Ball Clay: Formula, Processing, Uses, and Properties in sanitary ware factory

Ball Clay: Formula, Processing, Uses, and Properties

What is ball clay, exactly?

everything you need to know about ball clays, including its properties, chemical composition, uses, and suppliers.

Summary of Contents

What exactly is Ball clay?

• The characteristics of ball clay

• Ball clay's chemical composition and formula

o Mining:

o Sieving:

o Settling:

o Pressing Filters:

o Packing and drying:

• Functions of ball clay

• Conclusion

Describe Ball clay.

Ball clays are secondary clays rich in kaolinite and are often dark brown to black in color due to their high levels of organic impurities. After firing, it will change from being white to a light cream color. It is made up of three main minerals: kaolinite, mica, and quartz. It is more finely divided and has a high plasticity. It also goes by the name of plastic clay. Ball-shaped mud was taken out of the ground during mining, hence the term ball clay. Stoneware clay has a lot of the same qualities, but never produces white after burning.

In comparison to china clay, ball clays exhibit higher levels of plasticity, dry shrinkage, and dry strength. They are chemically impure and frequently contain significant amounts of titanium, iron, and silica impurities.

Carbonaceous materials and lignite are both present in the sedimentary clay in the form of agglomerates (>50 Mic) and colloids (2 Mic). It is thought that the presence of carbonaceous material within the permitted range (2wt%) affects the physical characteristics of clay and boosts its unfired strength. But after firing, it becomes more porous, which reduces the strength of the burnt material. The thickness of the casting is also increased.

broom clay

Properties of ball clay

The ball clay deposit is a sedimentary formation made up of multiple layers that frequently differ greatly in terms of physical characteristics but possibly not much in terms of chemical composition. Kaolin, also known as ball clay, was moved from the primary disintegrated parent, an igneous rock that was often granite by nature, via glacial displacement. It is a secondary clay, and throughout this process, it not only picks up a lot of high-level organic impurities and iron pollutants, but it also gets ground into smaller, more crystalline particles! Ball clay quality specifications: The following are some pertinent quality requirements for the ball and plastic clay:

• On a 45 micron (325 mesh) IS sieve, the residue/girt content should not be greater than 2.0 wt%.

• 3.0 wt% should be used for particles larger than 25 microns.

• Particles less than 2 microns should be at least 70% by weight.

• The water should have a plasticity of 34 wt% minimum.

• The minimum Unfired Strength (MOR) value is 35.0 kg cm2.

• The combined content of Fe2O3 and TiO2 should not be more than 2.75 weight percent, and each component should not be more than 1.5 weight percent.

The characteristics of ball clay

The primary characteristics include great flexibility because of the small particles, which gives the product high green strength for handling at the green stage. Compared to china clay, needs a lot more deflocculant to achieve the necessary fluidity. This is because of the small particles and organic contaminants. More fine particles than china clay result in a higher Green MOR. Due of the large loss on ignition and particle size distribution, fired shrinkage is comparably greater. 65 kg/cm2 is the green modulus of rupture.

1. Water absorption following firing: 10%

2. Ph value: between 6 and 8

3. Between 3 and 4% of dry shrinkage

4. 4% to 6% of burned items shrink.

5. 1% to 3% of residue on 40 mesh

6. When compared to china clay in slip conditions with the same fluidity, viscosity, and density, casting rate is relatively low.

7. Drying times are longer than they are for china clay.

8. Since its density and adsorbed salts produce color intensities that are deceptive, ball clay should never be examined for color in its concentrated state.

Ball clay's composition and chemical formula

Al2O3, 2SiO2, and H2O make up ball clay's chemical composition.

Ball clay's chemical makeup varies greatly from location to location and even from one batch to another.

MINERAL PERCENTAGE

SiO2 45% to 55%

Al2O3 30% to 40%

MgO 0.1% to 0.5%

TiO2 0.5% to 2%

Fe2O3 0.50% to 1.5%

Cao 0.1% to 0.5%

Na2O 0.1% to 0.6%

Around 14% of ignition is lost.

Clay ball processing

Ball clays are sold directly from the mine without further processing, with the possible exception of air-drying in favorable conditions.

storing spherical clay for use

Storage of ball clay for use To remove contaminants, however, ball clay was sometimes processed after mining but before packing. Processing steps for ball clay include

• Mining

• Sieving

• Settling

• Improved pressing

• Drying

• Packing

Mining:

Backhoes that are mechanical and hydraulic are typically used to extract ball clay. It will then be diluted with water and put through a sieve.

Sieving:

The contaminants are then taken out of the ball clay slurry by passing it through a number of sieves. This sieve can withstand a mesh size of 40.

Settling:

After sifting, the slurry will go through many zigzag settling steps to help the clay particles settle. The greatest volume of water will be removed at this point.

filtration pressing

The filter press will be fed the slurry from the settled tank to remove the water and create cake state clay.

Packing and drying

The ball clay in cake shape spent some time drying in the air. After that, it is transported to the consumer in 50 kg bags.

Normally Due to the significantly different qualities of each delivery, single ball clay is not employed in the procedure. Therefore, two or more balls of clay are typically combined and utilized while making sanitaryware.