Sodium Feldspar is a kind of feldspar, which is widely used in the ceramic and glass industries. This article mainly introduces what is feldspar and the main applications of it. Hope it can help you.
Feldspar: is by far the most abundant group of minerals in the earth’s crust. forming about 60% of terrestrial rocks. Most deposits offer sodium feldspat as well as potassium feldspar and mixed feldspars. Feldspars are primarily used in industrial applications for their alumina and alkali content. The term feldspat encompasses a whole range of materials.
Most of the products we use on a daily basis are made with feldspat. Glass for drinking, glass for protection, and fiberglass for insulation. The floor tiles and shower basins in our bathrooms, and the tableware from which we eat. Feldspar is part of our daily life.
Mineralogical Composition of Feldspar:
Feldspar minerals are essential components in igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks, to such an extent that the classification of a number of rocks is based upon feldspat content. The mineralogical composition of most feldspars can be expressed in terms of the ternary system Orthoclase (KAlSiOs), Albite(NaAlSi; Og), and Anorthite (CaAlSiOg).
Chemical Composition of Feldspar:
Chemically, the feldspat are silicates of aluminum, containing sodium, and potassium.
iron, calcium, barium, or combinations of these elements.
Uses of Feldspar:
Glass Industry: Feldspar is an important ingredient in the manufacture of glass and an important raw material as well, because it acts as a fluxing agent, reducing the melting temperature of quartz and helping to control the viscosity of glass. The alkali content in feldspat acts as flux, lowering the glass batch melting temperature and thus reducing production costs.
Ceramics Industry: In manufacturing ceramics, feldspar is the second most important ingredient after clay. Feldspat does not have a strict melting point, since it melts gradually over various temperatures. This greatly facilitates the melting of quartz and clays and, through appropriate mixing, allows modulations of this important step of ceramic making. Feldspat are used as fluxing agents to form glassy phases at low temperatures and as a source of alkalis and alumina in glazes. They improve the strength, toughness, and durability of the ceramic body, and cement the crystalline phase of other ingredients, softening, melting, and wetting other batch constituents.
Fillers: Feldspars also are used as fillers and extenders in applications such as paints, plastics, and rubber. Beneficial properties of feldspat include good dispersibility, high chemical inertness, stable pH, high resistance to abrasion, low viscosity at high filler loading, attractive refractive index, and resistance to the frosting. The products used in such applications are generally fine-milled grades.
Enamel frits and glazes: Feldspar assists the enamel composition, assuring the absence of defects and the neatness of the end product: e.g. enamel frits, ceramic glazes, ceramic tile glazes, sanitary ware, tableware, electrical porcelain and giftware.