1. Ingredients, ball mill
Most ceramic mug manufacturers use the factory’s ready-made ceramic body formula, which is convenient for unified management. I almost use the refined pottery blank formula, generally use the daily common porcelain formula, and better use the bone china formula. After the formula is determined, put all the raw materials into the ball mill, add water and grinding aids to start ball milling, and after about 15-30 hours, the balls are released, sieved, and iron removed.
2. Processing of raw materials before molding
According to the different molding methods of the post-process, there are two kinds of raw material processing methods: the grouting method, the raw material can be used for molding after adjusting the specific gravity and adding additives such as water glass. For spinning molding, the raw materials should be filtered by a filter press to filter out excess water, and then refined into a mud section that meets the requirements by a mud refiner, which can be used for molding after staleness.
3. Forming
Forming by grouting method: Turn out hundreds of gypsum molds according to the designed shape of the ceramic mug, and inject the slurry in turn in a dry state. When the gypsum mold absorbs the moisture in the slurry to form a certain wall thickness, pour out the excess slurry. Mold control, demoulding, drying, and billet repair, to form a green body waiting to be installed in the kiln. The disadvantage of this method is that the production efficiency is low, it depends entirely on labor, requires a large place, and is not suitable for management. But the advantage is that it can be formed once, without secondary bonding, and the forming is not constrained by geometric shapes, and can be formed with any difficulty.
Spinning molding: using the ready-made bowl and dish spinning molding machine of the daily porcelain factory, put a fixed amount and shape of mud into a special spinning mold, and demold it to form the cup body part of the mug, but the cup handle needs to be Made individually and glued after drying. The advantage of this method is that it has high production efficiency and is suitable for mass production. The disadvantage is that there are restrictions on the shape, and special shapes cannot be completed.
4. Kiln-mounted bisque firing
The bisque after drying and trimming in the traditional process should be fired at a high temperature of 1200-1300 ℃ in a kiln, which is called bisque firing, which gives the green body strength and prepares for glazing. There are also a few factories that are directly glazed without bisque firing, but the process is not well controlled.
5. Glaze
There are many glazing techniques, including dipping, brushing, swinging, and spraying. However, glazing is still people-oriented, and the operator’s experience and proficiency are very important.
6. Glaze firing
The well-glazed ceramic mug products need to be fired at a high temperature of 1000-1200 ° C in the kiln for the second time, which is called “glazed firing”.
7, on the “mark”, high temperature setting
No matter how complicated the “mark” is, they can all be attributed to a kind of “glaze color”, which is a kind of low-temperature decorative effect glaze, which can be designed and made in advance. The screen printing process is printed to the cup body, of course, it can also be hand-painted and spray-painted. After the “mark” is applied, the product should be sent to the kiln at 500-800°C to fix it on the glaze layer of the cup body. At this point, a complete ceramic mug is completed.
