Development of Low Water Absorption Terracotta Roof Tile from Local Pottery Clay and Soda Lime Glass Cullet

Abstract

A clay roof tile is a product which has been used for construction such as houses, temples, hotels as well as other cultural tourist attractions located around country. However, there are some disadvantages of installing the clay roof tile such as the high moisture adsorption, which leads to the growth algae causing black stain on tile. After firing process, it is necessary to wait until the temperature decreases lower than 200°C to take the fired product out to prevent the damage, resulted in long time consuming. Moreover, the non-uniform in color and low strength may be counted as their drawback. In this study, we focus on developing the clay roof tile with low moisture adsorption and improved mechanical strength. The use of Banberg clay from Lopburi province as a raw material, incorporating with cullet with an Al2O3 : SiO2 weight ratio of 0.30, lead to the reduction in moisture adsorption more than 1%, after firing at 1150 °C. Moreover, the fired tile can be taken out of the furnace at 200°C without cracking and maintains the strength according to TIS 158-2518.