Fire clay is a range of

refractory In materials science, a refractory material or refractory is a material that is resistant to decomposition by heat, pressure, or chemical attack, and retains strength and form at high temperatures. Refractories are polycrystalline, polyphase, ...

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay pa ...

s used in the manufacture of

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain, ...

s, especially fire brick. The

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it ...

defines fire clay very generally as a "mineral aggregate composed of hydrous silicates of aluminium (Al₂O₃·2SiO₂·2H₂O) with or without free silica."

Properties

High-grade fire clays can withstand temperatures of 1,775 °C (3,227 °F), but to be referred to as a "fire clay" the material must withstand a minimum temperature of .Minerals Zone, World Mineral Exchange.
Retrieved 2011-6-23. Fire clays range from '' flint clays'' to ''plastic fire clays'', but there are ''semi-flint'' and ''semi-plastic'' fire clays as well. Fire clays consist of natural argillaceous materials, mostly

Kaolinite Kaolinite ( ) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is an important industrial mineral. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahed ...

group clays, along with fine-grained micas and

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica ( silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical f ...

, and may also contain

organic Organic may refer to: * Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity * Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ Chemistry * Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product ...

matter and

sulphur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...

compounds. Fire clay is resistant to high temperatures, having fusion points higher than ; therefore it is suitable for lining furnaces, as fire brick, and for manufacture of utensils used in the

metalworking Metalworking is the process of shaping and reshaping metals to create useful objects, parts, assemblies, and large scale structures. As a term it covers a wide and diverse range of processes, skills, and tools for producing objects on every scale ...

industries, such as

crucible A crucible is a ceramic or metal container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected to very high temperatures. While crucibles were historically usually made from clay, they can be made from any material that withstands te ...

s, saggars, retorts and

glassware upTypical drinkware The list of glassware includes drinking vessels (drinkware) and tableware used to set a table for eating a meal, general glass items such as vases, and glasses used in the catering industry. It does not include laboratory glas ...

. Its stability during firing in the

kiln A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, a type of oven, that produces temperatures sufficient to complete some process, such as hardening, drying, or chemical changes. Kilns have been used for millennia to turn objects made from clay int ...

means that it can be used to make complex items of pottery such as pipes and sanitary ware.

Chemical composition

The chemical composition typical for fire clays are 23-34% Al₂O₃, 50-60% SiO₂ and 6-27%

loss on ignition Loss on ignition (LOI) is a test used in inorganic analytical chemistry and soil science, particularly in the analysis of minerals and the chemical makeup of soil. It consists of strongly heating ( "igniting") a sample of the material at a specif ...

together with various amounts of Fe₂O₃, CaO,

MgO Magnesium oxide ( Mg O), or magnesia, is a white hygroscopic solid mineral that occurs naturally as periclase and is a source of magnesium (see also oxide). It has an empirical formula of MgO and consists of a lattice of Mg2+ ions and O2− ion ...

, K₂O, Na₂O and TiO₂. Chemical analyses from two 19th-century sources, shown in table below, are somewhat lower in alumina although a more contemporary source quotes analyses that are closer.

Extraction

Unlike conventional

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

-making clay, some fire clays (especially flint clays) are mined at depth, found as a seatearth, the underclay associated with

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

measures.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fire Clay Ceramic materials Silicates Refractory materials Bricks Clay