Improvement of Glaze Hardness in Commercial Bone China

Abstract

In order to improve the hardness of commercial bone china, we attempted to control the glost firing temperature and apply a chemical strengthening process. When the glost firing time was longer or its temperature was higher than normal conditions, the hardness was improved by approximately 5%. The chemical strengthening process also enhanced the hardness of the glaze by more than 13% compared with bone china. It is believed that the enhancement of the hardness of the glaze was related to the development of residual compressive stress in the glaze due to 1) the increase in the calcium phosphate phase in the interface layer between the body and the glaze after firing, and 2) the increase of the K + concentration on the glaze surface during the chemical strengthening process.