FIRING CYCLE VARIABLES ON SINGLE-FIRE TILE CURVATURE

Lack of planarity in ceramic tiles basically arises in firing. This is due to the characteristics of the firing cycles used, as tiles are made of layers of different materials, and because of the conveying system. Numerous studies can befound on this issue in the literature, but the absence of appropriate facilities have limited the studies performed to laboratory tests, more or less complicated mathematical modelling, and very few industrial-scale observations. A study has been undertaken in the present work on a semi-industrial scale of the influence of firing variables on ceramic tile curvature. This has been possible as a result of using a specially designed batch pilot kiln