Plainsman Clays | M
M-23 Ball Clay
M-23 is a ball clay, a sedimentary clay with particles fine enough to make a body plastic and strong while it is still raw. Its iron and titania are low for a ball clay, low enough to use as the plasticiser in a white body.
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M-23 is the plasticiser in throwing bodies, casting slips and porcelains, and it suspends and binds a glaze slurry. More than half of it is finer than half a micrometre. While the body is wet, films of water between the flat particles let them slide past one another without losing contact, and as the water leaves they are drawn close together and hold. That fineness is most of what makes a ball clay plastic and strong when raw, with mica and carbonaceous matter contributing some. The same fineness means it needs a great deal of water to work and shrinks as the water leaves, so a body uses a measured amount of it and does not rely on it alone.
- A ball clay, the plasticiser in a throwing body or a casting slip
- More than half of it is finer than half a micrometre
- High dry strength
- Low in iron and titania for a ball clay
