or easier access to natural
inputs but rather include the innovation capabilities, the supply chain integration and
the capacity to quickly innovate and stay on the trend, building brand images and
taking advantage of international networks.
The ceramic tile manufacturing process consists of a series of successive stages,
which can be summarised as follows:
 Raw materials preparation
 Pressing and drying of the green body
 Firing, with or without glazing
 Additional treatments
 Sorting and packing

Figure 1. Diagram of the manufacturing processes considered.

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I. RAW MATERIALS

The most abundant elements of the earth's crust are successively as a percentage of
the mass:

The basis of all silicate chemistry is based on the ability of the Si4 + ion to form
tetrahedra (SiO4) 4-.
A large number of silicate or aluminosilicate minerals result from the association of
tetrahedra (SiO4) 4- and by substitution of silicon with aluminum.
It is therefore not surprising that most abundant minerals s o i e n t s aluminosilicates:
clays.

Clays:
The clay, by the colloidal nature of its silicate particles, develops, in the presence of
water, specific properties allowing shaping by:
 casting (rheological behavior of the aqueous suspensions, cohesion and
plasticity of the sherds formed);
 calibration, stretching, soft-paste pressing (cohesion and plasticity)
 unidirectional pressing (cohesion of granulated masses with low water
content).
It is often necessary to add non-colloidal particles to the clays ("degreasing"
materials) in order to control the properties of the material during shaping and drying.
It is the cooking, by the physico-chemical transformations which it entails, which
develops the final properties of the product, namely its solidity and its inalterability. If

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 sandstone clays lead to non-porous products, the presence of degreasers alters this
action, forcing the addition of fluxes.
In the clay we can find different components:

Clay

Silica Mineral minerals Ferruginous Organic materials

compounds

Kaolins
They usually come from the alteration of granite rock feldspars. There are two types
of deposits.
 In situ deposit
The rock is altered on site: Armorican Massif, Massif Central.
 Sedimentary deposits
The elements of the alteration are deposited in the vicinity of the original
massifs. Most often, kaolin is associated with other detrital materials in
kaolinic sand deposits found on the edge of the Massif Central and in the
Drôme. In addition to the large deposits of Brittany and central France,

Non-plastics

In a more usual way, they are called degreasing. Depending on the morphology and
size of their particles, they modify the properties of the clays. They reduce plasticity
while making the material less sensitive to drying.
Depending on the cooking temperature, some of these raw materials can participate
in the development of the vitreous phase, if not control it. In this regard, they are
referred to as fluxes.

Non-plastics

Feldspars Silica Dolomites Large talc Champagne Verries

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 Raw materials for enamels and colors
 Enamels
These are glasses whose properties allow a perfect match with the shard on which
they are applied. They are elaborated from some of the aforementioned materials,
namely silicas, feldspars, chalks, kaolins chosen from the purest qualities.
For low cooking temperatures, more energetic fluxes are used (borax, sodium
carbonate, lead compounds) which, being either soluble in water or harmful in the
free state, require the prior realization of a glass (frit) containing them in a stable
form.
 Colorants
The colored pigments produced by specialized fi les are more or less complex
metal compounds. These include cobalt (blue), chromium (green), iron (yellow-
ocher or red-brown), zirconia-yttrium (yellow), zirconia-vanadium (blue).

1. CHARACTERIZATION OF RAW MATERIAL:

Chemical analysis:
Determine the percentage of oxide phases constituting the raw material.
Quantitative chemical analysis, atomic absorption, flame spectrometry, plasma torch
(ICP) analysis, X-ray fluorescence.
diffraction mineralogical analysis:
Gives an idea of the nature of the compounds present (> 5%) in the raw material (
Illite, dolomite, montmorillonite, ...).

Thermal analysis:
Information on the transformation of the phases and the decomposition of certain
constituents of the raw material.
Dilatometric analysis:
Allows to know the dimensional variations that can undergo a specimen (sample) of
this raw material as a function of temperature.
The exploitation of the curves makes it possible to determine the coefficient of
expansion.
Morphological analysis:
Electron microscope: grain morphology of raw materials.
Granulometric analysis:
It allows to have the distribution or classification of grains according to their sizes.

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II-METHODS OF MAKING CERAMIC TILES:

1. Preparation of the raw material

The mixture of raw material goes into a mill that will reduce to wet pulp (slip) more
or less fine grains depending on the type of product the mixture of soil and raw
materials.

Figure 2: grinder of the mixture

The slurry is introduced into nozzles placed insidethe drying chamber, by means of an
adjustablehigh-pressure piston pump. At the end of the nozzles, the slip is nebulized
into fine particles and falls into a counter current of hot air that comes from the
generator. In this way the drying is almost immediate and the powder formed falls to
the bottom where it is evacuated by a rotary valve. The humid air is sucked by a fan
through a group of cyclones, where the small amounts of fine powder that it still
contains are collected, and then the air is released into the atmosphere through
filters.pdf obtain the required particle size and residual moisture by adjusting the
pump pressure, nozzle diameter, temperature and air flow.

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 Figure 3: nozzle placed inside the drying chamber

2. Tile pressing

The powder obtained during the atomization and injected into a mold that will give it
the desired format. Inside the mold the press acts with a load that can go up to 5000
tons.
The plate thus obtained already has a resistance that can allow it to be transported and
to go through the various stages of manufacture

Figure 4 : mold for pressing

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 3. Cleaning

The press pick-up has the function of receiving the tiles coming out of the mold of the
press, to complete them, to tilt, to brush and then to send them to the subsequent
drying phase.
It consists of a movable and nestable treadmill with mechanical control to give free
access to the mold of the press, a universal rocker that switches the tile batteries to
180 ° and two groups of brush for smoothing tiles. A set of finishing scrapers is
available as an option.

4. drying
The tiles are loaded onto rollers, which after being subjected to the first stage of
drying, are wrapped in a strong stream of moist warm air, mixed with dry hot air.
Suitably dosing the two tunes, we have arrived at a good drying. By slots placed
horizontally in the tower of the dryer, the air is distributed equitably over the entire
loading plane of the swing.
The second stage, to which the tiles will be subjected, consists of a strong current of
dry air allowing a humidity at the exit of the product which changes of 0 ÷ 0,5 %. The
third and final stage is the one that gives the temperature to the tiles required for
enameling. Temperatures are controlled and displayed by appropriate
thermoregulatory equipment. The complete operation of the machine is managed by
means of the PLC.

Figure 5: Drying chamber

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 5. Enameling

Several enamelling techniques are applied depending on the type of product that we
want to obtain :
a) Dry enameling
The peculiarity of this technique is that of applying the enamel to any place of the tile
in a quantity and colors defined electronically according to a selected graphic program
which is displayed on a screen provided. With the electronic management systems, we
can decorate the tiles CENTERED way, ie all equal, in RANDOM mode ie with
different decorations but controlled on tiles that transit quickly on the line.

Figure 6 : enameling machine

b) Wet enamelling
With this technique, the tile passes under nozzles that propel liquid enamel. There
may be several successive nozzles or in parallel to coat the enamel ceramic to obtain
the different desired effects.

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 Figure 7 : parallel nozzles propelling liquid enamel
6. Packing

ROLL OVEN
These ovens have been designed based on the specific requirements of the product
and the installation and are equipped with all technological solutions able to guarantee
excellent levels of productive quality and reliability.
The main features are:
 possibility of baking enamelled and unglazed tiles, single-firing and bi-
firing, porcelain stoneware and third firing applications, firing temperature up
to 1,300 °
 low energy consumption,
 combustion plant with burners tested according to particularly severe
parameters that can work in both reducing and oxidizing atmosphere, always
guaranteeing a uniformly baked product,
 the rollers are operated with straight-toothed bevel gears guaranteeing the
highest reliability and low maintenance costs,
 it does not require any type of foundation

Figure 8 : roller oven (different views)

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 7. Control

Shade control is the only operation that requires manpower although there are camera
control systems. Indeed, this delicate control is difficult to achieve automatically
because it requires great finesse. It allows the detection of the defects of the shard, the
controls of flatness as well as the controls of appearance of the tiles

Figure 9 : employees at the screening stage

8. Carton and pallet

At the end of the chain are robots for palletizing. These robots are connected to the
computer system that transmits information for each package of about 1 m2 of tiles.
Depending on the choice (product quality) and nuances the robot will put the package
on one or other of the pallets that are in the work area. The last operation, when the
pallet is full, a stacker will take it to lather and automatically put in place in the stock

of ceramics

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 Figure 10: the cardboard setting of the tiles

PRODUCTION PROCESS FOR SANITARYWARE

1. The body preparation

a) First phase dissolving. Clays, together with water and deflocculants, are placed into
a dissolver. The working time with these dissolvers varies from 3 to 4 hours,
depending on the type of clay. The total amount of deflocculant necessary for the
body should be used as much as possible in this first dissolving phase, as it is well
known that the same amount of deflocculant added in different ways causes a
different rheological behaviour of the slip. The deflocculant to be used generally
varies from 0.1 to 0.5% in dry weight of the body depending on the slip formulation
and the fluidifying agent used. Other deflocculants more commonly used are sodium
carbonate and barium carbonate.
b) First phase sieving and de-ironing process. Before being transferred to the second
phase dissolving, the clay dispersion is screened using vibrating screens with one or
more meshes that vary from 125 to 90 micron. This operation becomes necessary in
order to eliminate impurities present in the material, even when purified clay blends
are used. The sieved slip is passed through electromagnets and/or permanent magnets
that can be fixed directly under the sieve. Their function is to detract any
contaminating magnetic material that could be present (iron) from the body.
c) Second phase dissolving. Normally this is a dissolver with a marine propeller-type
stirring device in octagonal cement tank. The first phase clay dispersion, quartz,
feldspar kaolin and, if used, chamotte are placed in sequence into this dissolver. A
turbo blunger may be used in alternative.
d) Second phase sieving and de-ironing process. The process examined in point b) is
repeated. In this case however, the screen’s mesh is usually bigger, the larger the size
of the quartz and feldspar grains compared to clay and because the greater specific
weight and the lesser fluidity of the slip could make sieving with small mesh
complicated. Mesh varying from 125 to 180 micron are used.
e) Dissolving of unfired scraps and casting recovery slip. This operation is carried out
in a normal dissolver or a turbo blunger. Water, unfired scraps and the recovery slip
are added together with barium carbonate to precipitate the sodium and calcium
sulphates contained in both the unfired scraps and the slip, followed immediately by
the moulds being attacked by deflocculants and by the dissolution of plaster.
f) Sieving and de-ironing process of the recovery slip. Proceed as seen in point d).
g) Mixing of the final slip. This operation is carried out in a pit fitted with a
mechanical paddle stirrer that has a paddle rotation speed of approximately 12÷16
rpm. Once the body is homogenized, its main characteristics are checked:
i) specific weight;
ii) viscosity;

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iii) thixotropy;
iv) pH;
v) temperature.
Adequate corrections are made if necessary always trying to avoid the addition of
deflocculants and/or water. It is preferable to modify the body characteristics by
adding a slip with the suitable physical properties. When the principal body parameter
values fall within the pre-set standards, the slip is transferred to the storage tanks.

2. Casting
The process of casting is the same in all types of casting (Fig. 2): slip is poured into
the mould and allowed to form casting layer on the mould. Then the excess slip is
drained through drain hole. Now casted ware is allowed to dried and then released
from mould. In this stage the ware is known as green ware. This green ware is
allowed to dry in atmospheric temperature for one to three days before sent to drier.
Before sending to drier this green ware is finished to smooth joint edges, repair small
cracks, small pin holes, bad finishing and once this ware is ready it will be sent to
drier for drying. Moisture content of the green ware before drier will be varying from
22% to 12%.

Figure 11 : Casting sanitary ware industrial process.

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 3. Drying

Drying Green piece form casting will be sent to Control and spraying through Drier.
In Drier, Green MOR of the ware is improved by removing the mechanically
combined water from ware. Moisture content of green ware after drier will be varying
from 1.5% to 0.5%. Drying process will take from 6.5 hour to 12 hrs. Drier may be
batch drier or tunnel drier. Batch drier will be loaded at once and unloaded at once.
Tunnel drier will be feeded continuously with ware and continuously unloaded at
other end. Gradual heat will be done from atmosphere temperature to 110 °C to 120
°C. During this process ware will loss his weight and shrink in size.

Figure 12: Drying sanitary ware

4. Inspection and glazing

Defected wares will be repaired or rejected depends upon the defects. Normally
control and spraying department will be handled by same team. Properly checked
ware will be sent to spraying are for spraying.
Glaze, used for spraying the sanitaryware, will be done by manual methods or robotic
methods. In spraying 0.8 mm to 1.6 mm thickness of the glaze is applied on the wares

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as per the requirement. Once spraying done allowed some time to dry for few
minutes.

Figure 13 : Inspection and glazing

5. Firing

Sprayed ware will be loaded in kiln car. Dust and other impurities are removed from
ware by air blower or vacuum. Kiln maximum temperature will be 1250 °C.
Different types of kiln can be used in firing (shuttle kiln, tunnel kiln). Sanitary ware
kiln (Fig. 3) have three zones, pre-heating, firing and cooling zones. In pre-heating
zone mechanically and chemically combined water has been removed from the ware.
At firing zone all the raw material are fused together and glaze are fused evenly. At
cooling zone sudden cooling is done to create glossy surface. Once product fired, it
will be moved to sorting area.

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 Figure14: Ceramic kiln for sanitary ware

6. Final selection

In this stage of the process all wares from the kiln are inspected and sorted according
to the defects. If ware is defects free then it will be send to packing section for
packing. If ware has minor defects like pinholes then it will be repaired by cold fill. If
has light glaze or wavy or blib then it will be sent to refire section. If there is a crack it
will be rejected. This quality check is very important to maintain standards. And also
random sampling will be made for flush test, smoke test, leak test and load test.

7. Refiring

All repair wares will be send to rework section for minor repairs. All ware are
required according to the defect and sent to tunnel kiln. Once repaired and fired again
it will be inspected and again separated as per the grade. If quality standards are met
then it will sent to packing. If needs repairing again it will repaired in refire section.
Major and un-repairable wares will be sent to rejected area. These are normally
warpage or cracked pieces.

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 8. Packaging

It is the final stage of sanitary ware manufacturing/production process. All sanitary

wares that are passed quality standards are packed and dispatched to ware house.

Figure15: Packaging sanitary ware

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 CONCLUSIONS

Considered as precious objects of art, ceramic tiles have become very common
building elements, whose particular properties are always very appreciated. Today,
they are produced in huge quantities. They meet the most diverse requirements, be
they technical, hygienic or otherwise. The tiled structures have an exceptional
longevity. Many floors or tiled walls that have stood the test of time and are still
visible today testify. This longevity is also favored by the simplicity of renovating or
repairing a tiled structure. Indeed, the replacement of tiles in a surface is hardly seen.
Thus, the diversity of their types expands their areas of employment, including walls
and floors with different uses.
On the other hand, the ceramic tile and sanitary industry in Morocco is well
positioned compared to other manufacturing countries in the world, this is due to the
availability of the raw material of sufficient quantities to ensure the total or partial
supply of the industries. these products, as well as the evolution of the construction
sector within the country which represents the most important destination for these
tiles, which explains their total use for the national consumption.

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Reference

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