International Scientific Journals
of Scientific Technical Union of Mechanical Engineering "Industry 4.0"

Lightweight porous ceramic has a number of advantages over the tightly sintered one depending on the field of application. As a building material with low thermal conductivity and good sound insulation properties, foam ceramic is a suitable material for the production of thermal and sound insulation panels, partition walls, as well as for layers laid under asphalt to protect road and urban square pavements from freezing. As a filling, foamed ceramic materials are also added during the production of lightweight concrete used in construction and architecture and in the manufacture of decorative and non-structural insulation elements. In the present study we consider the characteristics of marl clay, found around the village of Lovets near the town of Shumen, with coal as a foaming additive, and the technological regulation for the manufacture of foam ceramic blocks.

In this publication, the authors present an in-depth justification on the technology for the production of high-oxide ceramics. Indepth research on international markets on the supply and use of raw materials is presented. The various design developments related to the ways of pressing products are described. The physico-mechanical parameters of the synthesized corundum and boron-ceramic ceramics were also studied.

Due to the specifics of marl clays, research to date has shown the need to stabilize these clays with respect to their critical melting point. The research is based on a previous analysis of pure raw material from marl clay, located in the area of the village of Lovets, which is modified by various additives. On the one hand, the modification is used to stabilize the ceramic mass and on the other hand, by adding various agents, the aim is to lighten the composition and obtain the required color pattern. For the purposes of production, the experimental part includes laboratory development of a scale model of yellow paving stone. The development presents the entire process of creating instrumental equipment – model making and matrix construction, and molding of finished products – pressing process for paving stones productionfrom modified marl clay. The technological cycle that can be implemented in the real conditions for yellow paving stones production will rely on the present study.

Due to force majeure circumstances, new researches of marls from the Alexandra deposit to the village of Lovets (Shumen region) were carried out to replace the marls from the village Svetlen (Targovishte region), which are part of a plastic mass for the production of large, fine-ceramic parts (yellow paving stones) from peturgical phases. Marls are characterized in terms of mineral and chemical composition. Their properties, characterizing them as a ceramic raw material, have been determined. Three test masses with a chemical composition similar to the one with the participation of marls from the village of Svetlen were developed. The test specimens are characterized in terms of sintering and strength characteristics. It has been established that the marls can be used to repla ce the marl from the village Svetlen in the composition of the plastic fine-ceramic masses for the production of yellow pavers.

Molding of technical products with fixed thickness by casting quartz ceramics, based on pure quartz glass, requires specific technological regulations both in the preparation of the ceramic mass and in the process of molding itself. Due to the specif ic characteristics of the colloidal system such as low shrinkage and viscosity, casting in molds made only of gypsum is practically unworkable. A solution lies in developing a technology in which the dismantling of the die is supported so that the molded product can be easily removed. Proposed here is a gypsum mold developed in such a way that a silicone insert is mounted where the lower part of the cast product will be. The technological process presented here in detail includes the main stages of preparing a model according to pre-set parameters, making a gypsum mold consisting of two-parts and with a silicone insert, casting and high-temperature synthesis of the finished product made of quartz ceramics. The development is suitable for complex and large-size technical products made not only of quartz ceramics, but also of other silicate colloidal systems characterized by low and almost zero air shrinkage.