Lab report

Experiment no: 03:

Objective:
Determine the effect of %age of silica on bending angles of china clay, bentonite clay and fire
clay.

Apparatus:
 Oven
 Mortar and pestle
 Weight balance
 Tray or plate

Material required:
 China clay
 Bentonite clay
 Fire clay
 Silica sand
 Water

Procedure:
At the first, bowl was picked and washed, dried and get weighed. 50g of pure fire clay was taken
in the bowl and water was added in it. Clay and water were mixed properly in mortar and pestle.
A rod of approximately 1 inch in diameter and 5 inch in length was made in the tray from the
paste. After making the rode, the bending angle was measured with the help of protector, by
holding one side of rod and forcing the other end with finger until cracks in the rod appeared.
The rod was destroyed and a square sample was made using an empty match box from the same
paste. The initial dimensions of the sample were measured and the square was placed in the oven
at 80°C. After 30 minutes the specimen was removed from oven and its final dimensions were
measured to calculate final volume of square. The above process was repeated for the samples
made of the following compositions 80% fire clay and 20% silica, 70% fire clay and 30% silica,
60% fire clay and 40% silica, 50% fire clay and 50% silica, and 40% fire clay and 60% silica.

Background information:
1. Plasticity of clays: Plasticity of clays indicate the flexibility of clays. It is also defined as the
ability of a clay for being shaped or molded. Plasticity of a particular clay is affected by particle
size of clays, water content and the age of clays.
2. Why clay become plastic:
Clay is not plastic itself, but on mixing water in a particular clay it becomes plastic and particles
of clay are attracted toward each other when forces are applied, and water conduct these forces.
So clay becomes plastic by adding water in it.
3. Effect of morphology of particles on plasticity of clays:
The morphology of particles have a great effect on plasticity, if the clay’s particles are of plate
like shape then these particles will slide over each other, when water is added to the particles
which provide lubrication. Plasticity of clays will increase as water content increases. [1]
4. What is Relationship of shrinkage and plasticity?
Shrinkage and plasticity of clays are directly proportional to each other, i.e. the shrinkage will be
maximum if plasticity increases.
5. How shrinkage in clay-bases ceramic wares can be reduced?
Shrinkage in clay-bases ceramic wares depend on water content and number of pores in wares.
Shrinkage can be reduced by increasing water content and decreasing the number of pores so that
less water can escape through the wares, because when water escape then the ceramic particles
came close to each other and shrinkage increases.

Observations and calculations:

Table (1): table (1) shows the effect of %age of silica sand on bending angle of fire clay and
%age shrinkage.
Serial Wt. of Wt. of %age %age Bending Original Volume %age
no Fire silica of fire of silica Angle volume after shrinkage
clay sand clay sand (degree) (cm³) heating (%)
(g) (g) (cm³)
1 50 0 100 0 35 10.84 9.99 7.84
2 40 10 80 20 50 15.6 9.10 41.66
3 35 15 70 30 39 12.6 16.4 -30.15
4 30 20 60 40 30 14.5 9.18 36.69
5 25 25 50 50 26 20.21 15.86 26.27
6 20 30 40 60 21 21.32 20.66 3.24

Table (2): table 2 shows bending angle and %age shrinkage of pure fire clay, pure bentonite clay
and pure china clay.
Serial Type of clays Wt. of Bending Original Volume %age
no clays angle volume after shrinkage
(g) (degree) heating
1 Fire clay 50 35 10.84 9.99 7.84
2 Bentonite clay 50 45
 3 China clay 50 50

Results:

X Axis Title
0 2 4 6 8 10
10
52
50
48
46 8
44
Bending angle (degree)

42
40
6

Y Axis Title
38
36
34
32 4
30
28
26
2
24
22
20
18 0 12 24 36 48 60 0

%age of silica sand (%)

Graph (1): graph (1), shows the bending angle of fire clay with respect to wt. % of silica sand.
Reference:
1. Chen FH, Ma GS (1987) Swelling and shrinkage behaviour of expansive soils. In: Proceedings
of the sixth international conference on expansive soils, vol 1. New Delhi, page 127–129