Bone china is a type of high quality porcelain body first developed in Britain in which calcined cattle bone (bone ash) is a major component (50%), but with also Cornish stone (25%) and kaolin (25%). Whiteness, strength and high translucency are the characteristic features of this ware. Cornish stone acts as a flux in the bone china, melting first and acting as a solvent for the other constituents. In this work Cornish stone was substituted by feldspar as a flux and the mixtures 50:25:25, 50:30:20 and 60:20:20 (Bone Ash:feldspar:kaolin) were sintered from 1000 to 1300 ºC (50 ºC steps). The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, mercury porosimetry, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray fluorescence and dilatometry. All samples sintered at temperatures lower than that of original bone china and the 60:20:20 composition presented complete densification at 1200 ºC, 80 ºC lower than the British pottery, and show a homogeneous microstructure.
bone china; feldspar; sintering
