Blog

Five Tips for Assembling Your Kiln Car Structure

Posted by Tom Evans on 30-09-2021

The centrepiece of any kiln firing setup is your kiln car – the strong combination of kiln furniture pieces which securely holds your ware as it gets fired. Depending on the complexity of your setup or the amount of ware you have to fire, assembling your kiln car can feel like a logic puzzle and maintaining it can be hard work. To help, we’ve collated our top five tips to ensure your kiln car gets assembled correctly and remains dependable…

Explaining Cordierite Kiln Furniture

Posted by Callum on 28-08-2021

The term “kiln furniture” describes a range of products used by many industries to support items during heat treatment processes. If you have a ceramic item that needs firing in a kiln or furnace, you will probably need kiln furniture to ensure it keeps its shape, doesn’t break during firing, and don’t stick to/damage your kiln. IPS offers an immensely popular range of kiln furniture products made from cordierite. What types of products are in the range, what do they…

How is Silicon Carbide Made?

Posted by Callum on 19-08-2021

Silicon carbide is one of the most common materials used to produce high-performance kiln furniture. It is often found in applications involving temperatures above 1300°C and its high resistance to creep (hot bending) ensures a long service life. How do you make such a strong, dependable material and who helped develop it? Let’s find out: The Acheson Process Most of the silicon carbide used in industry is manufactured through the Acheson Process. The process was invented by Edward Goodrich Acheson,…

Cleaning Guide for Kiln Shelves

Posted by Callum on 18-02-2021

IPS Ceramics understands that maintaining your kiln shelves is an extremely important part of glost firing. Neglected shelves (also known as batts and tiles) can result in flakes of wash getting onto your beautifully glazed surfaces or can cause kiln ware to stick to shelves where the glaze has previously dripped. To get the best life from your shelves, it is crucial to stay on top of cleaning tasks and to know how to apply a wash coating to your…

Alumina Tiles Explained

Posted by Callum on 05-02-2021

Alumina is a cost-effective and widely used material for a diverse range of industrial applications. IPS Ceramics has developed alumina tiles that are optimised for maximum wear and corrosion resistance. Alumina has a high density, diamond-like hardness with superior mechanical strength properties. This makes it the material of choice for a range of demanding applications. Suitable for a Range of Applications Alumina tiles are mainly used in three types of applications: Larger, thinner tiles are often used as support plates…

The Best Kiln Furniture Products for Sanitaryware

Posted by Tom Evans on 01-12-2020

Firing sanitaryware offers a series of unique challenges – sanitaryware products tend to be bulky and heavy items which place significant structural demands on kiln furniture; they can have complicated designs which aren’t easily supported by singular flat surfaces; and they are fired at relatively high temperatures (up to 1280 °C / 2340 °F). It’s a demanding industry which requires dependable solutions. IPS Ceramics have designed many specialist products for the sanitaryware industry. What are the most commonly used items…