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Clay Slip
Clay Slip
Clay slip and Russell Finex
Clay slip is made by mixing clay with water and other ingredients to make a mixture that can be poured into a mould. This method, called slip casting, is used to make thin, detailed products. Russell Finex has a complete understanding of the clay slip industry and can provide specialized sieving and separation solutions to improve your product quality.
Body slip
Body slip is generally used for the production of wall and floor tiles. It is formed by blending raw materials such as clay, feldspar, sand, dolomite, and quartz with approximately 30% water. After blending, it is ground in a ball mill to form the body slip. Before the virgin body slip (VBS) can be converted into granules or ‘bisque’, it must be passed through a sieving process to remove any impurities and to ensure homogeneity of the mixture.
The Finex Separator™ is perfect for this application, providing high performance sieving and delivering consistent product quality. As an added measure of quality assurance, Russell Finex only use the highest quality sieve mesh in their entire sieve range to ensure your product quality remains high, while also reducing production downtime with minimal mesh breakage. Recycled body slip (RBS) must also pass through the Finex Separator™ to prevent any contamination when it is reintroduced into the process.
Recommended product: Finex Separator™
Casting slip
This is a technique for the mass production of pottery, especially to create shapes not easily achievable on a wheel. A liquid clay slip is poured into plaster moulds and allowed to form a layer, the cast, on the inside cavity of the mould. This produces a greenware piece, which is then dried before firing, with or without decoration and glaze. The technique is suited to the production of complex shapes, and is commonly used for sanitary ware, such as toilets and basins, and smaller pieces like figurines and teapots. The technique can also be used for small-scale production runs or to produce limited editions of objects. For a hollow cast mould, once the plaster has absorbed most of the liquid from the outside layer of clay the remaining slip is poured off for later use.
Often, the slip used for casting has a high density and therefore our range of Compact Sieves is suitable to deal with this type of material. It is essential to remove contaminants from your product, as oversize particles will affect the quality of any final goods.
Recommended product: Compact Sieve®
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