Plasticity refers to how flexible a clay or clay body is. Any particular clay's plasticity is greatly influenced by the clay's particle size, water content, and aging. It's also known as "the quality or state of being plastic; especially: a capacity for being molded or altered."
As the water content of clay is increased, plasticity increases up to a maximum, depending on the nature of the clay. Clay workers are accustomed to speak of "fat" or highly plastic clay such as ball clay or "lean", relatively non-plastic clay such as kaolin, but it is very difficult to express these terms in measurable quantities.
Body Plasticity: Ball clay is the main plastic material used in clay bodies of all types. It is much more plastic than kaolin but also has much higher dry shrinkage and higher iron content. A typical white high temperature stoneware is often about 25% each of kaolin, ball clay, feldspar and silica. Glaze Suspender
Ball Clay offers plasticity and wet-strength, good wet and dry brightness, inertness and acid resistance, heat stability, dielectric strength and stable firing colour and is used in a wide range of industrial applications including ceramics (where wet strength is required), construction ceramics (insulators, rooftiles, clay pipes etc ...
Combined with kaolin, ball clays provide the cohesion and workability necessary for the creation of ceramic parts such as sanitaryware. Used with kaolin, feldspar and quartz in tableware and whiteware, ball clay confers high plasticity and a good white-fired color to the end product.
A RARE ROCK PRIZED FOR ITS PLASTICITY. Ball clays are kaolinitic clays that commonly consist of 20–80% kaolinite, 10–25% mica, 6–65% quartz, as well as organic matter. Ball clay is formed from the weathering and transportation by water of parent rocks.
ball clay/plastic clay Ball clays or plastic clays are fine grained, highly plastic sedimentary clays, which fire to a light or near white colour. They are used mainly in the manufacture of ceramic whiteware and are valued for their key properties of plasticity, unfired strength and their light fired colour.
Six types of clays are mined in the United States: ball clay, bentonite, common clay, fire clay, fuller's earth, and kaolin. Mineral composition, plasticity, color, absorption qualities, firing characteristics, and clarification properties are a few of the characteristics used to distinguish between the different clay types. Major domestic markets for these clays are as
Ball clay is the most plastic type of clay and has very few impurities. They occur naturally as sediments or deposits and contain kaolinite, quartz, and mica. Because of its high plasticity, it cannot be used as a standalone material, and thus needs to be mixed with other clays to increase its workability.
A fine-grained ball clay with excellent plasticity and strength. Old Mine #4 is an "industry standard" based on its popularity in both casting and plastic formed bodies. It is also widely used as a suspension aid in glazes. OM#4 ball clay is variable in nature and tends to be more vitreous than some of the more refractory ball
Tableware: Ceramic tableware utilizes ball clay to provide high plasticity and a good white-fired color, combined with kaolin, feldspar and quartz. Wall and floor tiles: Combined with talc, feldspar, quartz/silica and kaolin, ball clays are utilized for their plasticity and bonding properties.
348 TechnologicPapersoftheBureauofStandards. [Voi.i7 isprobablythemostwidelyacceptedexplanationforthecauseof plasticity,andtheanalogybetweenclaysandsubstancesinthe ...
Ahhh plasticity! It's the property of clay that got us hooked on it in the first place. Caused by just the right mixture of water and particle size, plasticity is what transforms dry cracky clay (like in the image at the left) into a workable clay body. Plasticity separates clay from dirt.
It is also known as plastic clay. The name ball clay came from the mining method of cutting the mud out in balls. Many properties match stoneware clay, but these stoneware never gives white product after burning. Ball clays are characterised by higher plasticity, dry shrinkage and dry strength as compared to china clay.