INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECTS OF PAPER ADDITIVE TO AVANOS POTTERY CLAY AND ARTISTIC CERAMIC APPLICATIONS

The lands of Anatolia we have been embracing as our homeland with the history of thousands of years hosted many cultures throughout the centuries. Art of ceramics inherited by us from these cultures has been revealed as various materials in every period of our lives. Archaeological excavations show that our history of ceramics dated to the Neolithic period. In Anatolia, embracing such a rich cultural history, many manufacturing centers in the field of traditional pottery still do exist. Avanos, among those centers, is a district of the province of Nevşehir located in the Central Anatolia region. Established on both shores of Kızılırmak, the district is one of the substantial settlements of the region known as Cappadocia. Due to the red soil of Kızılırmak, it contributed to the birth and development to the greatest extent of pottery within the region. The red soil of Avanos region provides opportunities for various research within the field of ceramics technology. In the study “paperclay”, which is also the subject matter of this study, the clay of Avanos region has been used. The paper containing clay is named as “paperclay” in English and takes part in the ceramic terminology with the same nomenclature. It is obtained by adding certain ratios of paper into the ceramic clay upon processing through various stages. In comparison of the paper containing clay with the traditional clay, it reveals numerous superior features. Based on the fact that cellulose, the raw material of the paper, forms a reticular structure in the clay, it eliminates the adverse effects such as fissures and cracking that may occur during drying. Paper containing clays are preferred by ceramic artists due to their positive features such as the large-sized ceramic form work facilitating the works and lightweight after kilned. The natural clay used in the Avanos pottery does not allow large-sized works as it results in fissures and cracking particularly as a result of rapid kilning during the artistic practices. Therefore, various tests have been conducted by adding paper in different ratios into the red clay used in Avanos pottery. Artistic practices have been performed based on the outcomes of the tests. Keywords: Art ceramics, clay, papercaly

Colour Transformation and Textural Change in Biotite: Some Remarks for the Interpretation of Firing Technology in Greyware Pottery Thin-Sections

Firing is a crucial step in the production of pottery, as it irreversibly transforms the clay into ceramic. Clay sintering and subsequent vitrification occur during firing, together with other transformations undergone by specific minerals and rock inclusions according to their optical and physical properties, including their colour. Some of these are visible in thin-sections and might be interpreted as technological markers or contribute to the estimation of firing temperatures, although most of them are poorly documented. In this paper, we approach the transformations in colour, texture and optical properties that occurred in biotite inclusions from medieval greyware pottery. Our study considers a batch of 40 pottery samples from medieval Catalonia analysed by XRD. According to the estimated firing temperature ranges and atmospheres, we examined the behaviour of biotite at different temperature ranges from 700 °C to 1000 °C by means of optical microscopy, considering its size, shape and abundance, and compared these features to a wider assemblage of thin-sections from medieval earthenware. The results obtained are interesting, as they offer a valuable reference for petrographic studies on pottery. We discuss the potential of ceramic petrography as a way to perform more precise and refined sample selection for further analysis on archaeothermometry.

Extrusion-Based 3D Printing of Porcelain: Feasible Regions

3D printing processes have found several applications in automobile, aerospace, and biomedical industries. Recent development of large-scale 3D printing processes has fueled applications in the construction industry. Materials such as ceramic clay (porcelain) can now be used in additive manufacturing (AM). However, information regarding the effect of process parameters on part quality is limited. There is a need to study the effects of various parameters on the successful printing of samples for the construction industry. This paper presents an experimental study to determine the feasible parameter regions for extrusion-based 3D printing of porcelain using a Delta WASP 2040 Clay printer. The printing parameters studied are extruder height, layer thickness, print speed and air pressure. The effects of these parameters on the surface quality of the printed samples are examined. The identified feasible parameter regions from this study would provide preliminary insights on material extrusion-based 3D printing of porcelain.

Testing of brick clay modifications as a raw material for building ceramic products

Brick clay is nowadays modified by various procedures to achieve the best properties when used for building ceramic products. In the treatment of these clays, the properties are regulated by changing the quantity of water, sharpening, lightening, venting, settling, using additives, but also by consistent homogenization, crushing, grinding and mixing. This article compares several clay bricks before and after treatment and also compares them with ceramic clay. Comparative parameters are bulk density, porosity, water absorption, compressive strength and flexural strength, long-term changes in burning and weight loss by burning.