Acti-Gel 208
Acti-gel® is a self dispersing Thixotrope having rod-shaped particles that average 2 microns in length by 30 Angstrom in diameter. The particles are highly charged along the axis which enables Acti-Gel 208 to bind with the other particles present. Acti-Gel does not absorb moisture and this allows it to dry very quickly during the drying and firing processes.
Glazes
Fritted Glazes: Both mineral particles & soluble ions are needed to "activate" Acti-Gel® 208. Since frit is a glassy material and therefore has no charges present, a small amount of epsom salts (MgSO4) can be added to the suspension (2% to 3% based on the weight of Acti-Gel. Dosage rates for Acti-Gel® 208 are in the 0.25% to 0.50% range (based on formula weight) for glaze slurries in the 50% solids and higher range. Glaze slurries in the 30% to 40% solids range require 0.5% to 1.0% Acti-Gel®208 .
Natural Glazes: These generally have enough soluble ions present. To gain additional gel strength with Acti-Gel, add Epsom Salts as above. Dosage levels are similar to Fritted Glazes.
Advantages: In both kinds of glazes, we find that many customers use HEC, CMC or HPMC to stabilize the glaze along with Laponite, Bentonite (Bentone EW, LT, etc.). When Acti-Gel is used, we can reduce Cellulose to 0.05% or 0.1% and, at the same time, eliminate the Bentonite or Laponite. Acti-Gel dries very quickly. This can be a big advantage to many glaze formulas. For those that require a little longer dry time, we found that by adding about 0.05% Cellulose, customers can "dial-in" dry times. Acti-Gel enables the glaze to SPRAY much better than other systems, Acti-Gel glazes have HIGHER ADHESION STRENGTHS and can be applied thicker without running, sagging, settling.
Dry Press Tile
2-5% Acti-Gel (based on dry solids weight of the formula) has been used successfully in tile making formulas that include extrusion & pressing followed by flash calcining. Acti-Gel enables the formulator to use less ball clay and add more feldspar, calcined talc and kaolin. This decreases formula variations as a result of clay inconsistencies, reduces warpage and cracking and improves forming properties.
For Low Shear Mixing applications, we recommend that you first make a predispersion of Acti-Gel® 208 in water. The pre-dispersion must be made in a high shear mixer. Solids levels can range from 15-25% solids dispersion of Acti-Gel® in water. In High Shear Mixing, add Acti-Gel® 208 as a dry powder to the mix. Either way, after adding Acti-Gel® 208 to the formula, remember to mix very well.
After mixing, test in the pressing and extrusion processes to see how it performs and to establish optimum dosage levels.
Most customers see a huge difference in the behavior of the mix containing Acti-Gel® 208. The mix is more consistent, flow properties are improved, extrusion pressures are lowered and tooling and mold release properties are better. Tiles are easier to form, very manageable - having very good plastic characteristics, delamination is dramatically reduced. Some customers have seen their production recovery rates increase from just 65% to over 90%.
Mechanisms
Out Bound Links
In Bound Links
- (Materials - Related)
Bentonite
Montmorillonite
- (Materials - Unspecified)
Attapulgite - Mg5Si8O20(OH)6,4H2O
Atapulgite, Palygorskite
XML for Import into INSIGHT
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<material name="Acti-Gel 208" descrip="" searchkey="Antigel 208, Actigel Attapulgite" loi="0.00" casnumber="71396-54-8">
</material> | 
The future of ceramic recipe, material and physical testing record keeping is here.
Maintain your recipe database on-line
- Login to a private account or work with others in a group account (e.g. university).
- Nothing to install (access it using your web browser). It is always the latest version.
- Easy to import your existing data.
- As many side-by-side recipes as you want.
- Many ways to search and classify glaze and body recipes.
- Glaze and body recipes are robust, with units-of-measure, unlimited pictures with individual titles and descriptions.
- Add variations to a recipe; each with its own pictures, descriptions and name/code-number extensions.
- Recipes can link to typecodes, projects and firing schedules (all managed in their own areas).
- Standard reports and mix ticket reports with last-minute-totalling; variations report as if they are a complete recipe.
- Video tutorials, help system, contact form on every page, dedicated messaging and support ticket systems.
- It is an industrial-strength database system (unlimited capacity, fast, reliable, scalable).
Imports many file formats
- Glaze recipe formats supported: HyperGlaze, GlazeGhem, GlazeMaster, Matrix, INSIGHT XML recipes (single and multiple), INSIGHT SQLite DB files.
- Assign a batch number to imports, and later search by batch.
- Assign multiple typecodes to imported glaze and body batches (to classify) and search on these later.
- Prepend character sequences to glaze recipe names during import.
- Import the pictures and pair them to their corresponding records automatically.
- One click to automatically export the database to an SQLite DB database file and download it (for use with desktop INSIGHT or just as a backup).
- Export and import individual glaze recipes as text or XML.
Perfect for Education
- Ceramic study programs can now accumulate material, recipe and testing data year-after-year, students can login and together build a valuable ceramic glaze and body knowledge resource.
- Students already have internet connected devices, computers are not even needed in the class.
- The Reference Manager gives you quick access to the Digitalfire Ceramic Reference Database.
Learn more..
|
Watch the video or sign-up at http://insight-live.com.