The Development of G2926B Cone 6 Transparent Clear Glaze

Project Name

The Development of G2926B Cone 6 Clear

Project Codenumber

UnAssigned

Notes

Many transparent cone 6 glaze recipes are available online. But they are not created equal. After working with many you will note several things:

-Few are truly glassy, that is, transparent and crystal clear. After seeing one that is, others quickly lose their appeal.

-Some craze alot more than others.

-Many have too much melt fluidity. Aside from obvious issues of them running off the ware and being very thickness-sensitive, fluid melt glazes are less durable (because they lack Al2O3 and SiO2). Fluid melters also generally craze.

-Some fire cloudy when thicker. This can be from clouds of micro-bubbles (from materials that gas excessively on firing) or crystallization (e.g. boron blue from excessive boron and calcia).

-Many have tiny surface dimples that appear when held up to the light. These are the remnants of the healing of bubbles that broke at the surface.

-Many do not host stains very well, either producing the wrong color and going matte or cloudy with in-color or over-color applications.

-Many do not suspend well in the slurry and they turn to jelly over time (often because they are fluxed with Gerstley Borate). Some lack sufficient clay in the the recipe which also produces a powdery surface.

-The leach resistance of many is questionable. These either contain significant percentages of materials questionable in themselves of ones that seed crystals which are more likely to be soluble (e.g. lithium carbonate, zinc).

-Many do not slurry and apply well to ware, it is difficult to get on evenly.

When you find a good transparent, it stands out from all the others. Achieving such is part of the basic science of producing quality ware.

When we found the Perkins Clear glaze recipe we saw problems, but also promise. It just needed a couple of changes to become a great clear.

Perkins Clear

Total:100.00

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Notes

This was among many clear glaze recipes we found on the internet. It stood out because it was crystal clear.

But it also had two problems:

Gerstley Borate. 21% of this can easily turn a bucket of glaze slurry into a jelly that is difficult to work with, and, when thinned with water, cracks on drying. Gerstley Borate also contributes to high LOI which potentially can produce lots of bubbles when certain colorants or additives are incorporated.

Thermal Expansion: It crazes on some of our porcelains. The thermal expansion needs to be a little lower.

Pictures

G2926 Perkins Clear vs. Fritted version G2926A

We mixed the G2926 original recipe after doing G2926A, just to see how the A compared to it in melt fluidity and surface character. It was a pleasant surprise to see how much better the A is.
Notice that sourcing the B2O3 from a frit melts the glaze more even though the amount of boron it contributes is the same.

G3926B vs G2926 on M340S

The B (left) is not crawling and is whiter. The difference is likely the frit being a cleaner source of boron than Gerstley Borate.

Perkins Clear with Frit 3134

Total:100.10

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Notes

This recipe makes the most obvious adjustment to Perkins Clear: Sourcing boron from a frit instead of the troublesome Gerstley Borate (it is a bubble source, gels glaze slurries, is inconsistent).

The chemistry of this is very close to the original Perkins Clear. However because the boron is being sourced by a frit rather than a raw material, the expected better melting gave us confidence to add a little more Al2O3 and SiO2. The melting turned out even better than expected, signalling that even could be accommodated. Since we want this to be super-gloss it seems appropriate to add only SiO2 (to increase the SiO2:Al2O3 ratio).

Pictures

G2916F Commercial Dinnerware Clear vs. G2926A (Cone 6)

G2916F was sold by Plainsman Clays as Stoneware Clear, it is a recipe used in the tableware industry. The much better melting of the G2926A was the signal that it could tolerate, even needed, more silica.

G2926 Perkins Clear vs. Fritted version G2926A

We mixed the G2926 original recipe after doing G2926A, just to see how the A compared to it in melt fluidity and surface character. It was a pleasant surprise to see how much better the A is.
Notice that sourcing the B2O3 from a frit melts the glaze more even though the amount of boron it contributes is the same.

Perkins Studio Clear changes

2926A is Perkins Studio clear reformulated to use a frit instead of Gerstley Borate. 2926B has 10% added 200 mesh silica yet it still has very good melt fluidity.

G3926B vs G2926 on M340S

The B (left) is not crawling and is whiter. The difference is likely the frit being a cleaner source of boron than Gerstley Borate.

Cone 6 Clear Glossy Base

Total:110.10

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Notes

The base recipe of the product sold by Plainsman Clays.

There are lots of pages and pictures online about this recipe and stain-added versions (e.g. at digitalfire.com and plainsmanclays.com). The page at Plainsman Clays has mixing and usage information.

This recipe has proven to work very well as a general purpose cone 6 transparent. It works best if ball milled (for lowest possible thermal expansion, best surface quality, least surface defects, best clarity). Unlike many others, this has very high SiO2, that means the best possible durability. It also has significant Al2O3, further contributing to stability of the melt and glass.

Although EP Koalin is used here, we have produced even better results using Grolleg and New Zealand kaolins. Using all three it is possible to get a slurry with excellent suspension and applications properites if attention is paid to the thixotropy.

This fits most Plainsman Clays bodies (and those of other manufacturers). But it does not fit Plainsman P300, a cone 6 whiteware, unless ball milled or a 325mesh silica is used.

Some clay bodies having very low silica content may craze this, in this case consider using the G1214U recipe.

Pictures

URLs

Technical informat..at digitalfire.com

Mixing, adjustment..PlainsmanClays.com

Alternate Code Number:MG6CG

XML (to paste into Insight)

<?xml version="1.0"?> <recipes version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"> <recipe name="Cone 6 Clear Glossy Base" id="180072" key="ACbE4wx2" date="2024-10-02" codenum="G2926B" picturebasename=""> <recipelines> <recipeline material="Nepheline Syenite" amount="18.300" tolerance=""/> <recipeline material="Ferro Frit 3134" amount="25.400" tolerance=""/> <recipeline material="EPK" amount="19.600" tolerance=""/> <recipeline material="Vansil W-30 Wollastonite" amount="6.900" tolerance=""/> <recipeline material="Silica 325 mesh" lookup="Silica" amount="37.600" tolerance=""/> <recipeline material="Silverline 303 Talc" amount="2.300" tolerance=""/> </recipelines> </recipe> </recipes>

Born: 2014-05-15, Modified: 2024-10-02 19:22:40

G2926B Reduced COE (MgO)

Total:100.00

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Notes

This is an adjustment to G2926B to reduce its thermal expansion. However, before trying this, we recommend ball milling the G2926B or using 325 mesh silica in that recipe. Only if those do not work, then try this (use 325 silica in this one also, the fine particles assure all of it melts).

This recipe increases MgO at the expense of KNaO. Even though MgO levels are quite high, no loss of gloss has happened! The effect on lowering the thermal expansion is dramatic.

With 10% added zircopax this produces a white of even lower thermal expansion. We have subjected various Plainsman P300 pieces (a difficult-to-fit-glazes-to body) to 300F:IceWater thermal shocking and there is no crazing. However that much zircon can induce crawling issues, we have found that 3% tin and 5% zirocpax is better.

For use as a transparent consider adding 2% zircopax. That is insufficient to opacify but the zircon does act as a fining agent to remove microbubbles and make the glass more transparent.

Ferro Frit 3249 can be substituted for Fusion F-69. Likely any kaolin can be used.

Although there is only 12.5% kaolin this will suspend well if the slurry is thixotropic. In our initial mix, 5000g water and 6000g powder produced 1.47SG. That was very watery so we added about 10g of Epsom salts to gel it.

Pictures

G2926S after 300F:IceWater test on P300

No crazing after the test.
The transparency and clarity of the glass is great, this looks very promising.

P300 after 300F:IceWater test

S is not crazing after two days. B crazing in the cold water.

M370 with G2926S, G2926B inside

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