The invention relates to a method for obtaining ceramic spheres from aluminosilicates, comprising: dry-milling a percentage of the aluminosilicates and wet-milling the remaining percentage; mixing the aluminosilicates obtained from the dry- and wet-milling processes with a binding additive; granulating same; drying the resulting granules; sieving the resulting granules in order to separate same into sub-groups; and sintering the granules obtained at a temperature between 800° and 1500° C.

A range of processes is described herein for the preparation of a range of ceramic glazes with traditional firing methods that represents significant efficiency and ecological advancements over existing methods and allows for the replacement of commercial ceramic colorant methods, while retaining the costly equipment and firing methods already used. The process allows for ceramic surface color while breaking standards for minimal amounts of transition metal colorant used. The nanoparticle-based glazes described here add new colors to the known ceramic surface palette and offers greater consumer safety as an alternative to existing coloring processes that use higher concentrations of toxic metal and an increased risk of metal leaching from the final ceramic vessel into its contents (e.g., soil, beverage, food).

A range of processes is described herein for the preparation of a range of ceramic glazes with traditional firing methods that represents significant efficiency and ecological advancements over existing methods and allows for the replacement of commercial ceramic colorant methods, while retaining the costly equipment and firing methods already used. The process allows for ceramic surface color while breaking standards for minimal amounts of transition metal colorant used. The nanoparticle-based glazes described here add new colors to the known ceramic surface palette and offers greater consumer safety as an alternative to existing coloring processes that use higher concentrations of toxic metal and an increased risk of metal leaching from the final ceramic vessel into its contents (e.g., soil, beverage, food).

The present invention is a composition and shaping of a ceramic material comprising at least one frit and at least one inorganic raw material. Some of the advantages are that said material requires a heat treatment no higher than 1180° C., that the duration of said heat treatment does not exceed 60 minutes, that the thermal expansion coefficient after the heat treatment is less than 25×10.sup.−7° C..sup.−1 in the temperature range 25° C. to 500° C. and that the material exhibits a high resistance to thermal shock, withstanding at least 10 consecutive thermal shock cycles between 600° C. and 25° C. without forming cracks or structural changes. The ceramic material composition is shaped by uniaxial pressing, band pressing, pour moulding, extrusion, injection moulding or lamination.

Disclosed are a semi-transparent ceramic sheet decorated through ink light-absorbance and a preparation method thereof. The semi-transparent ceramic sheet comprises a semi-transparent green body, an inner inkjet pattern layer infiltrating into the semi-transparent green body from an upper surface of the semi-transparent green body, a decoloration glaze layer located on the upper surface, and a surface pattern layer located on the decoloration glaze layer. The decoloration glaze layer is capable of decoloring the ink of the inner inkjet pattern layer. The semi-transparent ceramic sheet is provided with the decoloration glaze layer so that the inkjet decoration of the inner inkjet pattern layer cannot be displayed on the surface, and the decorative pattern on the surface of the green body is the surface pattern layer and the inner inkjet pattern layer is completely in the inner layer of the green body.

The invention relates to a process for the preparation of a ceramic article containing industrial, domestic or natural sludge, the ceramic article, and treated domestic or natural sludge suitable as raw material for the production of the ceramic article. The sludge (which definition excludes digestate that is obtained from a Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) process comprising liquefaction of the organic fraction of MSW by addition of one or more enzymes) has been pretreated by a process comprising the optional step of drying the sludge to a moisture content of at most 10% by weight, resulting in dried sludge, and heating the sludge or dried sludge in a spouting bed incinerator and reducing the content of organic matter to less than 5% by weight. The invention furthermore relates to a process wherein the pretreatment comprises using the domestic or natural sludge as a food source for larvae.

A range of processes is described herein for the preparation of a range of gold nanoparticle (Au NP) ceramic glazes with traditional firing methods that represents significant efficiency and ecological advancements over existing methods and allows for the replacement of commercial ceramic colorant methods, while retaining the costly equipment and firing methods already used. The process allows for ceramic surface color while breaking standards for minimal amounts of transition metal colorant used. The nanoparticle-based glazes described here add new colors to the known ceramic surface palette and offers greater consumer safety as an alternative to existing coloring processes that use higher concentrations of toxic metal and an increased risk of metal leaching from the final ceramic vessel into its contents (e.g., soil, beverage, food).

A range of processes is described herein for the preparation of a range of gold nanoparticle (Au NP) ceramic glazes with traditional firing methods that represents significant efficiency and ecological advancements over existing methods and allows for the replacement of commercial ceramic colorant methods, while retaining the costly equipment and firing methods already used. The process allows for ceramic surface color while breaking standards for minimal amounts of transition metal colorant used. The nanoparticle-based glazes described here add new colors to the known ceramic surface palette and offers greater consumer safety as an alternative to existing coloring processes that use higher concentrations of toxic metal and an increased risk of metal leaching from the final ceramic vessel into its contents (e.g., soil, beverage, food).

In one aspect, a film is disclosed, which comprises at least one ceramic material, and a binder mixed with the ceramic material, where the film has a thickness in a range of about 0.01 mm to about 2.5 mm. The film is flexible with a minimum bend radius that is equal to or less than about 2 times a thickness of the film. By way of example, the minimum bend radius of the flexible film can be in a range of about the thickness of the film to about twice the thickness of the film. For example, in some embodiments, the minimum bend radius of the film can be in a range of about 0.02 mm to about 5 mm.

The present application relates to a pattern forming method for quartz surface and a pattern forming device for quartz surface. According to the pattern forming method for quartz surface of the present application, by comprising a step of forming a pattern and a step of forming a color, it is possible to freely express the color on the pattern simultaneously along with forming the pattern on the quartz surface. And, in addition to these steps, by optionally comprising a step of additionally forming a pattern, it is possible to freely form a desired pattern on the quartz surface, and, by adding long line type patterns on the quartz surface unlike existing conventional quartz surfaces, it is possible to produce the quartz surface showing patterns and textures which are more natural and close to natural stone.