Frit & Glaze / Glaze & Engobes / Clay

Clay

Product Benefits

Clays have a wide usage within glaze and engobes production and play an important role, especially for their white firing colour and rheological properties.

Within Sibelco we have several clays deposits in Europe, including the UK, Germany and Russia, where Sibelco extracts and processes clays that can be used for both engobe and glaze application.

For engobes:

  • Drives the viscosity and rheological properties of the engobe
  • Keeps in suspension the other raw materials inside the slip
  • Reduces the thermal dilatation of the engobe in order to match the dilation of the ceramic body
  • White firing colour which allows to the usage of zircon inside the engobe formulation to be minimized.

For glazes:

  • Used mainly to improve the capacity of the glaze to remain in suspension into the slip,
  • Al2O3 carrier: when the glaze melts this oxide stabilizes the glaze characteristics
  • Reduces thermal dilatation of the glaze in order to couple with the dilation of the system body-engobe.
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Technical Details

Other clays grade are available, please contact your Sibelco office

Clay Country of origin Chemical Analysis % Carbon Residue %< Particle Size %<
Products SiO2 TiO2 AI2O3 Fe2O3 Na2O K2O CaO L.O.I 125µm 10µm 2µm
Opal DBX-2  UA 55 1.3 30 0.85 0.4 2 0.4 9.5 <0.1 2 98 92
Opal DBY-1  UA 56 1.4 29 0.9 0.4 2 0.4 8.5 <0.1 2 97 86
Opal DBK-2E UA 65 22 1.4 6 94 67
Opal LT-0 RU 49.6 1.8 33.1 1 0.1 0.3 0.6 13 0.3 0.5 98 87
Opal LT-1  RU 51.7 1.7 31.5 1 0.1 0.3 0.6 12.6  – 0.8 97 84
Opal BWS UK 48.6 0.9 33.9 1.1 0.2 1.5 13.5 1.7 0.3 97 84
Opal DM  UK 53.6 1.1 31.5 1 0.3 2.2 10 0.5 0.2 98 83
Opal SQ  UK 54.6 1.3 29.9 1.1 0.3 2 10.4 1.1 0.4 96 78
Opal HV  UK 65.2 1.4 23.1 0.8 0.3 2.4 6.2 0.2 0.3 88 61
Opal TA  UK 60.5 1.5 26 1 0.4 2.5 8 0.6 0.3 95 78
Opal Engobe  UK 64.8 1.6 23 0.9 0.4 2.2 0.1 6.8 0.3 0.3 89 68
Opal KM UK/IN 56.5 1.0 30.5 0.8 0.1 0.9 0.1 10.0
Electromix TA UK 60.7 1.5 25.4 25.4 0.4 2.5 0.1 8.0 0.6
V161  DE 62.9 1.4 24.1 1 0.3 2.8 6.8 <0.2 1 95 69
FT1512 DE 67.8 1.4 21.1 0.8 0.3 2.3 5.9 <0.1 1.5 78 58
Opal CA3  TH 55.48 0.58 27.87 1.35 11.6 3.31 92.54 66.99
Opal E11  TH 54.72 0.59 29.19 1.23 11.42 1.74 91.54 64.04
Opal KA ID 55.0 – 61.0 < 1.5 27.0 – 33.0 < 1.5 11.0 – 13.0 3.0
Opal KC ID 58.0 – 64.0 < 1.5 24.0 – 31.0 < 1.5 9.5 – 11.0 3.0
Opal KD ID 63.0 – 66.0 < 1.5 20.0-24.0 < 1.5 8.0 – 9.5  3.0

 

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