Substitute Ferro Frit 3134 For Another Frit

I use my Insight-live account to do the glaze chemistry to replace Ferro frit 3134 with combinations of three other common Ferro frits. We will see the challenges of doing this in three different types of recipes.

A. Insight-live

You can also watch this at Screencast-o-matic.com

First look at the glaze flow test that compares 3124 with 3134: They fire much different, 3124 does not melt nearly as well.

Recipe 1:
In my Insight-live account I'll open the first one, it has 20% frit 3134.
Duplicate it, edit the 3134 line to 3124, click Done and turn on the formula.
The Al₂O₃ and SiO₂ are up, the B₂O₃ is down.
In calculation mode increase the frit from 20 to 35 to match the B₂O₃.
But now the Al₂O₃ and SiO₂ are high. Drop the kaolin and silica to re-match them.
That was easy. We used more 3124 and dropped kaolin and silica.

Recipe 2:
It is more tricky because the B₂O₃ is double, there is more frit, there is only 10% kaolin. I will have to cut the feldspar to reduce the Al₂O₃.
Duplicate the recipe, change the frit, click Done and turn on the formula.
In calculation mode, reduce the feldspar until the Al₂O₃ matches - removing all fo the feldspar does not reduce the Al₂O₃ enough! And the B₂O₃ is high and alot of KNaO has been lost.
We need a frit that is high in sodium, low in boron and alumina: Frit 3110
Add 10 parts 3110 and reduce the other frit by the same. Bump up the 3110 to re-match the KNaO. We lost B₂O₃ in doing that.
We need a more concentrated source of boron: Frit 3195. Add 10 to the recipe and reduce 3124 by 10. Remove the feldspar and increment the 3195 by 5 and decrement the 3124 by 5 until the boron matches.
Nudge the kaolin down until the Al₂O₃ matches.
Retotal the recipe to 100.
The cost is up. We ended up removing the feldspar and replacing frit 3134 with three other frits.

Recipe 3:
The frit percentage is high and there is plenty of clay and silica.
Duplicate and replace the frit as in the others.
The boron is down and the Al₂O₃ and SiO₂ have skyrocketed.
Reduce the kaolin and silica to re-match the Al₂O₃ and SiO₂.
Boron was lost, we need help from a more concentrated boron frit: Add 15 frit 3195 and reduce the 3124 by the same.
In calculation mode reduce 3195 and increase 3124 until B₂O₃ matches.
Fine tune the Al₂O₃ and SiO₂ by adjusting kaolin and silica.
Retotal the recipe and assess what we did.
The EPK was cut in half (but still enough to float the slurry) and silica is down also.
A mix of 3124 and 3195 supplied the boron and other fluxes.

Using this chemistry approach brings a high degree of confidence that the adjusted recipes will fire the same as the originals.

Links

Media	Create a Synthetic Feldspar in Insight-Live A step-by-step of how to duplicate the chemistry of Minspar by mixing other materials. You will learn the calculate process, the type of testing to do and how to keep track of the results with notes, pictures and links.

Substitute Ferro Frit 3134, using glaze chemistry, in three glaze types

Insight-live screen shot, substituting frit 3134

Can't get frit 3134 for glaze recipes? Can you replace it with frit 3124? No, 3124 has five times the amount of Al₂O₃ (the second most important oxide in glazes) and half the amount of B₂O₃ (the main melter). This ten-minute video presents a glaze chemistry approach that is easier to do than you probably think. On three different recipe types, you will learn to source the needed oxides from two other Ferro frits, 3110 (or Fusion F-75) and 3195 (Fusion F-2) and end up with at least 15% kaolin in each (to suspend the slurry). Each requires a unique approach. Two of the calculations produce improved slurry properties and one yields a recipe of significantly lower cost. If you have a recipe that needs this, get an insight-live.com account, enter it there and I can help you do the calculation.

Is Ferro Frit 3124 a viable substitute for Frit 3134?

Three melt from tests comparing these frits

This is a GLFL test comparing the melt flow of the three materials at 1800F. Frit 3124 is barely out of the starting gate and the other two have crossed the finish line! With frits chemistry is a big deal, they are all about supplying oxides to the melt. Frit 3134 is low-alumina/high-boron, 3124 is medium-alumina/low-boron and 3195 is medium-alumina/high-boron. Boron is the melter. Alumina thickens the melt and hardens the glass. Just from this it appears that Frit 3195 is a better starting point for calculations to replace frit 3134.

Global supply chain issues? Learn to mix and adjust your own bodies, glazes

Material prices are sky rocketing. And, the more complex your supplier's supply chain the more likely they won't be able to deliver. How can you adapt to coming disruption, even turn it into a benefit? Learn to create base recipes for your glazes and even clay bodies. Learn now how to substitute frits and other materials in glazes (get the chemistry of frits you use now so you are ready). Even better: Learn to see your glaze as an oxide formula. Then calculate formula-to-batch to use whatever materials you can get. Learn how to adjust glazes for thermal expansion, temperature, surface, color, etc. And your clay bodies? Develop an organized physical testing regimen now to accumulate data on their properties, learn to understand how each material in the recipe contributes to those properties. Armed with that data you will be able to adjust recipes to adapt to changing supplies.

Click here for case-studies of Insight-Live fixing problems

You will see examples of replacing unavailable materials (especially frits), fixing various issues (e.g. running, crazing, settling), making them melt more, adjusting matteness, etc. Insight-Live has an extensive help system (the round blue icon on the left) that also deals with fixing real-world problems and understanding glazes and clay bodies.

Pottery glaze peeling when multi-layered

Dipping glazes can, in very controlled circumstances, be multi-layered. If you have done it for some time, with success, you may have been just lucky. These pieces demonstrate one of many factors that can produce failure: The top glaze contains 7% bentonite and 5% zinc oxide - that is 12% hyper-fine particles, perfect to create the drying shrinkage to make this happen. The recipe author must have reasoned that it could "pinch hit" for the inadequate clay content. But 7% bentonite in any glaze is highly unusual. And, it is actually not even necessary here. Why? The high percentage of Ferro Frit 3124 is sourcing needless Al₂O₃ (alumina), that should be coming from kaolin or ball clay instead. Frit 3134 is the perfect stand-in, it contains almost no Al₂O₃, but otherwise is quite similar. The equivalent recipe we calculated on the right has the same chemistry, but does pass a sanity check. It is not guaranteed to work, but has a better chance than this one. For assurance of success, the base should be mixed as a base-coat dipping glaze.

By Tony Hansen
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