Synthesis of Ceramic Tiles Reinforced with Addition of Aluminum Particulate Waste

Research conducted on ceramic materials has been investigating the incorporation of solid waste into their formulations,driven by the proper disposal of such waste and the reduction of negative environmental impacts.This study analyzed the effects of adding aluminum powder residue to the physical properties of ceramic masses with the aim of obtaining new formulations for ceramic tiles.The aluminum residue and the standard mass for ceramic tile production were chemically characterized and homogenized to obtain new formulations with the incorporation of 4%,6%,8%,and 10%aluminum powder in the ceramic mass.The specimens were uniaxially pressed and sintered at a temperature of 1,200°C for 2 h,undergoing three different temperatures(100°C,400°C,and 650°C)for 30 min each.They were evaluated for WA(water absorption),RLq(linear shrinkage),SEM(scanning electron microscopy),and TRF(flexural strength)modulus.The results demonstrate that the addition of aluminum powder residue is feasible in the proposed formulations(4%,6%,8%,and 10%),as they enhance the mechanical properties of the ceramics compared to the formulation with 0%residue,at a sintering temperature of 1,200°C.

A Sketch-Based Generation Model for Diverse Ceramic Tile Images Using Generative Adversarial Network

Ceramic tiles are one of the most indispensable materials for interior decoration.The ceramic patterns can’t match the design requirements in terms of diversity and interactivity due to their natural textures.In this paper,we propose a sketch-based generation method for generating diverse ceramic tile images based on a hand-drawn sketches using Generative Adversarial Network(GAN).The generated tile images can be tailored to meet the specific needs of the user for the tile textures.The proposed method consists of four steps.Firstly,a dataset of ceramic tile images with diverse distributions is created and then pre-trained based on GAN.Secondly,for each ceramic tile image in the dataset,the corresponding sketch image is generated and then the mapping relationship between the images is trained based on a sketch extraction network using ResNet Block and jump connection to improve the quality of the generated sketches.Thirdly,the sketch style is redefined according to the characteristics of the ceramic tile images and then double cross-domain adversarial loss functions are employed to guide the ceramic tile generation network for fitting in the direction of the sketch style and to improve the training speed.Finally,we apply hidden space perturbation and interpolation for further enriching the output textures style and satisfying the concept of“one style with multiple faces”.We conduct the training process of the proposed generation network on 2583 ceramic tile images dataset.To measure the generative diversity and quality,we use Frechet Inception Distance(FID)and Blind/Referenceless Image Spatial Quality Evaluator(BRISQUE)metrics.The experimental results prove that the proposed model greatly enhances the generation results of the ceramic tile images,with FID of 32.47 and BRISQUE of 28.44.

Structural Characterization of Bauxite Red Mud to Utilization in Ceramic Wall/Roofing Tile: Effect of Temperature on Mechanical Properties and Physic-Chemical Stability

This present research work is on the characterization of bauxite red mud (waste material) from Ngaoundal for the manufacture of ceramic products. After the extraction process, the raw material was characterized using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Morphology, mineral phases and chemical composition were determined by using energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis, X-ray diffractometer (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF). Differential Scanning Calorimetry and Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (DSC-TGA), Infra-Red (IR), Particle size (PS) were also used. Results of red mud analysis show that major oxides were Fe2O3 (37.21%), Al2O3 (19.6%), SiO2 (7.68%), TiO2 (1.07%), Na2O (4.71%), and CaO (2.75%). These last oxides require low temperature to melt and act as binders which link particles of red mud during the sintering process. Presence of alkaline oxides is an appeal to reduce energy consumption during ceramic manufacture process and to protect our environment for sustainable development. Physical and mechanical properties of fired red mud showed that the firing shrinkage, bulk density, and flexural strength increase with firing temperature. Porosity and water absorption had the same pattern and they decreased with the increase of temperature. Chemical stability reveals that 10% material loss is obtained after 7 days of treatment under acid-base conditions.

The IAS/IFRS application on the intangible assets of non-listed companies

With the introduction of IFRS （International Financial Reporting Standards） most of the intangibles are expensed on the income statement and hence they ＂disappear＂ from the balance sheet, while investments in tangible assets are capitalized. Based on a sample of 128 firms, made up of 99 SMEs （Small and Medium Enterprises） and 29 large firms, and through a simulation of IAS （International Accounting Standards） transition, the authors＇ study finds that IAS 38 reduces the amount of intangible assets recognized on the balance sheet of SMEs, while large firms do not appear to experience such large reductions in their intangible assets. The differential effect of IAS 38 on SMEs and large firms can be explained by the different growth strategies of these firm types. SMEs largely depend on internal paths of growth and intangibles assets that typically arise from internal growth strategies are eliminated from the balance sheet under IAS 38. Larger firms are less exposed to such reductions in their intangibles assets, because they mostly follow external paths of growth and the treatment of those intangible assets that typically arise from external growth strategies requires the impairment test.