Effective utilization of extracted titanium tailing to prepare high performance glass-ceramic and their formation mechanism

The accumulation of extracted titanium tailing (ETT) has seriously affected the local environment and human healthcare in the Panxi area of southwestern China. This research provides a practical way to convert ETT (up to high amount of 50 wt%) to high performance glass-ceramic by introducing waste glass (WG). The effects of sintering temperature and heat-treatment duration on the micro-structures and physicochemical properties of the produced glass-ceramic have been systematically investigated. It is found that the crystalline phase of the glass-ceramic has a great influence on the linear shrinkage rate and bulk density, further affecting its water absorption rate and hardness. The optimal product shows enhanced physical properties: linear shrinkage rate of 17.40 ± 0.04 %, bulk density of 2.75 ± 0.02 g cm-3, Vickers hardness of 21.3 ± 0.2 GPa and water absorption rate of 0.060 ± 0.002 % at the optimized sintering conditions. The formation mechanism of recycling two industrial wastes provides a guidance function to synthesize glass-ceramic using similar industrial waste residue and tailings. The obtained glass-ceramic with high performance has potential to be applied extensively in construction and building field.