Abstract

The generation of glass wool waste and mine tailings has raised increasing concerns. This paper deals with the reuse of glass wool waste and lithium mine tailings from spodumene ore (quartz feldspar sand; QFS) in the development of building ceramic materials. The effect of glass wool particle size and sintering temperatures (750, 850 and 950 °C) were investigated. Phase composition and sintering reactions were studied using several techniques including X-ray diffraction with Rietveld refinement, differential scanning calorimetry, scanning electron microscopy, density, water absorption and mechanical tests. The results showed that glass wool acted as fluxing agent, with melting reactions observed from about 700 °C. Grinding glass wool improved its reactivity, enhancing densification and strength development at lower temperatures. The properties of the prepared building ceramics satisfied the requirement of building materials according to ASTM C62, achieving high performance values of 90 MPa and 25 MPa for compressive and flexural strength respectively. These results are of interest for the reuse of glass wool waste, QFS and similar waste streams in building ceramics.