Interrelation between Aesthetic and Technological Properties of the Face Ceramic Brick

Introduction. Nowadays, production of high-quality building products with the given aesthetic properties is a relevant objective for the national ceramic manufacturing industry. The face brick still occupies one of the leading places in the up-to-date construction as one of the traditional building materials. However, at present a trend demand is being formed in Russia for the high-end brick with the explicit aesthetic properties: colour, texture, combinability. In GOST 530-2012 “Ceramic Brick and Stone. General Specifications" such characteristics of brick are not properly specified, neither definitions are given nor the criteria for assessing the quality are defined. Therefore, it is necessary to study the interrelation between the technological parameters of manufacturing and the aesthetic potential of a brick. On the example of the soft-moulded brick, we have studied the variants of colour decor (glaze) and textured pattern taking into account the direct “technology — aesthetics” correlation.

Materials and Methods. A soft-moulded brick of the multi-structural texture manufactured by “Tandem-VP” LLC (No[1]vocherkassk, Rostov Region, Russian Federation) was used in the research. The glaze for decoration was obtained on the basis of GP–2 grade frit of the Lysva Plant of Silicate Frits. When studying the interrelation between the aesthetics and technology of ceramic brick, the method of comparative analysis of decorative properties and the process of obtaining thereof was used, the historical regularities in the influence of technologies on the appearance of the products were identified. Based on the above, the classifications by types of decoration and textured surfaces of brick were developed, the terminology referring to the aesthetic criteria was extended making a certain step towards preparing the supplements to the existing GOST or developing a new one.

Results. The obtained variants of the glazed surface of the soft-moulded brick have different aesthetic effects depending on the composition of the glaze and the technology of its application: a smooth shiny surface, uneven surface with the unglazed fragments, the so-called “spotted” surface with an emphasis on the texture. A table of correspondence of the glaze application technology and the resulting surface has been compiled. The textured “pattern” of the surface of manually moulded brick has also been structured in a form of a table, and terminology has been assigned. These results will be taken into account when developing a technological processing line of soft-moulded brick decoration.

Discussion and Conclusion. The proposed classification frameworks allow us to identify the direct “technology — decor” correlation, the data can be adjusted and precised when applied to a specific ceramic production. It has been established that the following factors influence on brick surface obtaining the given aesthetic characteristics: clay raw materials, additives, brick moulding method, decoration material, decoration process, drying and firing. In this paper, we covered mainly the raw materials, moulding method and decor application method. Studying the interrelation between the aesthetic and technological properties has high research capacity, thus the topic will be investigated by us step by step. The conclusions drawn and the analysis of the results are of interest to the architects, technologists, production engineers, distributors and ceramists at large.

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