Physical Properties of Ball Clay

Ball clay is a type of kaolinite and is somewhat similar to that of china clay however, it is different from china clay in that it has a great amount of plasticity and is not as refractory. When it comes to the their chemical compositions though ball clay and china clay are not very different except that china clay has a larger amount of silica in it. The name came about from the practice of taking it out in the form of ball lumps from the clay pits in the United Kingdom. Clay ball can be utilized because of its plasticity and is mixed with less or non plastic clays so that they get the sought after plasticity in them. The great amount of plasticity in ball clay is featured to the fact that it is fine grained and has a little bit of montmorillonite. More than eighty five percent of the particles sizes that can be found in ball clay are of one micron in diameter or under that. Ball clay has a light to a whitish color to it and when it is fired it might turn into whitish beige color. Ball clay is utilized a great deal mainly because of what it can contribute to workability, plasticity and strength to the bodies in drying. Nonetheless, it also transmits a great amount of drying reduction that also comes with a tendency of warping, cracking and on some occasions even dunting. This unwanted property is however resolved by the addition of grog.