C.Banks

The stories of jack pots of bricks from busted factories are turning into myth but we gotta keep trying. I'll admit to getting a bit jealous of the stuff I've missed out on but I try to mind my own business, for the most part. The one thing I can try to add is the option to build with castable mixes although cheap alumimna is, again, a thing of the past. From what I can gather one of the most important part of success with castable refractory for salt and soda kilns is the wash. But this will only keep the degradation at bay for so long. Ruthanne Tudball and Jack Troy published recipes for refractory mixes for salt and soda kilns. iirc they might be the same recipes though. Rhodes also mentioned something about brick degradation and density that would be worthwhile to consiedr if trying to modify or improve on a mix. I convinced myself it was possible to find a way forward without actually having any bricks. I let the idea go after finding a precious seed hoard of super duty brick a few years ago but castable refractories would have scratched the itch for me. I'm still tempted to finalise a recipe and design but it's tough to just take something on for fun without a certain amount of spare time and disposable income. For now it's just a very interesting, very part time, research project.

I'm curious how accuarte or outdated my understanding is here. I always thought under 1% was reserved for porcelain or porcelaneous clay and can overfire quickly. Under 2% was a good benchmark for stoneware that allows a more broad firing range. I'm even less familiar with eathenware but from what little I know they are dpendent on good glaze fit for surfaces in contact with food. I only took up my own clay a few years ago so I'm happy to find new answers. I've seen this 1% number before and figured it was time to ask.

aha and from the dictionary too. I forget books are a thing apparently. It didn't occur to me to consider overfiring. This makes sense to me in terms of how much feldspar is present in glaze copmpared to clay. The way I understand it if there isn't sufficent feldspar present, in clay, some critobalite gets left out and doesn't fit on cooling - like musical chairs.

This is an interesting question. I've always understood glaze fit in terms of the big changes in silica. Maybe somone can help me underastand too. Once that last big in quartz happens at 573c there is no ther significant change in size until cooling through 250 - the last change in quartz that can put the 'squeeze' on. In my limted understanding, firing one cone hotter does not involve any significant change in the size of silica. I look forward to understanding this better though. I get tripped up easily but do enjoy trying to fit the pieces together in my brain.

I have a project that leads me to believe Al2O3 amounts over around 0.3 restrict the development of micro crystals. I know this is off topic and specific to do with magnesia mattes too so may not be too useful here. These mattes do respond to calcium though - or as much as I'm certain I remember a line blend proving + calcium = + matte in magnesia mattes. I'm unsure this helps understand the Eucal results at all. This conversation only reminded me of a glaze project I'm somewhat familiar with. *to add here - additions of calcium seem to reduce the claculated Al2O3

that worked thanks they sure don't offer much and without labels too

i couldn't find that page - thank you I had the editor on my ssd but it took up too much room. Now it doesn't want to open/install. I get the blank page file:///D:/PEDEditor.jar with nothing further. It's not too important. I just wanted to see if I could make any sense of it. I might have enjoyed a career in material science or ceramic engineering 40 years ago.

I'm enjoying a few other contributors too.

pleasing to touch and hold sells a lot of pots

https://ceramics.org/publications-resources/ceramic-tech-chat/ The American Ceramic Society always seemed a bit exclusive for commoners like me but it turns out they do share. An interesting note - I overheard an industry type person talking to a recognised academic about recycled glass and how there is a need*/opportunity to find a use for it. It's not the first time I've heard of people trying to peddle ideas for recycled glass. This: https://ceramictechchat.ceramics.org/974767/12251109-the-everlasting-relevance-of-brick-john-sanders briefly brings up the possibility of making brick with up to 60% recycled glass.

Has anyone got the trial version of ACerS-NIST PHASE diagrams to run? All I got was what seemed like a forever loading bar on the title screen. Has anyone tried 5.1? I'm unsure how useful they are to me but maybe if I stare at the diagrams long enough some hidden 3d image will appear. https://ceramics.org/publications-resources/phase-equilibrium-diagrams/ *it look slike the trial version is completely gone

The folks who can interpret comlpicated ideas and express themselves in approachable language sure help the rest of us follow along.

I was looking for the trial version of the NIST? phase diagram software and this: https://phasediagram.weebly.com/eutectics.html reminded me of some language here. I don't pretend to understand it all although I do grasp the larger 'chunks' and descriptions of parts getting squeezed out and reforming encouarged me to wonder how many of the principles might apply to the glazes we find most appealing. There was a discussion of overlays for the stull chart that gets stuck because the diagrams are copyrighted iirc.

It was definitely older than 2021. I worry now maybe it was from the Potters Quarterly from the UK. I'll find it but it'll be a few months before I get back there.

I don't remember much about it other than gave me reasons to avoid decyphering the UMF. I aquire magazines and some years I read less than others so this goes back at least three years and probably closer to five. Something I didn't appreciate until only somewhat recently is just how many eutectics exist. It's possible small systems are forming within larger eutectics? This will expose how little I know but I'm ok not knowing things.