ABSTRACT
The decorative stone industries of marble and granites in north of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has as by-product a rock powder that has been causing great concerns regarding environmental and health issues. It has been blamed to cause severe lung disease. Thus, these activities have nowadays become an important object of research in order to find a suitable use of these solid wastes.
This work intends to discuss some technical aspects concerning the use of this material, which derives from the marble blocks cutting work, in the ceramic raw material (paste). The study has been carried out using clayey soils of the municipal district of Campos (RJ), where more than 130 ceramic industries are settled, favoring regional development.
Characterization laboratory tests were carried out and samples were conformed in a laboratory extruder, simulating the actual industry process. These samples were molded with different marble powder contents, fired at temperature raging from 750 to 950°C and their mechanical properties were determined. The results depict the possibility of using this by-product in the paste composition of ceramic bricks for the use in civil engineering construction industry.
