Ceramic Firing Temp

The fancy name for this is vitrification or the ceramic chemistry that transforms a clay body into a hard non crystalline glass.

Ceramic firing temp.

You cannot fire pottery in a home oven because ovens do not get up to the high temperatures of more than 1 500 degrees fahrenheit that you need for firing clay. Clay bodies have ranges of temperature that they can be fired to. Low fire mid range and high fire ranges. This is the most common temperature range for industrial ceramics.

The glass phase that forms during the firing of a ceramic material can be thought of as the glue that holds the finished work together. For success a potter must know their glazes temperature ranges at which they become mature. Mostly yellow with a hint of orange. The temperature needed to transform soft clay into hard ceramic is extremely high and is usually provided by a kiln.

When potters talk about ceramic firing ranges they are usually referring to the three most common. The ware is returned to the kiln for a very low temperature firing in order to fuse the overglazes. If fired at too low a temperature the glaze will not mature. We get many questions about clay firing temperatures.

For mid range material a kiln should be firing at a temperature between 2124 and 2264 1162 1240. Mid fire earthenware should be fired between cone 2 and cone 7. Each ceramic glaze should be fired to a specific temperature range. People want to know if they can fire a certain clay to a certain cone.

First it is important to know that the maximum cone rating of a stoneware or porcelain clay is the temperature at which it vitrifies.