Patterns in the synthesis processes and the characteristics of silicate-spinal ceramic pigments when introducing mineralizers

The synthesis of ceramic pigments is conventionally carried out at a high temperature (not less than 1,200 °C). Its reduction implies using mineralizing additives, which have a different mechanism of action on the starting components of pigment charges. The effectiveness of the mineralizers is determined by their nature, content, degree of dispersion in the activated reagent. Thus, searching for the most effective mineralizers in the synthesis, in particular, of silicate-spinel ceramic pigments is an important scientific and practical task. We have investigated the effect of various mineralizing additives (B2O3, Na2B4O7, Na2O, NaF) on the processes of forming the crystal-phase composition of slag-containing ceramic pigments and the change in their color indicators. A direct dependence has been established between the melting point of the mineralizers and the efficiency of their influence on the formation of spinel phases, which are color carriers in such pigments. The tangible effect of the introduction of sodium fluoride, which has the highest melting point among the examined additives, is achieved as a result of the firing of pigments at a temperature not lower than 1,150 °C. The effect of sodium oxide is effective starting at a temperature of 1,100 °C. The most expedient to apply are the boron-containing compounds. Their introduction makes it possible to lower the firing temperature of slag-containing pigments to 1,050 °C while completely binding the starting components in the spinel solid solutions. The ceramic pigments that are thus synthesized enable the formation of glazed coatings, which, in terms of qualitative indicators, are not inferior to coatings obtained with the addition of high-temperature pigments (a firing temperature of 1,200–1,250 °С). The formation of silicate phases (diopside and wollastonite), which are not color carriers in the examined pigments, undergoes effective mineralized action from the supplements of NaF and B2O3