PORCELAIN ENAMEL: ITS MANUFACTURE

AND APPLICATION

M. J. BAHNSEN
Ferro Enamel Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio

T m s PAPER is an attempt to show the most important nated as soda-lime-silica glass. If we use the same type
steps in a manufacturing process. In order to give you of terminology we can say that porcelain enamels are
a clear idea of the process we will actually show you alkali-alumina-boro-fluo-silicates (with various other
some of these different operations. elements added, depending on the particular properties
What is porcelain enamel? desired). A typical enamel composition is as follows:
Porcelain enamel is a glass coating actually fused to a Feldspar (NaKO, AIL&, 6(S10p) 30
metal base. We will confine our discussion to commer- Borax (NctaB207.10H20) 25
cia1 practice in which the metal base is either cast iron Quarts (SiO.) 20
Soda Ash ( N a C 0 3 5
or sheet steel. Sodlum N~trate(NaNOJ 5
, The present day uses of porcelain enamel are on bath- Fluorspar (Cah) 5
tubs, sinks, wash basins, stoves, clothes-washing ma- Cryolite (N%AIFJ -10
chine tubs, pots and pans, signs, and other objects which 100
require a hard, easily cleanable decorative finish on cast To illustrate this composition better we show this
iron or sheet steel. chart which gives the comparative volumes of the in-
Demonstration No. 1. We have here a piece of cast gredients (Demonstration No. 3).
iron and a piece of window glass. We place the glass on These ingredients are melted together to form a glass.
the cast iron. Now we have the cast iron covered with This glass is one example of porcelain enamel. There
the grass. are hundreds of compositions in actual use today, each
This fits our previous defmition of porcelain enamel having special properties.
except for the fact that the glass must be fused or melted Your next question might be: is this glass cast or
on to the cast iron. The analogy of window glass on molded in the form of a bathtub and then fused to
cast iron fails, because we cannot fuse window glass to the metal base of the tub? The answer is, no! We
cast iron. grind this glass very fine and then apply it to the metal.
One reason is that window glass melts a t such a high To aid in the grinding of the glass, it is fritted; that is,
temperature that the cast iron begins to soften and it the molten glass is poured into water.
droops out of shape. Demonstration No. 4. We have in this furnace a cru-
Demonstration No. d . This shows a piece of cast iron- cible which contains the raw mix for a low-melting
on which we attempted to fuse some window glass. enamel. This has been melting while I have been talk-
You will note that the cast iron plate is no longer flat, ing and should be melted by now.
but it has sagged in the middle where it was not sup- We will pour this molten glass into a beaker of water.
ported by the burning bars. You will notice that the glass shatters into small friable
You will also note that the glass has largely cracked particles. This operation is called the fritting opera-
away from the cast iron. This is because cast iron con- tion and the product-the fritted porcelain enamel
tracts more on cooling than does window glass. When glass-is called frit.
this sample was removed from the furnace a t a tempera- Now that we have actually smelted and fritted some
ture of 1800°F. the glass was soft and completely porcelain enamel, we must proceed with the application
covered the iron. But as they cooled, the iron con- of this frit to the metal base. There are two major
tracted more rapidly than the glass, and the glass methods of application being used commercially.
cracked away. This makes an excellent lecture demon- The simpler and older procedure is "dry process
stration, but neither the time nor the furnace was avail- enameling." Most of the enameled cast iron in use
able for it. today was finished in this manner. Such articles in-
You will have already answered the next question. clude cast iron sinks and bath tubs.
If we cannot use window glass, what kind can we use? The next step in dry process enameling is the grinding
We must make a special glass, one that softens a t about of the frit. This operation is carried out in a ball mill.
1300°F. and one that expands and contracts with tem- This is an example of a small size mill (Demonstration
perature change a t about the same rate as cast iron. No. 6 ) .
To make glasses that meet these requirements we are These mills are lined with porcelain and half filled
forced to use a number of chemical compounds which, with porcelain balls. A charge of dried frit is intro-
when melted together, form a glass. duced. ( A normal charge for this size mill is 100 g.)
You are all aware that window glass can be desig- The cover is then placed on (actually a porcelain cover
493
is used, but we are using a plastic cover so that you can After grinding for two hours, we will have this much
see the operation) and the mill is rotated for a sufficient enamel slip (100 ml.).
period of time to powder the frit. I n this case, rotating We now return to the preparation of the metal for the
the mill a t 50 r. p. m. for 4 hours would grind the frit t o application of the wet-process enamel. After the metal
a fineness of 85 per cent through a 200-mesh screen. has been formed into the desired shape, it is cleaned by
This powdered enamel frit is now ready t o be used in dry placing in a strongly alkaline boiling cleaning solution.
processing enameling. The cleaned metal is pickled or etched in an acid solution
The cast iron is now prepared for enameling. This (usually 7 per cent sulfuric acid a t about 160°F.). This
means that aU dirt must be removed from the metal. is followed by a rinse and a neutralizing solution of some
This is usually accomplished by carefully sandblasting dilute alkaline mixture. When the ware has been dried
the object t o be enameled. it is ready for application of the porcelain enamel slip.
The cast iron is then coated (usually by spraying) The cleaned, pickled, and dried steel is then dipped
with a thin water "slip" of a clay and glass mixture. into a ground-coat enamel slip.
The object is heated a t slightly above the boiling point Demonstration No. 9. You are probably wondering
of water until this thin coating is dry. This coating why this enamel slip has a dark blue color. This is be-
(as shown here, Demonstraiion No. 6) serves mainly t o cause the glass contains some cobalt and nickel oxide
prevent the cast iron from oxidizing during the next smelted into the glass. These metal oxides give the
operation. enamel the property of adhering t o the steel more tena-
The coated iron is now placed in a furnace, and heated ciously than if they are omitted.
slowly to a temperature of 1300' t o 1400°F. Before After the steel has been completely immersed in the
this lecture started we placed a slip-coated piece of cast ground-coat slip, it is allowed to drain (or is shaken) t o
iron in the furnace. cause the excess material to flow off. The dipPed and
Demonstration No. 7. You will note that this red-hot drained piece is then dried and looks like this (Demon-
piece of metal has a matte, or duU coating, due to the stration No. 10). This metal is now covered by a coat-
slip coat we first applipd. Now we must work rapidly, ing of glass separated into millions of minute particles
as we do not want the cast iron piece to become cold. and held to the metal by the adhesive qualities of the
We dust Borne of the powdered frit we previously pre- clay which was milled into the enamel slip. You can
pared on the hot surface. This enamel powder tends t o see that this powdered glass is held firmly enough that
melt as it strikes the hot metal and thus forms a glassy the ware can be handled (Demonstration No. 11). The
enameled surface. However, t o make certain that all of ware is now ready t o he fired. This is accomplished in
the powdered frit has melted t o form a continuous glass much the same way as the cast iron ware is fired, but in
surface, we put the coated piece back in the furnace to this case we usually fire a t 1500' t o 1600°F. Also, a
be reheated. much shorter time is required because there is a smaller
You have now witnessed the complete operation of mass of metal t o be heated. .
cast iron enameling. This method ie actually in use Demonstration No. 12. On removal from the furnace
today. However, the industrial operations are not the ware is red hot. I t cools rather rapidly and when
quite as simple as shown here, due largely to the size and cold will look like this. This is a typical example of a
weight of the objects being enameled. ground-coated piece of ware.
We will now proceed to the "wet process" method of However, we all think of porcelain enamel as a gleam-
enameling. Fundamentally, this method differs from ing white finish. This is obtained by applying a second
the "dry process" method in several ways. coat of a white enamel over the fired and cooled ground
coat.
1. I n this case the powdered enamel is applied to the The white enamels are opacified with antimony oxide,
metal in the form of a wet slurry.
zirconium oxide, or titanium oxide. These ingredients
2. The metal is always a t room temperature when are mixed into the raw batch and are smelted in the glass
the enamel slip is applied.
so that they form an integral part of the enamel glass.
3. Wet process enamels are usually applied to sheet The smelting, fritting, and millmg operations are per-
steel or small cast iron articles.
formed in the same manner as described previously.
The successive steps in the application of wet process Demonstration No. 13. The milled enamel is either
enamels follow: The frit is first powdered in a ball mill, dipped or sprayed over the 6red ground coat. Dipping
but in this case water is added so that a wet slurry of the is used when both sides are to be covered with white, but
glass and water is obtained. Also, approximately five when only one side is to be white the cover-coat enamel
per cent of a plastic clay is added t o aid in the suspen- is applied by spraying, in much the same manner as
sion of the ground glass in the water. paint is sprayed.
Demonstration No. 8. Again referring to this small The white coating is dried by evaporating the water
mill, for a normal charge we will use: from the coating. The dried coating has a matte ap-
pearance, and can be brushed away from places that are
100 grams frit not to be covered. One method of doing this is to brush
5 grams clay through a stencil.
40 grams water Demonstration No. 14. This stencil has "A. C. S."
SEPTEMBER, 1948

for the American Chemical Society cut through it. -We object, you will:
brush through it and remove some enamel t o form the
letters "A. C. S." in black with a white background. 1. Know more about porcelain enamel than you did
After firing, it will look like this (Demonstration No. 15). before.
Thus far we have shown you the main operations in the 2. Remember more about this demonstration than
preparation and application of porcelain enamel. We if I had only talked.
may be accused of over-simplification in the presents- 3. Realize that an industrial process can be most
tion of this story, but if we have been successful in our clearly shovn by a laboratory demonstration.