Granite sawing waste recycling as alternative raw material for ceramic formulations has been very much studied in the last years, however it was not observed the use of mathematical tools to understand the mechanical behavior of the ceramic bodies containing waste. Thus, this work used statistical tools associated with the mixture design methodology to model the flexural strength of the ceramic bodies containing granite waste. Compositions were developed using a simplex-lattice design and test samples were obtained by uniaxial pressing. The test samples were fired at 1.000, 1.100 and 1.150ºC and their modulus of rupture was determined in a three point bend test. The results indicated that the statistical design of mixture experiments associated with the response surface is a tool that permits to model the modulus of rupture of the ceramic bodies in relation to the amount of incorporated waste and, consequently, to develop formulations containing high amounts of wastes without the decrease of the modulus of rupture.
Mixture design; recycling; granite waste; mechanical strength
