Ceramic 3D printing tests 04 - More

16.06.13

Sunday morning is quiet in Oslo, mind you as a capital city it has a very relaxed, unhurried feel any day of the week. Someone will tell me that I happen to crossing pleasant, residential parts of town, but my impression is that people are friendly and are lucky to enjoy a safe and engaged lifestyle. One major downside though, is the expense. So I'm cooking up big pots of veggie bolognese sauce for pasta.

Anyhow, I arrived at KHIO before 9.00 and went straight down to the kiln room to see the results of the 1000°C firing. 

I have never seen such well equipped facilities as these. The kiln room alone is on an industrial scale, the students must either feel really excited on seeing them or completely daunted, particularly as some ceramics students have never touched clay before starting their degree!

The red clay 1:1:2 mix has decomposed more than at 950°C, but the other test bars look pretty similar. 

The shrinkage is approximately 14%, which I think is acceptable. When the tests are  finished I'll analyse them more carefully and publish the findings so that comparisons can be made easily.

I started another build with a new, larger version of my architectural piece and a test cube with thicker walls. This time I filleted the edge of the circular openings, as the first version has edges that are sharp and brittle.

And here are the 1050°C tests, the photograph taken just after the 'african vegetable' has been picked up! It came out of the kiln in one piece, quite an achievement considering the sections were very thin. I don't understand why the piece at the bottom right of the photograph broke in the firing. I don't think it was a stress fracture. The Potclays 1:1:3 and 1:1:4 are stronger than at the lower temperatures and are slightly stronger than the red earthenware versions.

The test cubes fired with very little extra distortion. They have now been dipped into the vitreous slip and await firing.