Keywords
Abstract
The article presents the results of a study on the use of diatomite in ceramic mixtures for the production of high-efficiency wall ceramics. It was established that diatomite samples contain both micro- and mesopores, as well as H3-type hysteresis loops, which confirm their high porosity. The average pore sizes were determined to be 1.5 nm for micropores and 4.4 nm for mesopores. The study identified the main patterns of change in the physical and mechanical properties of ceramic samples depending on the diatomite content at a firing temperature of 1000 °C. Increasing the diatomite content to 50% (by reducing the clay content to 50%) led to a significant decrease in average density and compressive strength. The average density decreased from 1.8 g/cm³ to 1.23 g/cm³, while the compressive strength decreased from 15.2 MPa to 9.6 MPa. At the same time, the total porosity of the samples remained at approximately 53%. A considerable reduction in the thermal conductivity coefficient–from 0.8 to 0.31 W/(m·°C). A comparative analysis of the physical and mechanical properties of the studied ceramic compositions with those of ceramics based on pure clay revealed substantial differences across all property indicators. The samples produced from the modified ceramic composition exhibited a lower average density and more than twice the overall porosity. It was determined that ceramic samples fired at 1000 °C form a sintered microporous structure characterized by low average density, reduced thermal conductivity, and satisfactory compressive strength and water absorption values.