Utilisation of a natural stone with fluxing ability in floor tile body as a Na-feldspar replacement

Abstract

In 1960's the floor tile production of Turkey was started with a large use of K-feldspar as a fluxing agent. However, due to its limited deposits companies begun to employ Na-feldspar instead. At present, considerable level of Na-feldspar is in use. If there are long distances between mines and the factories then transportation costs play an increasing role on the overall production cost. In order to prevent such an occurrence attempts to seek alternative raw material sources have become very important. In this study, a natural stone with high fluxing capability, which is largely available in the regions quite close to the floor tile factories around Eskisehir, was added into floor tile bodies in certain proportion as a replacement of Na-feldspar. Standard tests were applied on the industrially produced floor tiles and results indicated that this stone could be evaluated in floor tile bodies as an alternative-fluxing agent.