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DEVELOPMENT OF DAN KWIAN CLAY FOR USING
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IN CERAMIC TILE INDUSTRIAL
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Running head: Development of Dan Kwian clay for using as ceramic tiles
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Anurat Poowancum
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School of Ceramic Engineering, Institute of Engineering,
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Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhorn Ratchacima, 30000, Thailand
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E-mail: anurat@sut.ac.th
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Abstract
The serious problem of pottery village in Thailand, especially Dan Kwian
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village is the falling prices of products due to oversupply of products. The aim
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of this work is to develop the properties of Dan Kwian clay for using to produce
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the ceramic tiles which have a big distributing market. Feldspar and quartz
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were used to improve the firing properties of Dan Kwian clay. The
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compositions of mixture were designed by tri-axial diagram. The samples were
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formed by uniaxial dry press, and were sintered at 1200 oC for 1 hour. The
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results show that by adding small amount of feldspar, i.e., 10 mass%, the firing
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properties of Dan Kwian Clay are significantly improved, and useable for
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ceramic wall tile and floor tile.
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Keywords: Dan Kwian, Dan Kwian clay, Ceramic tiles, Dan Kwian tiles,
Ceramic tile industrial
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Introduction
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Dan Kwian village is the famous pottery village of Thailand, is located in Tambon
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Dan Kwian, Chock Chai district, Nakhon Ratchasima province. Almost products of
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Dan Kwian village are the unglazed earthenware, and are made from Dan Kwian
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clay. Dan Kwian clay is a one kind of secondary clay, has red color, has high
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plasticity, and has high firing strength. Although, Dan Kwian clay has the useful
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properties for producing various kinds of ceramic products, almost factory in Dan
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Kwian village produce only a pottery. Nowadays, the falling prices of products are
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the serious problem of Dan Kwian village. The causes are the intense market
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competition and oversupply of products.
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There are numerous researchers try to improve a price of Dan Kwian
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products by developing a new glaze, changing a fabrication process, and changing
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a fuel of Dan Kwian kiln [1-5]. However, the problems of Dan Kwian village are
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not solved due to the new knowhow totally change the original process, and too
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complicate for Dan Kwian village. Moreover, all research works still focus on the
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old product, i.e., pottery, which cannot increase the distributing market. Therefore,
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a simple production process and a large distributing market are the solution for
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sustainable problem solving of Dan Kwian village.
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Ceramic tiles are the products in the group of construction and building
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materials, are required in large number, and have a big market for distributing
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products. In addition, the processing process of ceramic tiles is not complicate, can
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be made in a small or a large production scale, and can be produced by handmade
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or the high technology machines.
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The aim of this work is to develop Dan Kwian clay for using as ceramic
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wall tile and/or ceramic floor tile. Feldspar and quartz are used to improve the firing
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properties of Dan Kwian clay.
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Materials and Methods
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Dan Kwian Clay from Dan Kwian village was dry by oven at 150 oC for 24 hours
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before was milled by disk mill then was passed through sieve number 120 mesh to
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obtain the powder of Dan Kwian Clay. Other Raw materials used in this work
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including feldspar powder (Sibelco minerals) and quartz powder (Sibelco
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minerals). Particle size of feldspar powder and quartz powder was 45 µm. All raw
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materials were dry at 150 oC for 24 hours before were packed into a brass cone
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mold. The packed powder was heated to 1200 oC, heating rate of 5 K/min, and
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soaking time of 1 hour, after that, the cone high changed was measured to examine
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the fusion of raw materials.
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Dan kwian clay powder, feldspar powder and quartz powder were mixed by
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porcelain mortar. The rations of mixtures were designed by a tri-axial diagram as
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shown in figure 1. The mixed powder was uniaxially pressed into a rectangular
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shape under 15 MPa for 30 second, then was sintered by the electric furnace at
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1200 oC, heating rate of 5 K/min, and soaking time of 1 hour. Sintered samples were
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cut into a size of 5 mm x 5 mm x 30 mm for testing water absorption and flexural
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strength.
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Water absorption of the fired samples was measured following the
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International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard 10545-3 [6]. The
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samples were immersed in water and held in a vacuum chamber of 100 kPa for 30
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min to fill up the open pores with water. Flexural strength was measured by the
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three-loading method (Universal Testing Machine, Instron 5565) according to ISO
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10545-4 [7]. Chemical compositions of Dan Kwian clay were evaluated by X-ray
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fluorescence (XRF, Horiba XGT-5200).
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Results
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Chemical compositions of Dan Kwian clay are shown in table 1. Silica
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(SiO2) is the main composition, i.e., 72.95 mass%. Figure 2 shows the raw-material
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fusion test. Cone high of feldspar and Dan Kwian clay is collapsed 26% and 12%,
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respectively. Cone high of quartz does not change after firing.
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Water absorption of Dan Kwian clay after firing is 8.2%, is reduced by
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adding feldspar as illustrated in figure 3. By adding feldspar 10 mass%, water
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absorption of Dan Kwian clay is reduced to 6%, and is continuously declined with
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increasing feldspar amount. On the other hand, figure 3 show quartz increase water
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absorption of Dan Kwian clay.
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Flexural strength of Dan Kwian clay after firing is 12.2 MPa, and
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significantly increased by adding feldspar as shown in figure 4. By adding feldspar
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10 mass%, flexural strength of Dan Kwian clay is 34.5 MPa. On the other hand,
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quartz reduce flexural strength of Dan Kwian clay.
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By using feldspar combine with quartz to improve the firing properties of
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Dan Kwian clay, flexural strength of the compositions that locate close to the quartz
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area are lower than flexural strength of the compositions that locate close to the
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feldspar area, as illustrated in figure 5. Likewise, water absorption of the
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compositions that locate close to the quartz area are higher than water absorption
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of the compositions that locate close to feldspar area, as illustrated in figure 6.
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Discussion
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Although, numerous properties are required for the ceramic tiles, the most
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importance properties are strength and water absorption. Table 2 shows ISO
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standard for flexural strength and water absorption of ceramic wall tile and floor
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tile [8], and demonstrates that Dan Kwian clay cannot be used alone for producing
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ceramic tiles. Because, flexural strength and water absorption of Dan Kwian clay
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does not correspond to the ISO standard. Feldspar is a flux material, is melted at the
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sintering temperature, and increase liquid phase in the fired samples. Liquid phase
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fills up pore in the samples during the firing process. Therefore, by adding feldspar,
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flexural strength of Dan Kwian clay is significantly increased, while water
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absorption of Dan Kwian clay is reduced. In contrast, quartz is a refractory material,
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and it increases the sintering temperature. The main chemical composition of Dan
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Kwian clay is quartz. As a result, by adding small amount of quartz, firing strength
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of Dan Kwian clay is significantly reduced, while water absorption of Dan Kwian
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clay is increased.
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Figure 7 shows the areas of compositions that suitable to be used as ceramic
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wall tile or floor tile, and there are feldspar in all compositions. By adding feldspar
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10 mass%, the fired sample is useable for both of ceramic wall tile and floor tile.
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Ceramic wall tile requires a lower strength and a higher porosity in comparison with
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ceramic floor tile. Consequently, the combination of quartz and feldspar can be used
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to modify Dan Kwian clay for making ceramic wall tile. There are not any
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compositions between quartz and Dan Kwian clay that usable for producing
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ceramic floor tile and wall tile.
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Conclusions
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The results in present work show that Dan Kwian Clay is a useful raw material for
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using in the ceramic tile industrial. By adding small amount of feldspar, i.e., 10
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mass%, the firing properties of Dan Kwian Clay are significantly improved, and
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functional for ceramic wall tile and floor tile. Quartz increase water absorption,
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while reduce firing strength of Dan Kwian Clay. The mixture between quartz and
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Dan Kwian clay cannot be used for making the both of ceramic wall tile and floor
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tile. For using quartz as a raw material, feldspar is required in the compositions to
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modify the properties of Dan Kwian clay for using as a ceramic wall tile.
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The knowledge in this work opens an opportunity to utilize Dan Kwian clay
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for making a new product except pottery, and introduce a new raw material source
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for the ceramic tile industrial.
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Acknowledgements
The financial of this research was supported by Office of the Higher Education
Commission, Thailand.
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References
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Sirirat, R. (2007). Dan Kwian Clays for Slip Casting. ScienceAsia. 33:239-243
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Srilomsak, S., Montinee, W., Molrudee, K., Rattanaporn, A., Rungchai, S.,
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Ruethairut, T., Luxsanawadee, U., and Wanwisa, T. (2006). Celadon Glaze
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on Dan Kwian Pottery. Suranaree J. Sci. Technol. 13(2):197-205.
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Jarinee, J., and Kiatfa, T. (2011). Simulation of Temperature Distribution without
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Products inside a Clay Pottery Kiln at Dan Kwian, Thailand, KKU Research
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Journal. 16(2): 127-135.
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Den, R., and Watchrin, S. (2013), Development and Technology Transfer of Clay
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Body and Glaze on Dan Kwian Pottery Tradesman, Nakhonratchasima
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Province. RMUTP Research Journal Special in the 5th Rajamangala
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University of Technology National Conference. Pages 1-9.
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Srilomsak, S., Pattanasiriwisawa, W., Somphon, W., Tanthanuch, W., and
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Meethong, N. (2014). Effect of Firing ConditionS on Properties of Dan
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Kwian
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http://ird.sut.ac.th/e-journal/Journal/pdf/1401718.pdf.
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Available
from:
ISO 10545-3 (1995):CeramicTiles—Part 3:Determination of waterabsorption,
apparent porosity, apparentrelative density and bulk density.
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ISO 10545-4 (2004):Ceramic Tiles—Part 4:Determination of modulus of rupture
and breaking strength, second edition.
ISO 13006 (1998): Ceramic Tiles — Definitions, classification, characteristics and
marking.
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Table 1. Chemical compositions of Dan Kwian clay
Compounds
Content (wt%)
SiO2
72.95
Al2O3
18.76
K2O
1.02
CaO
0.38
MgO
1.19
TiO2
0.84
Fe2O3
4.72
Other
0.14
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Table 2. International standard for ceramic wall tile and floor tile according to ISO
13006
Type of ceramic tiles
Properties
Flexural strength
Water absorption
Ceramic floor tile
> 22 MPa
3%-6%
Ceramic wall tile
> 15 MPa
> 10 %
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Figure 1 Tri-axial diagram; Compositions in points 1 to 10 compose of Dan Kwian
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clay and feldspar, points 11 to 19 compose of Dan Kwian clay and quartz, and all
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other points compose of three raw materials including Dan Kwian clay, feldspar and
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quartz.
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Figure 2 raw material fusion test; cone high of feldspar and Dan Kwian clay is made
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shorter after firing, while cone high of quartz does not change.
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Figure 3 water absorption of the fired sampled; Water absorption of Dan Kwian clay
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is reduced by adding feldspar, but is increased by quartz.
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Figure 4 Flexural strength of the fired samples; Flexural strength of Dan Kwian clay
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is increased by adding feldspar, but is reduced by adding quartz.
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Figure 5 Flexural strength of the fired samples; Flexural strength of the compositions
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that locate close to quartz area are lower than Flexural strength of the compositions
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that locate close to feldspar area.
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Figure 6 Water absorption of the fired samples; Water absorption of the compositions
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that locate close to quartz area are higher than Water absorption of the compositions
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that locate close to feldspar area.
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Figure 7 Areas of compositions which useable for producing (a) wall tile and (b) floor
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tile.
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