Abstract:
The most commonly used agricultural waste materials in enhancing the insulating properties of clay are sawdust and rice husk. However, there is scarcity of information on the use of cassava peel despite its abundance and easy accessibility. This study therefore considers the insulating tendency of cassava peel when added to clay. Easy accessible ogugu clay deposit was utilized and the chemical analysis was determined, cassava peel was then added in a percentage by weight of 5-30%. Ogugu clay had low refractoriness of 11000C but the addition of cassava peel at certain percentage compositions increased the refractoriness to 12000C. The addition of cassava peel to the clay was found to have great effect on the insulating properties such as linear shrinkage, total shrinkage, bulk density, modulus of rupture, apparent porosity and water absorption at firing temperatures of 900 to 12000C. Chemical analysis revealed SiO2 (57.44%) and Al2O3 (13.27%) as major constituent and also a reasonable high concentration of Fe2O3 (7.92%) and alkali oxide fluxes. The result of this study showed that cassava peel was suitable in enhancing the insulating properties of ogugu clay and can thus be utilized in inducing insulation in clay minerals when desired.
