International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Technology (IJAERT) 299

Volume 4 Issue 10, October 2016, ISSN No.: 2348 8190

Changes in the Physical State of Ceramics Materials Brought About By

the Removal of Free Water
Dr. (Mrs) Etukudoh A. B., Akpomie K. G

Ceramics Research and Production Department (CRPD), Projects Development Institute (PRODA), Federal Ministry of
Science and Technology, Emene, Enugu, Nigeria.

Abstract is thus a prime ceramic operations and its successful and

This study evaluates the change that occurs in the
physical state of most ceramic body as a result of the
removal of free water. Essential techniques used in
ceramics such as de-watering, sedimentation methods;
filtration techniques, drying, conduction, convection and
radiation were considered.
1. Introduction
The clay mineral are mostly hydrated alumino silicate
and contain OH groups which, when clay is heated to a
sufficiently high temperature, escape in the form of
water vapor known as combined water, constitutional
water or crystal water. They also contain water in other
forms, some beings absorbed and in a state of slight
combinations, whilst other water lies between the layers
forming the mineral (inter-layer water or interstitial
water) in most clay there is water occupying some or all
of the open pores. Water is usually added to all ceramic
bodies to assist in the molding of shapes. The amount
used depends upon the material and the method of
shaping and varies from around 5 percent in dry pressing
to 30 percent and above (by weight) in slip casting.
Such water is termed free water and its removal must be
complete before the ware is fired, otherwise serious
faults may arise [1].
In many clay industries and others where clay is
involved as a contaminant, the raw material is
thoroughly dispersed in water to form a fine slurry or
suspension. In this way coarse minerals can be removed
by sedimentation from the fine clay which remains in
suspension. There remains the problem of how to
remove the clay from the watery medium which may be
60 percent or more by weight of the total. Water removal
economical completion is important aspect of scientific
and technological study [2]. The term dewatering is
commonly used for describing the removal of large
quantities of water from slip, etc, the term during usually
restricted to the removal of water from pastes and solids,
both terms are used rather loosely [1]. The term
dehydration is being increasingly used for the removal
of water particularly when the precise means by which
the water is removed is not stated, this term includes the
removal of water by means other than drying by heat
which is the most widely used method of dehydration.
The removal of water may be effected in various ways,
of which the most important are:Sedimentation or
Settlement, Centrifugal separation by hydrocyclones or
centrifuges, Filtration including pressure filtration an
absorption into plaster moulds, Electro Osmosis is
which the charged particles are caused to migrate in an
electric field, evaporation usually by means of heat or
other forms of radiation and desiccation in which water
is removed in absorbing it into a more receptive medium
[2].
2. De Watering
The first four techniques are more applicable to
dewatering in that none of that of them dry the solid
material thoroughly. Evaporation is used mainly to dry
bodies which are already in a plastic condition. Except
in very hot, dry climates where solar heart can be
harnessed, evaporation is an expensive process and not
to be recommended where large quantities of water, are
involved. Desiccation is an expensive operation and used
only to clays of a small laboratory scale [2]. Dewatering
is the removal of large quantities of water from dilute
slips and suspension is common to the processing of

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 International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Technology (IJAERT) 300
high purity clays, such as china clays, and to the disposal
of clay tailings from several minerals purification
operation. These latter include waste disposal from coal
wash plats and limes treatment from various physical
and chemical process. In all cases an essential
requirement is that the clarified water should be
sufficiently clean either to return to the circuit without
reducing efficiency or to be discarded into a public water
supply. A requirement of clear water with a maximum
solids content in the range 5-20 parts per million is a
common specification.
3. Sedimentation Methods
If solid particles are suspended in a fluid medium of
lower density, they will settle at a rate covered mainly
by the size of the particles and the difference in density
between the solid and the medium. This is strictly true
only when the Particles in suspension are small (less
than 50 microns) but in dewatering exercises where clay
is involved, this condition invariably is
satisfied.Sedimentation obeys Stokes Law which has
been developed and is written as [3]:
V = 2(P1 P2)gr 2
9n
The rate of fall of particles in a liquid medium was
investigated by stokes. He was able to derive an
equation which related to terminal velocity of fall to the
square of the diameter of perfect spheres when subjected
only to the influence of gravity and free from
interference by neighboring particles. In the analysis of
particles below Sieve Size (Circa 50 Microns)it is usual
to employ a technique which depends upon
sedimentation law. When a particle is allowed to fall
freely in a medium, it will accelerate under until it
attains a specific velocity. It will then continue to fall
with the same terminal velocity unless there is a change
in sedimentation conditions.With large sized particles,
the terminal velocity is not reached for a considerable
time and the flow characteristics are complicated.
Particles of 50 microns or less, however, attains their
terminal velocity in less than one second and for all
particles purposes the whole of their sedimentation cycle
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Volume 4 Issue 10, October 2016, ISSN No.: 2348 8190
can be regarded as being at constant velocity. This full
expression which is called Stokes Law is [3]:
V = 2(P1 P2)Gr2
7
Where V is the velocity of fall in cm perse 7 is the
viscosity of the liquid (Water = 10oC, 20oC 30oC),
P1 and P2 are respectively the density of the particles
and the liquid medium, G is the gravity constant
(981/cm./sec2), and r is the radius of particles in cm.
Stoke equation is applicable only when is assumed that:
a) The particles of solid matter are much larger
than the particles of liquid so that the effects
of Brownian movement are not serious.
b) The liquid is homogenous and of infinite
extent in comparison with the particles.
c) The particles are smooth and rigid.
d) No slipping occurs between the particles and
the liquid
e) The Velocity is not too great or else free
settling may be restricted.
f) The particles are small, but not excessively
so.
g) The particles are free to fall. If the settling
vessel is narrow and the suspension is
concentrated, the wall and the presence of
neighbouring particles will affect the rate of
fallings.
When the particles size is small, the rate of
sedimentation is slow. Particles of 1 Macron size for
example, will sink less than 0.4cm. In 1hour it is not
uncommon in some clays to find particles as small as 0.1
micron which would require 100 hours to sediment 0-4,
even if other factors were not operative to keep them in
permanent suspension [1]. For a deflocculated clay,
therefore simple sedimentation technique are not. The
answer to complete dewatering although large particle
impurities or components are effectively removed by
these means. In practice, clays are deflocculated some
suitable inorganic or organic chemical prior to entering
the sedimentation vessel. The clay agglomerates into
large flocks which settle much more rapidly.
 International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Technology (IJAERT) 301
Flocculated particles are, by their very nature, of low
density because of entrapped water. The sedimented
volume of such a system is therefore large and although
clear water can be removed, the percentage of water in
the sediment itself is much larger than in the settled
product form a deflocculated suspension. Much research
has been carried out on both the type of flocculant to
give optimum results and on the design of thickners.
Dell and Sinna have shown that deep vessels produce
more consolidated sediments [2].
4. Filtration Techniques
The removal of water by filtration involves exposing the
suspension to a porous materials which selectively
permits the fluid medium to penetrate into and through
itself, whilst retaining the solid particles. It follows that
the pore size of the material must be smaller than the
particles to be removed but for greatest efficiency the
total pore area exposed to the suspension must be as
large as possible.As filtration proceeds, a layer of solids
builds up on the interface and provides a barrier
restricting further water removal. The rate of percolation
of water through the filtered layer is thus another
important factor in this technique of water removal [4].
5. Drying
The process of dewatering described in the previous
section involve the removal of water by purely physical
means and convert a very fluid slip into a body of much
stiffer consistency. There is a limit to which all such
methods can extract water, and the final stages of water
removal, or drying, can be achieved only by evaporation
or an exceptional cases by desiccating agents. The
commonest form of evaporation involves the application
of heat to change the state of liquid water to gaseous
steam. In this process, latent heat is absorbed and the
energy which has to be supplied is considerable. It is
not always appreciated that the heat energy required to
raise a clay body containing 20 percent water on a wet
basis to 1000C and then to remove all the water, is not
very different from the heat involved in pulsing that
same dried body.As long as sufficient water is present,
the clay remains in a swollen state, but as it dries the
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Volume 4 Issue 10, October 2016, ISSN No.: 2348 8190
particles are drawn closer together and the mass shrinks
or contracts. When the water is gradually withdrawn
form a paste in this manner, each form in which it occurs
is the cause of certain physical changes in the material
and the drying therefore appears to occurs in several
distinct stages, though these overlap to some extent [1,
3].
6. The Mechanism of Drying
During the early stages of drying, evaporation from the
surface of clay body occurs at almost exactly the same
rate as form a water surface (e.g. a pond) and continues
at that rate until there is an insufficient supply of water
from the interior of the mass. The physical state of fire-
grained material when a sufficiently large amount of
water is present may be imagined to be as each particle
is separated from its immediate neighbors by a water
film of a relatively appreciable thickness. In this state,
the clay or ceramic body can be easily molded because
the free water surrounding all particles acts as a cushion
and permits the mass to flow, either unaided or under
slight pressure. The water film is a continuum
throughout the mass and hence the water surface
exposed to the atmosphere is broken and evaporation can
proceed at a rate similar to that from a volume of water
with the same surface area. As water is lost by surface
evaporation, the continuum in the mass is preserved by a
drawing together of the particles and an over-all
shrinkage occurs. The clay mass will lose water as
though there were a free surrounding water surface until
the solid particles touch each other and the water within
the mass can no longer maintain a continuum film. In
this stage of loss, the rate of drying, if conditions are
kept uniform, is constant throughout the rate of
shrinkage of the mass also very closely parallels the rate
of loss of water and is constant in the region. For these
reasons, this first period of drying is known as the
constant rate period of drying [2]. The rate of drying in
this period depends on that at which the water leaves the
surface of the articles and is absorbed and carried away
by the air is stationary, drying will continue until the air
is saturated and will then cease. Only if the air is
removed, either mechanically or naturally, will drying
occur and the rate of drying will depend chiefly on that
 International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Technology (IJAERT) 302
movement. The hotter the air, the more water will it
hold and the more rapidly will it dry the goods, so long
as it is not fully saturated, but air which is too hot and
too dry may cause cracking. The water removed from
the articles in this state is sometimes termed the
shrinkage water and the amount of water remaining in
the body at the end of this stage is termed the critical
moisture content. At the end of the first stage, the
article will then be in a leather hard or black hard state
and will contain about 7 10 percent of water. In the
second stage of drying which commences when the solid
particles in the mass can no longer behave as a
continuously evaporating film, because the water will be
drawn into the pores between the solid particles of
material. Clay are composed of inherently fine-grained
particles which would be expected to have a fine
capillary pore-system, hence the amount of retained
water be greater than in sand where the particles are
larger and more rounded in shape. The shrinkage in clay
bodies at water contents below the critical point has been
attributed to a re-arrangement of colloidal particles and
to the loss of water contained within the structure of
certain minerals. The amount of shrinkage below the
critical point, is however, relatively small compared with
the amount in the constant period of drying [3]. It is
useful to represent drying rate in terms of the volume of
specimen in relationship to moisture content present.
7. Methods of Drying
The drying of clay bodies involves applying heat to them
from some external source and thus raising the
temperature in order to evaporate the water contained in
them.For this reason, methods of drying are related to
the form of heating and the fundamental mechanism of
its transfer to the body. This may involve conduction
convection and radiation and all three principles of heat
transfer are used in drying practice.
7.1 Conduction Methods
If an article to be dried is placed in direct contact with a
hot surface, heat is transferred by conduction and
penetrates into the body, thus causing a migration of
water to the cooler parts of the shape. It will ultimately
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Volume 4 Issue 10, October 2016, ISSN No.: 2348 8190
escape to the atmosphere from the opposite face.The
theoretical condition from such drying techniques would
produce an undesirable moisture gradient and such
effects occur if large shapes are to be dried. Conduction
methods are successful only if the operation precedes
very slowly or where very thin ware [2, 4].
7.2 Convection Methods
The circulation of warm air around the articles to be
dried, serves a dual purpose in heating the ware and in
removing the evaporated water by convection
circulation. Only if the rate of circulation of air is rapid
can drying proceed quickly because two effects tend to
inhibit evaporation:When water is converted into steam,
latent heat is absorbed which reduce the temperature of
ware in the immediate vicinity of the surface. As water
evaporates from the article, its partial pressure in the air
layers in immediate contact rises to saturation point.
Unless it is removed progressively, the drying rate will
be substantially lowered and may even stop. The
advantage of convection heating in drying practice is
that water is evaporated from all exposed surfaces and
as the outer of moisture are moved, migration from the
center through capillaries can occur, although this may
be a slow process in thick ware because heat is slow to
penetrate the article. If the heat applied to surface layers
is too great, vaporization of water can drive moisture
back into interior parts of the shape and prevent it
escaping [2, 4].
7.3 Radiation Methods
The third principal of heat transfer is being applied with
increasing importance in ceramic drying practice. Heat is
a form of energy which has a wave-form similar to
visible light, but of longer wave-length. The radiation
involved belong to the infra- red region of the spectrum
in the wave-length range 8 x 105 to 4 x10-2 cm. Heat
transfer by radiation from a hot source to a colder body
is much more efficient than it is by conduction or
convection means.
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Volume 4 Issue 10, October 2016, ISSN No.: 2348 8190

8. Conclusions [4] R.S. Lamar and M. E. Warner (1954). Reaction and

Fired Property Studies of Cordirite Compositions.
Undoubtedly, many defects in ceramic articles can be
attributed to incorrect methods of drying. The faults, in
some cases, are not apparent until the ware has fired,
when they have been concentrated by changes brought
about by the heat treatment. In general, the defects which
arise as the result of bad drying methods are of four
types: (a)Those due to differential shrinkage and the
consequent induced stresses in the ware, (b)Those due to
the migration of the finer particles of the body by
moisture transference to the drying surface, (c) Those
which are due to the accentuation of differential stresses
arising initially in the forming process and (d) Those due
to too rapid volatilization of water within the body of the
article which is unable to escape through the five pore
structure at a sufficiently rapid rate.The most obvious
effect of differential shrinkage on drying is the cracking
of ware. This may take many forms but is most unusual
for the faults to appear parallel to a face, which is drying
more rapidly than other parts of the body. Whilst the
materials has a wear content above the critical point, all
parts of the body are plastic and should one area shrink
more rapidly than others, the strain can be
accommodated. Once the leather-hard condition has
been reached in part of the ware, deformation is less easy
and areas with a high moisture content but to shrink
away from those which are drier crack develop along,
inherent line of weakness which in presses ware are at
right angles to the direction at which pressure is applied
[2].

References

[1] Norbert, Samuel Garbisch (1941). Improvements in

or relating to Process of an apparatus for forming
ceramic bodies.

[2] S.Jones, (1953) The Efficiencies of Ceramic Dryers.

Read at a meeting of the Institute of Fuel.

[3] Richard Lamar (1944) Particle Shape and

Differential Shrinkage of Steatite Talc Bodies

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