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Alternate Names: 98 Blue Grey Plastic, 98 BGP
Description: Highly plastic red burning earthenware
| Oxide | Analysis | Formula | Tolerance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Al2O3 | 15.35% | 1.44 | |
| SiO2 | 66.90% | 10.63 | |
| Fe2O3 | 3.72% | 0.22 | |
| CaO | 0.49% | 0.08 | |
| K2O | 3.25% | 0.33 | |
| MgO | 1.58% | 0.37 | |
| Na2O | 1.33% | 0.20 | |
| Cr2O3 | 0.01% | - | |
| MnO | 0.02% | - | |
| P2O5 | 0.11% | 0.01 | |
| SrO | 0.01% | - | |
| TiO2 | 0.50% | 0.06 | |
| LOI | 6.80% | n/a | |
| Oxide Weight | 890.28 | ||
| Formula Weight | 955.24 | ||
An extremely plastic red burning fine-grained material from the Elkwater area in southern Alberta. It was used in brick manufacture and in pottery clay bodies and it was still in use in the production of Alberta Slip in 2024. This was a successor to 45R.
Ba ppm: 1006
Cr ppm: 39
Ni ppm: 34
SO3: 0.04
Sr ppm: 66
V ppm: 78
Loring Labs analysis 2006 showed 16.2 Al2O3, 64.0 SiO2, 4.6 LOI, 4.55 FeO3, 2.7 SO3.

This picture has its own page with more detail, click here to see it.
The Redart clay bars (left) are fired at cones 06, 04, 2, 4 & 5 (top to bottom). The Plainsman Blue Grey Plastic bars (right) are fired at 06, 04, 03, 02, 2 & 4. The SHAB test procedure (used to make these) gives us the firing shrinkage and porosity at each temperature, these are direct indicators of the fired maturity. Notice how much the fired color changes with increasing temperature. The fired maturity is pretty similar but the BGP is a little browner in color. It is also much more plastic (the drying shrinkage quite a bit higher).
| Typecodes |
Clay Other
Clays that are not kaolins, ball clays or bentonites. For example, stoneware clays are mixtures of all of the above plus quartz, feldspar, mica and other minerals. There are also many clays that have high plasticity like bentonite but are much different mineralogically. |
| Materials |
98 Mix
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