Production and characterization of sintered ceramics from paper mill sludge and glass cullet

Three different types of paper mill sludge were first of all incinerated and then attrition milled separately or mixed with glass cullet in varying proportions to obtain powders of different compositions. These powders were then dried, sieved, uniaxially pressed into samples and air sintered. Fired samples were characterized by density, water absorption, shrinkage on firing, strength, hardness and fracture toughness measurements; SEM and X-ray diffractions were also carried out to investigate microstructure and phase composition. Some sintered samples displayed fairly good physical and mechanical properties as a consequence of their low residual porosity and fine microstructure.