3C White Ball Clay

Description: PR#3 C, High lignite white burning ball clay

Oxide	Analysis	Formula
CaO	0.64%	0.05
K2O	1.20%	0.06
MgO	0.58%	0.06
Na2O	0.05%	-
TiO2	0.98%	0.05
Al2O3	23.50%	1.00
P2O5	0.15%	-
SiO2	55.10%	3.98
Fe2O3	1.20%	0.03
MnO	0.01%	-
LOI	16.40%	n/a
Oxide Weight		362.03
Formula Weight		433.06

Notes

Very white burning high coal ball clay mined at Ravenscrag, Sask.

Related Information

Ravenscrag Saskatchewan clays fired at cone 10R

Glazeless (top) and with glaze (bottom): A1 (bentonitic), A2 (ball clay), A3 (stoneware), 3B (porcelains), 3C (lignitic ball clay), 3D (silt). The bottom row has also shows soluble salts (SOLU test).

Plainsman 3C Ball Clay fired bars

Cone 10 reduction (top), cone 11 down to 6 oxidation below. This is their whitest burning clay.

Mel Noble at Plainsman Clay's Ravenscrag, Saskatchewan quarry

Plainsman Clays extracts 6 different sedimentary clays from this quarry (Mel knows where the layers separate). The dried test bars on the right show them (top to bottom). The range of properties exhibited is astounding. The top-most layer is the most plastic and has the most iron concretion particles (used in our most speckled reduction bodies). The bottom one is the least plastic and most silty (the base for Ravenscrag Slip). The middle two are complete buff stonewares made by mother nature (e.g. M340 and H550). A2, the second one down, is a ball clay (similar to commercial products like OM#4, Bell). A2 is refractory and the base for Plainsman Fireclay. The second from the bottom fires the whitest and is the most refractory (it is the base for H441G).

Links

Typecodes	Ball Clay Ball clays are abundant and very plastic and are used in all types of plastic forming bodies. They are not as white-burning or refractory as kaolins but lower in iron and fluxes than bentonites.

By Tony Hansen
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