Rheological Behaviours of Ceramic Clay Materials and Pottery Bodies in Slip State

Abstract

The plasticity of clays and pottery bodies is their most obvious property and provides subjects of vital importance in discussing the characteristics and utility of these materials in ceramic industry. Some rheological investigations were performed of Shidare-Kibushi clay, Izushi body, Shigaraki clay and Shinohara body for sample bodies. These sample bodies were prepared always in slip state with a certain volume of water and sodium silicate or sodium carbonate as deflocculants. To decide the amount of thixotropic properties of these samples, a rotational rheometer was devised and constructed by the authors to be used in the present study. In treating these slips, their thixotropic dependency had to be decided in the same way as the viscosity dependency on the moisture contents is determined.
The following results were obtained:
(1) The slips prepared from these materials indicated“Plus or minus”value for thixotropy as shown in Fig. 2.
(2) Remarkable relation was observed to exist between the workability and the thixotropic property in many cases.
(3) The slips prepared by Shinohara body were observed to have no thixotropic properties in the wide range of water content, and for that reason, these slips had no remarkable workability.
(4) The relation between the thixotropic properties and the water contents of these slips were classified in some groups, and their rheological measurement was found to be one of the most valuable methods to determine the workability of these materials.