Utilization of industrial waste materials for the preparation of wollastonite by temperature-induced forming...

The study focuses on synthesizing wollastonite using bypass and silica fume waste materials as starting materials. The novelty of this work is the utilization of temperature-induced forming technique for the synthesis of wollastonite. Bypass and silica fume are mixed with various CaO/SiO₂ ratios and then cast and fired at temperatures ranging from 900 to 1200 °C. Rheological properties and zeta potential are characterized for the slurries to optimize the dispersant percentage. The fired samples' phase composition, structure properties, apparent porosity, linear shrinkage, and compressive strength are characterized. Results show that the sample with a CaO: SiO₂ ratio of 1:1.45 is the optimum composition for forming mainly pure β-wollastonite at 1100 °C, which changed into pseudo-wollastonite at about 1150 °C. The best physical and mechanical properties are obtained at 1170 °C, including apparent porosity of 8%, bulk density of 2.2 g/cm³, linear shrinkage of 13%, and compressive strength of 40 MPa, which widens its ceramic applications.