Settore servizi: Ceramics

Alfatestlab has a longlasting experience in materials characterization including structural ceramics, ceramics for advanced materials or traditional ceramics, used in the construction industry, as we serve the italian ceramic industry since many years. The main types of traditional ceramics are terracotta, stoneware, porcelain and clay. This category includes both compact-paste ceramics, with low porosity and a certain impermeability to gases, as well as liquid, porous, soft and absorbent ceramic pastes.
In the ceramic industry the porosity of the so-called green body depends strictly on the particle size. If the particles are too large, the structure after sintering will show too large pores resulting in structural fragility of the final product. It is recommended to use polydisperse particle sizes so that the smaller particles fill the gaps left by larger ones. Controlling the presence of agglomerates can avoid defects in the final product. However, particle size only cannot provide an exhaustive answer to the formulation and process issues. For this reason, Alfatestlab offers a complete technological platform made of orthogonal techniques for characterizing the properties of ceramic materials, slips, glazes, glass chips and their raw materials (clays, feldspars, etc.):

• particle size, micro or nanometric particle size on dry powders or liquid dispersions (photo optic particle size, laser particle size, Dynamic Light Scattering)
• morphology of the particles
• rheology, flow properties and viscosity of liquid dispersions, slips, enamels, etc.
• rheology of powders, analysis of properties under flowing conditions
• stability of liquid dispersions, even very concentrated (no dilution required)
• high resolution images for structural and failure analysis (verification of the presence / absence of micro-defects)

Alfatestlab can also help you optimize your formulations, providing an innovative laboratory scale homogenization (Microfluidizer technology) for uniform particle size reduction, aggregate removal and stability improvement of liquid suspensions.