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Clayey materials from the Sierra de la Demanda Range (Spain): their potential as raw materials for the building ceramics industry

¹ Crystallography and Mineralogy Department, Geological Sciences Faculty, Complutense University of Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria, E-28040 Madrid, Spain, ² Applied Mineralogy Laboratory, Chemical Sciences Faculty, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Avd. Camilo Joseé Cela, E-13071 Ciudad Real, Spain, ³ Stratigraphy Department, Geological Sciences Faculty, Complutense University of Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria, E-28040 Madrid, Spain, ⁴ Institute of Science and Technology for Ceramics, CNR-ISTEC, via Granarolo 64, 48018 Faenza, Italy, and ⁵ Petrology Department, Geological Sciences Faculty, Complutense University of Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria, E-28040 Madrid, Spain

^* E-mail: carlos.sanchez{at}uclm.es.

(Received 9 February 2004; revised 17 June 2004)

This work describes the possible use of thick Early Cretaceous clay deposits, which occur in the southern sector of the Sierra de la Demanda range, as raw materials in the manufacture of ceramic articles. The global mineralogical composition is characterized by high proportions of phyllosilicates and quartz with variable quantities of feldspars, carbonates and hematite. The clay mineralogy differentiates two types of raw materials: illitic clay and kaolinitic-illitic clay. A granulometric distribution in the 2–60 µm fraction, good behaviour during the drying stage and acceptable results in firing tests confirmed that most samples can be utilized as raw material in the building ceramics industry. The range of suitable firing temperatures for these materials is 950–1000°C, a temperature which needs to be raised for samples with a high percentage of kaolinite and quartz. Moreover, other materials with abundant calcite (20–30%) are suitable for use as modifiers of some properties or colour.

KEYWORDS: illitic clays, kaolinitic-illitic clays, ceramic properties, fluvial systems, Cameros river basin, Spain