Metallic glazes applied for the ceramic tile industry

Metallic glazed and decorated tiles are the latest trend in which special printing bases, granules and glazes are used. In this workshop, Italian and Spanish purchasers? glaze surfaces and colors were taken as references. By using iron, copper and lead oxide, alternative compositions were improved. Glazes appropriate for single firing conditions were developed. At the end of workshop, the metalic effect on reference glazes were achieved by two compositions, one is matt and the other is the glossy one. Grain distribution, melting behaviour, thermal anlysis, microstructure, chemical analysis, forming crystals, color and gloss values were investigated and cost of the compositions were calculated. Because of the heteregeneous crystal distribution, low refractive indice and improper crystal size metallic effect was not reached in other compositions. Keywords: Lustre, Metallic Glaze, Nucleation, Crystal Growth