Materials and Energy Research Center (MERC) Iranian Ceramic Society (ICERS) Advanced Ceramics Progress 2423-7477 11 4 2026 10 01 Effect of Slag on the Physical and Mechanical Properties of Microwave-Sintered Floor Tile 239297 10.30501/acp.2025.534169.1181 EN Touradj Ebadzadeh Professor, Department of Ceramics, Materials and Energy Research Center, Karaj, Iran 0000-0002-8008-1095 Keivan Asadian Assistance Professor, Department of Semiconductors, Materials and Energy Research Center, Karaj, Iran 0000-0003-2532-7694 Journal Article 2025 07 25 Copper slag is a solid waste generated in the industrial production of copper metal and its storage in the environment can be problematic. So far, copper slag has been used in various industries, including in the construction industry as clinker in cement, aggregate in asphalt, glass composition, and tile and brick industries as raw materials. The use of copper slag in the above cases is due to the chemical composition of copper slag. Copper slag contains oxides of calcium, iron, silica and alumina, which are provided in the composition of clinker in cement, aggregate in asphalt, glass composition, tile and brick as raw materials through materials found in nature. Therefore, the use of copper slag not only reduces environmental waste but also reduces the consumption of natural materials that cannot be replaced.<br><br>One of the goals of the present work is to use copper slag in the tile industry and reduce its reserves. The results presented in this work showed that adding slag increases the density and decreases the porosity of the floor tile composition after sintering, so that with an increase of 5 wt% of slag, the sintering temperature decreased from 1200° to 1170°C, while the amount of density and porosity was almost the same. The changes in the hardness of the samples with the addition of slag were not noticeable, while the changes in flexural strength were significant, so that by adding 15 wt% of slag, the strength increased by about 30% compared to the sample without slag.