Ceramic frits are vitreous materials prepared by melting of minerals at high temperatures (about 1500 ºC). Glazes prepared exclusively from frits are used to manufacture ceramic pieces where the aesthetic component is more important than structural features, such as in the case of tiles, decorative ceramics and dental restorations. To improve the decorative effect the ceramic tile has to be colorimetrically stable in order to preserve the color provided by the pigment. In this context, the present work presents the results obtained in a color study carried out by application of ceramic pigments in transparent frits, produced with feldspar from Borborema-Seridó (PB/RN) region, Brazil. The chemical analysis of feldspar evidenced that this mineral present the requested characteristics for the application as glaze, once its impurities content (iron and other colorant oxides) are low grade. The mineral was characterized by X-ray diffraction (albite and orthoclase) and size distribution was determined by screening (Tyler sieves), as being less than 100 µm. The colorimetric evaluation by using CIELab standards and reflectance measurements allowed characterizing the color of the ceramic tiles obtained under different light sources and illuminants. The results indicated that the feldspar from Seridó presents potential for application as colored ceramic tile and hereafter it could be applied in the area of dental restorations, since that mineral is one of the main components of the dental porcelains, however, until the present, all dental restorative material used in Brazil is of foreign origin.
feldspar; frits; CIElab; ceramic pigments
