Reduction in Resistance of Ceramic Clay Extruder Using Micro-Biomimetic Electroosmosis

The adhesion phenomenon of clay in the ceramic clay extruder would bring out issues, such as product layering and cracking, which affects the quality of the bodies formed by using rotary molding. To address these problems, a biomimetic micro-electroosmotic structure is proposed based on the clay adhesion theory and soil electroosmotic mechanism to reduce adhesion and resistance on the clay extrusion wall. Additionally, it is proposed to use the pressure difference between the inlet and outlet as an indicator to reflect the reduction in electroosmotic resistance. To conduct the experiment, a modular method was used to build a pressure test platform, while orthogonal experiments were carried out to analyze the parameters that affect the quality and efficiency of the clay extrusion. By analyzing the pressure results at the inner wall of the cylinder and the inlet and outlet, optimal combination was identified to be A3B5C1D3E1F5, with the main and secondary factors being the hinge knife speed, water content, outlet radius, electroosmotic voltage, electrode gap and anode-cathode width ratio. Using the combination of optimal parameters, qualities of the clay extrusion cylinder with the TL-125 vacuum clay extruder was improved. It is found that the electroosmotic resistance reduction rate of the biomimetic micro-electroosmotic structure reached 26.7%, the energy consumption of the clay extruder was reduced by 11.58%, and the surface morphology of the clay was significantly improved. The experiment results are well within the expectations.