Sodium Hydroxide

Description: Deflocculant

Oxide	Analysis	Formula
Na2O	77.50%	1.00
LOI	22.50%	n/a
Oxide Weight		62.00
Formula Weight		80.00

Notes

Also called caustic soda.
This is a powerful deflocculant in clay slurries and casting slips and behaves in a manner silimar to soda ash. However, it is corrosive and thus seldom used commercially.

Some people also use this for its chemistry to source Na₂O to the glaze (it does not form crystals like soda ash). During the firing NaOH picks up oxygen and becomes Na₂O.H₂O. Thus we can deem Na₂O.H₂O as entering the kiln (weighing 80) and exiting as Na₂O (weighing 62).

Related Information

Links

Typecodes	Additives for Ceramic Glazes Materials that are added to glazes to impart physical working properties and usually burn away during firing. In industry all glazes, inks and engobes have additives, they are considered essential to control of cohesion, adhesion, suspension, dry hardness, surface leveling, rheology, speed-of-drying, etc. Among potters, it is common for glazes to have zero additives.
Materials	Sodium Carbonate

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