4. Conclusions
The present study was conducted to develop highstrength
glass-ceramic matrix composites totally made from
industrial wastes of Latvia. The additions of chamotte
particles (10, 20 and 30 wt.%) to the starting composition
(formulated from fly ash, peat ash and clay) resulted in a
material with relatively high ultimate strength, 72 MPa for
composition 3S2 and 66 MPa for composition 3VS2. The
chamotte additives have increased the sintering interval
from 20 8C for the starting composition (3S0) to 40 8C
for composition with 20 wt.% of chamotte addition. The
optimal concentration of chamotte additive was found to be
20 wt.%. The results confirmed that using chamotte from
thermal treated clay as reinforcing addition can essentially
reduce the real fabrication costs of glass-ceramic matrix
composites from waste materials, as no expensive commercial
reinforcements are required. However it is apparent
that if high fracture strengths are required, of the order of
100 MPa, then the use of commercial reinforcements might
be unavoidable.