Investigation of porosity of ceramic tiles by means of image analysis method

Abstract

Amount, size and distribution of porosity are among the important factors which affect physical and mechanical properties of ceramic tiles. In this study, the effect of flux variation in porcelain tile recipes and different firing conditions were investigated. X-ray diffraction and Rietveld analyses were used to determine how fluxes affect the phases of samples. In the consequence of these analyses it was found that changing the variation of fluxes and different firing conditions increased liquid phase amount and densification hence the amount and size distribution of porosity decreased. Image analysis method was used to determine the amount and morphology of porosity of porcelain tiles and the results were compared with Archimedes method, Helium pycnometer. Parallel between the amount of porosity determined through image analysis and the amount determined through Archimedes test and helium pycnometer and the possibility of determining the size distribution and morphology of porosity showed that this new method is advantageous.