Paper clay as a solution for clay recycling and repairing

One of the most remarkable problems with clay and ceramics is, once cooked, the incapability of being repaired in case of cracking, and linked to this problem, the recycling difficulty. Proceeding in the different stages of the manufacturing process, the problem presents more and more complex aspects, as not only the causes that generate it are more articulated, but also the process increasingly turns towards a condition of irreversibility. Moreover, the declination of the ceramic product (from an object of use, of an industrial nature, to an artistic object, sometimes of great value) is such that any damage affects, at various levels, the characteristics of the product: from those technological, until the economic value of the object is completely annulled. The only repairable options have so far been made possible by the use of resins, in particular two-component ones, which, in addition to not being biocompatible, are not even homogeneous with the ceramic material. Recently, under the pretext of a recycling hypothesis of a material with a prevalent composition of calcium carbonate, the old and neglected technique of paper-clay, namely a composite material of cellulose and clay, has offered some initial results, as well as some experi- ments on its components are highlighting some options of repairability and recycling for the ceramic product.