Mineral
Ceramic minerals have a highly ordered atomic structure and a specific range of crystalline manifestations. A given chemistry can exhibit itself in more than one mineral form, each having its own crystalline structure and physical properties. Minerals can have phases or different crystalline forms and these can be converted one to another by the application of specific heating and cooling curves and exist between specific temperatures (thus certain mineral may only exist during a firing, you will never be able to hold them in your hand). The most common mineral is quartz, it can exist in a variety of forms (e.g. tridymite, cristobalite). Mica and mullite are good examples of materials used in ceramics exclusively for their mineralogy, not their chemistry. Many ceramic minerals are silicates. Minerals have specific melting temperatures and well defined events in their thermal decomposition history. Materials are mixtures of minerals and material powders are mixtures of microscopic mineral particles.
Understanding that quartz mineral and silica glass have vastly different physical properties is often the beginnings of understanding the relationship between the mineralogy of the materials we use and their chemistry. Fused silica, for example, is one of the lowest thermal expansion materials available (0.2% at 2000F). Some industries, for example, use fused silica slabs weighing more than a ton as valves in large pipes where temperatures are not only high but suddenly change, yet these slabs do not crack. These slabs operate continuously at high temperatures, however at plant shut down when they are cooled they crystallize and must be discarded! Quartz, on the other hand, is one of the least thermal-expansion-tolerant minerals (1.5% at 2000F) and even thin sections crack very easily on sudden temperature changes. Yet both have the same SiO2 chemistry.
Understanding minerals also involves understanding how CO2 and H2O incorporate into the crystal structure of so many minerals and how to adapt a firing process withstand expulsion or how to process the mineral to take these out and store it to keep them out.
More comprehensive definition from Richard Willis: The crystallized aggregates of atomic elements, morphologically distinguishable by 32 possible geometrical shapes (symmetry elements and their combinations) which in turn can be grouped into six crystal systems according to the complexity of their symmetries: isometric, hexagonal, tetragonal, orthorhombic, monoclinic, and triclinic. The aggregates (elements combined forming a given mineral) are determined by chemical bonding, which can occur electrostatically, electron-sharing, metallicazation, or residualization. Bonding effects hardness, density, solubility, melting point, tenacity, specific gravity, magnetism, structural properties, colors, etc. Subsequently, minerals can be classified into 11 groups according to chemical and physical properties: native elements, sulfides, sulfosalts, oxides and hydroxides, halides, carbonates, nitrates, borates, sulfates, phosphates, and silicates. Out Bound Links
In Bound Links
- (Glossary)
Glass vs. Crystalline
In ceramic technology the term 'glass' is contrast... - (Glossary)
Water
There is a need to discuss water in ceramic produc... - (Project)
Ceramic Minerals Overview
The materials we use are powders and we assess the... - (Tests)
TRMN - Trace Minerals
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