Investigation Of Alternative Raw Materials Used In Ceramic Production And Cost Reduction Studies Ceramic industry, which has an important place in Turkey's industry and economy, needs competitive rates and a low cost in order to have a say on the world market. Costs of inputs in the production of ceramic are energy, labor, and raw material. Energy consumption in the production of ceramic takes place as natural gas which is especially used in the step of firing the ceramic. Since natural gas is an energy source which our country has imported, there is no cheaper alternative to natural gas so far. Meanwhile, labor costs are already below the average Europe in our country therefore it does not seem possible to get more savings on the cost. Raw materials are the only remaining and to be studied in the terms of reducing cost. For this reason, selection of raw materials used in the production of ceramics is of great importance in order to reduce costs.
In this study, first, ceramic raw materials used in literature are summarized in detail, and then several raw materials alternative to zirconium which is an important input of ceramic industry in terms of its price and amount are evaluated in order to reduce the cost of ceramic. The zircon prices rises to very high levels from time to time due to a supply-demand balance of zircon prices, and zircon producers’ policies to determine the market conditions.
This speculative fluctuation in zircon prices has led to the users to search for alternative raw materials. In this respect, "whitening agents" called as alternatives to zircon are discussed in our study. In the studies conducted with 14 different whitening materials, first of all, XRF, XRD, the chemical, mineralogical, and particle size distribution analyzes of the materials were performed, and then these materials are mixed at a certain amounts depending on the recipe, and finally the results were examined in detail. Engop samples prepared according to the recipe were compared with the standard materials, and the optimum materials were determined. The results of this study performed at “Yurtbay Seramik” factory are discussed in the last section of this thesis, and technological and economic assessments are considered.
