A few drops of water on top of a tiny pile of bentonite powder.

Thursday 19th December 2013

Notice the water just sits there in a little lake. It does not soak in because the bentonite gels in contact with the water and that gel acts as a non-permeable barrier. This water-barrier property of bentonite is a key to its use in many products. When ceramic bodies and glazes contain bentonite, they dry more slowly. In industrial settings, this can slow down production. But in studio settings, slower drying can enable more time to work with the material and more opportunities to intervene to make sure drying is happening evenly throughout.

Pages that reference this post in the Digitalfire Reference Library:

Bentonite, Permeability, Montmorillonite, Bentonite

This post is one of thousands found in the Digitalfire Reference Database. Most are part of a timeline maintained by Tony Hansen. You can search that timeline on the home page of digitalfire.com.