Red mud in high-strength ceramics production

The work is devoted to the creation of high-strength ceramic materials with technogenic waste fillers. Purpose: Investigation of the ceramic and composite production based on chemical and metallurgical wastes to create new types of high quality constructional ceramics. Methodology/approach: The use of refractory clay with the addition of high-iron bauxite sludge as the main raw material. Bauxite sludge functions in compositions with aluminosilicate raw materials at burning at 1100 to 1200 °С, reduce to sintering due to its melting at 1150 °С. Research findings: Refractory clay compositions with red mud in the amount of 20 to 50 % at the burning temperature of 1050 °С, provide the ceramic formation possessing the compressive strength 1.3 to 1.5 times higher than that of clay samples without additives, i.e., 91 and 122–132 MPa, respectively. Value: The obtained ceramic compositions based on red mud determine a production of high-strength anorthite and anorthite-helenite ceramics using dry pressing.