When we see a ceramic cup, the first thing that attracts attention is not so much its shape, style or body, but rather the glaze covering the surface of the ceramic cup. If there is no glaze on the surface of the ceramic cup, I am afraid that no matter how beautiful its shape or new style is, it will lose the charm of the ceramic cup. Although we say that ceramics is an art of fire, various changes have been produced by the action of fire, but mainly the glaze has changed in the fire.
The glaze and the blank are also produced from rock or soil. The difference between it and the blank is that it is easier to melt in the fire. When the power of the fire in the kiln makes the blank reach semi-melting, the raw material of the glaze is completely melted into a liquid state. When cooled, the liquid solidifies into a glass, which is the glaze.
However, once the glaze is applied to the surface of the ceramic mug body, it is very different from glass. Because when the glaze melts, it interacts with the body of the article to form an intermediate layer that gradually transitions from the sintered body to the glassy exterior portion of the glaze. Although the thickness of the glaze layer is usually only 1~3% of the thickness of the green body in total, it will strongly change the thermal stability, dielectric strength and chemical stability of the product, as well as many other properties.
