Clayey material analysis for assessment to be used in ceramic building materials

Abstract

Ceramic building materials, like bricks and blocks, are a modern choice. However, the production of ceramic materials is complex process, therefore, principal element, clay, research is very important. Clay from Latvian biggest quarry was used in this study. Grain size distribution was determinate using the pipette method. Quarry soil is available in various grain size compositions from clay and clay alerolites to sandstone. Mineralogical composition was determinated by XRD. Mixing very plastic clay with sand may be very important to obtain optimal proportion of clay, silt and sand size particles for qualitative ceramic building material manufacturing.