The ceramic construction industry is one of the most important over growing Egyptian industries. It satisfies local needs for the national ambitious housing projects other than exportation to many countries worldwide. As a result, it produces enormous amounts of solid wastes that harm environment other than economic loss. In this study, porcelain tiles polishing waste (PTW) is characterized using X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and particle size distribution. Therefore, the possibility of replacement of commercial kaolin with this fired waste as reinforced filler for styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) was assessed.

The rheological, physico-mechanical and electrical properties and thermal aging resistance for SBR composites were evaluated, in addition to evaluating the swelling properties and crosslinking density for prepared composites. The thermal stability of the composites was also evaluated using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The change in phase morphology using a scanning electron microscope was detected. The results showed that tensile strength, hardness shore A, and crosslinking density of SBR composites increased with increasing the waste weight ratio. In contrast, the elongation at break and the equilibrium swelling ratios decreased with increasing the waste weight ratio. Furthermore, the vulcanized sample containing 100% PTW waste shows higher retained tensile strength values than that containing 100% commercial kaolin, with increasing aging time. Finally it can be concluded that this waste can replace the commercial kaolin with observed improvement of mechanical, thermal and electrical insulation properties.