Al2O3 in glazes make them durable and wear resistant
Thursday 23rd May 2013
The cone 6 glazes on the left have double the insight-live.com/glossary/129">boron of those on the right so they should be melting much more. But they flow less because they have much higher Al2O3 and SiO2 contents. This effect renders them milky white vs. the transparent of those on the right. Why? Because G and H are trapping micro-bubbles because of the increased viscosity of the melt. In spite of this, the two on the left do fire almost transparent when applied to ware, they have enough fluidity to shed most of the bubbles when in a thin layer. The ones on the right are too fluid, they will run excessively on ware unless applied thinly. The sweet-spot is a little more fluidity than those on the left. But there is another very important factor: Durability. The increased Al2O3 in G and H make them fire harder, more resistant to abrasion. The added SiO2 adds resistance to leaching.
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