LAB REPORT

SUBJECT :
Engineering Ceramics and Glasses

Submitted To :

Engr. Muhammad Ishtiaq

Submitted By :

Usman Liaqat

Roll No :

17MME-S1-313

College of Engineering and Emerging Technology,

University of the Punjab.
Determine percentage of moisture in the given sample of china clay, fire clay,
bentonite clay, silica sand, soda feldspar, potash feldspar. Also report effect of time of
heating on removal of moisture?

Principal:

Moisture in clay at 100 Celsius (which is boiling point of water) is evaporated

when it placed in dry oven. So moisture content can be find when water evaporate at certain
temperature.

Apparatus:

 Crucible
 Raw Materials(fire clay, bentonite clay, soda feldspar, potash feldspar, china clay,
silica sand)
 Weighing Balance
 Safety Gloves
 Tongs
 Dry Oven
 Vacuum Desiccator
 Stopwatch

Procedure:

A crucible was taken. Crucible should be cleaned and dried. Empty crucible was
weighed by weight balance. Weight of empty crucible was noted. 10 grams of fire clay was
added. And then crucible was placed in dry oven to remove moisture preheated at 100°C.
Then the door was closed after placing the crucible in dry oven. And the temperature was set
at 100°C, so that the moisture present in the clay get evaporated. Stopwatch was set for 10
minutes. After 10 minutes, crucible having clay was removed with the help of tongue. And
then crucible was placed in the vacuum desiccator to cool it to room temperature. There was
two reason to placed the crucible in desiccator. First to cool the crucible containing clay to
room temperature, and second was to prevent the clay from reabsorbing the moisture from
surrounding during cooling. After cooling again the crucible was weighed containing fire
clay. Reading was noted. Then crucible was again placed in dry oven and taken out after 10
minutes. And it was placed in vacuum desiccator again. Again it was weighted by weight
balance. These steps drying in oven, cooling in desiccator and weighing were repeated we got
constant reading. Readings were recorded and percentage moisture content also calculated.

1. Fire clay
Observation and Calculations
 Weight before heating = 32.19

Weight after all heating = 32.17

Difference = 0.02

Calculations:

Weight reduced = 0.02

Weight reduced % = (0.02/10)*100

Result :

the % moisture in the clay = (0.2%)

Table 1
Crucible Crucible Sample Time in Time in Crucible Differenc
Weight(g + Weight(g Oven(min Desiccator(min + e
) sample(g ) ) ) (g)
) sample(g
)

22.15 32.19 10.04 10 10 32.19 0.00

22.15 32.19 10.04 10 10 32.17 0.02
22.15 32.17 10.04 10 05 32.17 0.02
22.15 32.17 10.02 10 05 32.17 0.00

Graph 1
2. China clay

Observation and Calculations:

Weight before heating = 32.58

Weight after heating = 32.42

Difference = 0.16

Calculations :

Weight reduced = 0.16

weight reduced % = (0.16/10)*100

Result:

% of moisture = 1.6%

Table 1
Crucible Crucible Sample Time in Time in C+S(Afte Differenc
Weight(g + Weight(g Oven(min Desiccator(min r e
) sample(g ) ) ) heating) (g)
)
22.58 32.57 9.99 10 10 32.47 0.10
22.58 32.47 9.89 10 10 32.43 0.04
22.58 32.43 9.85 10 10 32.42 0.01
22.58 32.42 9.84 10 10 32.42 0.00
 Graph 2

3. Silica sand
Observation and Calculations

Weight before heating = 29.00

Weight after heating = 27.07

Difference = 1.93

Calculations:

Weight reduced in 10.03 grams = 1.93

weight reduced % = (1.93/10.03)*100

Result :

%age of moisture = 19.24%

Table 1
Crucible Crucible Sample Time in Time in C+S(Afte Differenc
Weight(g + Weight(g Oven(min Desiccator(min r e
) sample(g ) ) ) heating) (g)
)
18.97 29.00 10.03 10 10 28.99 0.01
18.97 28.99 10.02 10 10 28.99 0.00
18.97 28.99 10.02 10 10 27.07 1.92
18.97 27.07 8.1 10 10 27.07 0.00
 Graph 3

4. Bentonite clay

Observation and Calculations

Weight before heating = 19.43

Weight after heating = 19.45

Difference = 0.02

Calculations:

Weight reduced in 1 grams = 0.02

weight reduced % = (0.02/1)*100

Result:

%age of moisture = 2%

Table 4

Crucible Crucible Sample Time in Time in C+S(Afte Differenc

Weight(g + Weight(g Oven(min Desiccator(min r e
) sample(g ) ) ) heating) (g)
)
 18.43 19.43 1.0 10 10 19.47 -0.04
18.43 19.47 1.04 10 10 19.46 0.01
18.43 19.46 1.03 10 10 19.45 0.01
18.43 19.45 1.02 10 10 19.45 0.00
18.43 19.45 1.02 10 10 19.45 0.00

Graph 4

5. Potash clay
Observation and Calculations

Weight before heating = 28.26

Weight after heating = 28.26

Difference = 0

Calculations:

%age of moisture = 0%

Table 5
Crucible Crucible Sample Time in Time in C+S(Afte Differenc
Weight(g + Weight(g Oven(min Desiccator(min r e
) ) ) ) heating) (g)
 sample(g
)
18.20 28.26 10.06 10 10 28.26 0.00
18.20 28.26 10.06 10 10 28.26 0.00
18.20 28.26 10.06 10 10 28.26 0.00
18.20 28.26 10.06 10 10 28.26 0.00s

Graph 5

6. Sada feldspar
Observation and Calculations

Weight before heating = 32.07

Weight after heating = 32.04

Difference = 0.03

Calculations :

Weight reduced in 10 grams = 0.03

weight reduced % = (0.03/10)*100

Result:

The value of moisture in the clay = 0.3%

Table 6
Crucible Crucible Sample Time in Time in C+S(Afte Differenc
Weight(g + Weight(g Oven(min Desiccator(min r e
) sample(g ) ) ) heating) (g)
)
22.06 32.07 10.01 10 10 32.05 0.02
22.06 32.05 9.99 10 10 32.04 0.01
22.06 32.04 9.98 10 10 32.04 0.00

Graph 6

Results:

The clays we use in experiment all have different value or content of moisture. We
can see that some clays have very low moisture content. Clays with less moisture have coarse
grain size so moisture absorption is lower which cause vicinity of less moisture content in
them.
Discussion:

It can be noticed that when clay samples were affected when it placed in dry
oven. Clays samples weight changed due to loss of moisture by the process of evaporation. It
can be seen moisture content in silica sand has high percentage. And other clay samples have
very low value of moisture. While from literature we can see that bentonite clay contain more
moisture than other clays. This is due to weakly bonded particles of bentonite clay, so these
particles absorb more moisture and after heating these particle loss more weight. So in lab
experiment there could be human error or mechanical error. Other clay samples show little
changes and this id due to morphologies of these sample.

Conclusion:

From experiments it was noticed that moisture content in clay samples depend
upon the surface area and particle size.

It can seen from graph that silica sand has maximum moisture content while other clay
samples contain less but noticeable amount of moisture content.

Reference:

Clays and clay minerals, chapter 15

By

Liam R, Wesley