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Fired Porcelain Microstructures Revisited
Author(s) -
Iqbal Yaseen,
Lee William Edward
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of the american ceramic society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 196
eISSN - 1551-2916
pISSN - 0002-7820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1151-2916.1999.tb02282.x
Subject(s) - mullite , corundum , acicular , feldspar , aluminosilicate , quartz , materials science , mineralogy , microstructure , precipitation , geology , composite material , chemistry , ceramic , biochemistry , catalysis , physics , meteorology
The microstructure of standard commercial porcelain consists of alpha‐quartz grains held in a complex matrix. Quartz grains are surrounded by amorphous silica‐rich solution rims while the matrix contains clay relicts of small (~200 nm × 40 nm × 40 nm) primary (2Al 2 O 3 :1SiO 2 ) mullite crystals in aluminosilicate glass and feldspar relicts of acicular (>1 µm long) secondary (3Al 2 O 3 :2SiO 2 ) mullite in potassium aluminosilicate glass. A continuous increase in mullite crystal size from the clay‐feldspar relict interface to the feldspar relict center and their compositions indicate a transformation from primary to secondary mullite. In aluminous porcelain, corundum grains are observed in addition to alpha‐quartz and regions of clay and feldspar relicts. Small (~50 nm × 10 nm × 10 nm) tertiary mullite crystals (formed by precipitation from Al 2 O 3 ‐rich glass) were detected adjacent to these corundum grains.