Formation of porous clay ceramic using sago waste ash as a prospective additive material with controllable milling

A novel type of ceramic material was produced by mixing sago waste ash from the sago processing industry in Indonesia with clay. The composition was prepared by adding 50 %wt amount of sago waste into the clay, then a series of samples was milled for 6 h, 12 h, 24 h and 48 h, respectively. The samples were dry pressed and sintered at temperatures ranging from 800?C to 1200?C. The influence of the sintering temperature and the milling time on bulk density, firing shrinkage, water adsorption, and hardness was studied in detail. The results demonstrate that the low water absorption of less than 0.5% and the highest hardness of 5.82 GPa were obtained for the sample sintered at 1100?C and milled for 48 h. The investigation of the absorptive properties of such ceramics indicates that they could be recommended as a promising material for manufacturing of unglazed floor tiles.