CORRELATIONS COMPOSITION-PROCESSING-PROPERTIES FOR TABLEWARE CERAMICS. PART I: INFLUENCE OF THE RAW MATERIALS ON THE CERAMIC BODY'S PROPERTIES

A technological issue was addressed in the part I of the paper, i.e. recipes of different proportions of materials were used to obtain ceramic bodies (seven raw mixtures). Shaped materials were fired in industrial tunnel kilns for biscuit/glost firing. Resulting ceramic bodies were tested for industry-relevant properties. Correlations composition-properties for the ceramic body were, initially, empirically identified, by observation. Regression analysis was used, afterwards, to scientifically quantify these correlations. Results confirm the existence of fair to up to strong correlations composition - properties; therefore, properties can be easily obtained by using the composition of the raw mix. In industry, these simple calculations can serve as a preliminary assessment of the properties, to reduce the amount of experimental efforts, given a set of raw materials. Multiple-Criteria Analysis was used to show that it is possible to select, on a scientifically basis, the best available alternative of the raw materials' proportions used i.e. the alternative that fulfills most requirements, as concerning properties. In a future, second part of the paper, the correlation processing - properties will be explored to demonstrate the influence of grinding on the glaze properties.