Ceramics Industry

The applications of different pigments on ceramics are as follows:

In developing Ceramic Pigments- These special kind of ceramic pigments can be developed with the help of other pigments and ceramic powder. How much of which pigment will have to use depends upon the desire color intensity. But, the quantity of pigments that is used for these applications can vary from 1% to 10%, this variation does not make any noticeable impacts on the substances. Enamel (colorful) can be produced by coloring the melt during manufacturing. Enamel can be also generated by mixing coloring stains during the milling process.

In Coating Ceramic Materials; Ceramic Glaze; Frits- The attractive looking products with more durability and utility are obtained by formulating these coating applications of pigments on ceramics.

In Glaze development- One of the application of pigments on ceramics is to develop leading glazes for various whiteware ceramics. These include sanitary ware, tile, dinnerware etc.

In preventing Ceramics Corrosion and color fading- In this process, by applying pigment coating and protective layer with other kind of chemicals, the corrosion of the metals can be prevented. The lasting effect of colors also increase.

To color ceramic products and glass products, heavy metal oxides are either dissolved in the ionic coloration (melts) or can be incorporated into the melt like pigments or pigmentation process can be adopted.

There are several factors on which the coloring effects of the pigments and stains depend, and these are:

• Nature of the raw materials
• Firing temperature
• Dwell time and kiln atmosphere.

For coloring the sanitary ceramics, a number of inorganic pigments are required.

Cadmium, Tin-Oxide, Nickel-hydroxycarbonate, Ceramic Glaze Pigments etc., are the some other important pigments that are used for ceramics.

Tin oxide pigments are versatile materials for ceramics. The thermal stability and chemically inert nature of tin oxide enable it to generate a board palette of durable ceramic color.

Cadmium pigments provide a wide range of rich color to the ceramics, like red, orange and yellow. Cadmium pigments are highly resistance to heat and pressure and very less soluble. So, these pigments are exposed to high temperature or pressure during the application process to ceramics.

As a pigment, cobalt is more famous for ceramics. The color imparting capacity of cobalt containing minerals is very old. It has been utilizing as a pigment from the ancient period. This property of cobalt has been used in glass, ceramics, paints, inks, porcelain etc. Some unique properties, that make it the most widely applicable pigment for ceramics are: solubility, stability, coloring effects etc.