How to make a zero fired shrinkage clay

This is Plainsman BGP, a terra cotta, mixed with 30% dolomite. Note the "DSHR" column in the SHAB test data (third last column): The drying shrinkage still averages over 7% even with the 30% dolomite, so BGP is very plastic. Notice the "FSHR" (fired shrinkage) column, it is negative for the first five test bars fired at cone 05-01, which means the bars grew in size! But notice the shrinkage hits 0% at cone 1 (bar #6). By cone 2 the trend has reversed to 0.3% shrinkage. The #6 bar is appears to be vitrifying, the color is darkening and it is strong. But notice the last "ABS" column (water absorption), it is 18.7%! This body was intended as a high-porosity ceramic at the lower ranges (it has 25% porosity at cone 05), but the dolomite is also slowing the densification as it goes through the vitrification process. Without the dolomite the top bar would be melting! By cone 1 its firing shrinkage would be 7%, and the porosity would be zero. Is this technique practical? Yup! The entire monoporosa wall tile industry is based on it!

Videos

Links

Articles	Monoporosa or Single Fired Wall Tiles A history, technical description of the process and body and glaze materials overview of the monoporosa single fire glazed wall tile process from the man who invented it.
Projects	Better porosity for Brown Sugar Savers
Glossary	Firing Shrinkage During drying, clay particles draw together and shrinkage occurs. During firing the matrix densifies and shrinkage continues. More vitreous bodies shrink more.
Materials	Dolomite An inexpensive source of MgO and CaO for ceramic glazes, also a highly refractory material when fired in the absence of reactant fluxes.

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