Porcelain - Did you know?

Porcelain is a ceramic material, mainly made of a type of heated clay. The word Porcelain comes from the Italian word porcellana. 

Materials

The composition of porcelain is highly variable; Kaolin is the primary material that is a clay mineral and often is a raw material. Other raw materials are feldspar, ball clay, glass, bone ash, steatite (also known as soapstone), quartz, pentuntse and alabaster. The clays used are often described as being long or short, depending on their plasticity. Long clays are cohesive (sticky) and have high plasticity and short clays are less cohesive and have lower plasticity. Plasticity is determined by measuring the increase in content of water required to change clay from solid state bordering to plastic state bordering. The clays used for porcelain are generally of lower plasticity. They wet quickly, so small changes in the content of water can produce large changes in workability. 

 

Decoration

Porcelain does not need glazing to make it impermeable (does not leave water to pass through the material), since it is made out of clay. They usually glaze porcelain so that it can be decorated and can resist to dirt and staining. Porcelain wares can be decorated under the glaze using pigments (that include cobalt and copper or coloured enamels). Modern porcelains are often biscuit-fired at around 1,000 degrees Celsius (coated with glaze), and then are sent for the second glaze-firing, at a temperature of more than 1,300 degrees Celsius. In the firing process the ceramic wares are heated to high temperatures so that they set permanently their shapes.

Pastes 

There are two types of pastes, hard paste and soft paste.

Hard Paste

Hard paste porcelains come from East Asia, especially from China and are some of the finest quality porcelain wares. It was first made in China around the ninth century. 
 

Soft Paste

Soft paste has also soapstone (steatite) and limestone in the mixture. Produced between 1575 and 1587, composed of white clay containing powdered feldspar, calcium phosphate, wollastonite (CaSiO3) and quartz.

Other uses of Porcelain

There are more uses of porcelain and these are some of them. 

Electric Insulating Material
 
Porcelain is also used as an electric insulating material (it keeps electricity from passing through like rubber) especially in ceramic engineering. Since it is an excellent insulator it is used where there is high voltage going through, for example: outdoor appliances, terminals for high voltage cables, bushings of power transformers, insulation frequency antennas and much more. 

Building Material

Porcelain can also be used as a building material, usually in forms of tiles or large panels. Modern porcelain tiles are used all around the world; there are some porcelain tiles in Porcelain Tower of Nanjing in China.

  

Made By Kyle Farrugia

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