Calcium Carbonate is the main source of calcium in glazes and also a flux at high temperatures. Contributes hardness and durability and in large quantities produces a matt effect. It can enhance the finish of salt glaze ware by developing a thicker finish.
Huge quantities of quartz powder are used in ceramic bodies and glazes. In bodies the quartz particles most often remain unchanged in the fired matrix, behaving as an embedded aggregate. They act as a "skeleton" in porcelain bodies. They raise the thermal expansion and make it easier to fit glazes.
Feldspars are used as fluxing agents to form a glassy phase at low temperatures and as a source of alkalis and alumina in glazes. They improve the strength, toughness, and durability of the ceramic body, and cement the crystalline phase of other ingredients, softening, melting and wetting other batch constituents.
Bentonite binds particles together in ceramic bodies to make them stronger in the green or dry state. Its minute particles fill voids between others to produce a more dense mass with more points of contact. Adding bentonite to glazes also imparts better dry strength and a harder and more durable surface.
Dolomite as a ceramic material is a uniform calcium magnesium carbonate. In ceramic glazes it is used as a source of magnesia and calcia. Other than talc, dolomite is the principle source of MgO in high temperature raw glazes. Dolomite powder is an anhydrous carbonate mineral which comprises calcium magnesium carbonate. This powder is used in applications such as steel-making, cement manufacturing, agriculture, ceramics, glass, rubber, and mining.
Ceramic glaze is an impervious layer or coating of a vitreous substance which has been fused to a pottery body through firing. Glaze can serve to color, decorate or waterproof an item. Glazing renders earthenware vessels suitable for holding liquids, sealing the inherent porosity of unglazed biscuit earthenware.