Effect of ZrSiO4/ZnO Ratio on the Properties of Opaque Glazes Used in -Ceramic Sanitary-ware Industry

This paper focuses on the effect of ZrSiO4/ZnO ratio on the properties of the glaze to be used on ceramic sanitary-ware. Structural and morphological characterization of these glazed ceramics were identified by XRD, SEM, FTIR and Raman Spectroscopy. Furthermore, thermal properties were determined by DTA and TG techniques. Besides, flexural strength, Vickers Microhardness, whiteness and chemical resistance were investigated experimentally. XRD analysis showed that the zircon and quartz were the crystalline phases, zircon was also precipitated into the glaze layer during firing. It was found that an increase of the ZrSiO4/ZnO ratio part weights from 3.85 to 67, causes an increase in the zircon crystallite particle size from 203.90 to 288.86 Å. From DTA, it was observed that by increasing ZrSiO4/ZnO ratio, the crystallization temperature of zircon decreases. The glaze exhibits the highest whiteness value when the ratio of ZrSiO4/ZnO becomes 12.60.