ABSTRACT The physical and mechanical properties of ceramic blocks are affected by the firing process of the primary raw material, in this case, clay or clay minerals. Consequently, this study sought to characterize different types of silty clays for ceramic block production and determine the effect of firing time and mineral content on their mechanical and physical properties. Characterization was conducted in two stages: pre and post-firing. Pre-firing evaluations were granulometric distribution, Attenberg limits, chemical composition, mineral composition and thermal behavior. Post-firing evaluation made use of 30 specimens subjected to temperatures of 800 °C, 900 °C and 1,000 °C. Results showed that firing temperatures greatly affected mechanical properties. Higher burn temperatures increased tensile strength and reduced water absorption while causing linear shrinkage. This increase in shrinkage raised the possibility of damage to the ceramic material and reduction of overall quality.

Abstract The Alfeu-I lamproite is one of the few alkaline rock occurrences in the South of Brazil that represents the alkaline event related to the South Atlantic opening and the enormous magmatic activity that formed the Paraná basalts. Alfeu-I lamproite is a diatreme facies and exhibits an inequigranular texture with macrocrysts of mica, spinel, garnet, and ilmenite and microcrysts of mica, pyroxene, and rare olivine, all immersed in a groundmass of pyroxene, spinel, perovskite, rutile, ilmenite, and, more rarely, olivine. Major element compositions of Alfeu-I pyroxene, garnet, ilmenite, mica, and olivine were determined by electron microprobe analyses, and trace element concentrations of clinopyroxene, garnet, ilmenite, and mica were measured using laser-ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry techniques. Temperature, pressure, and oxygen fugacity (fO2) conditions during the crystallization of Alfeu-I lamproite were calculated with the geothermobarometers and olivine, spinel, garnet, and orthopyroxene. The resulting mean equilibrium temperature ranges from 1375°C at 4 GPa to 1395°C at 5 GPa, whereas the fO2 points to ΔFMQ = +2.4 (at 4 GPa) and ΔFMQ = +2.2 (at 5 GPa). Rb-Sr and Sm-Nd isotopic data together with the trace element concentrations of minerals suggest that melting of a mantle source enriched in incompatible elements and volatiles due to previous subduction events occurred during the Gondwana breakup around 125 Ma ago. Fluids that may have originated from subducting slabs in the old subduction zone are probably the cause of the high fO2 conditions in Alfeu-I lamproite.