Porcelain

Jennifer

Reading — Advanced Level
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Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating materials, generally including a material like kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between 1,200 and 1,400 °C. The toughness, strength, and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainly from vitrification and the formation of the mineral mullite within the body at these high temperatures. Though definitions vary, porcelain can be divided into three main categories: hard-paste, soft-paste and bone china. The category that an object belongs to depends on the composition of the paste used to make the body of the porcelain object and the firing conditions.

Porcelain slowly evolved in China and was finally achieved at some point about 2,000 to 1,200 years ago, then slowly spread to other East Asian countries, and finally Europe and the rest of the world. Its manufacturing process is more demanding than that for earthenware and stoneware, the two other main types of pottery, and it has usually been regarded as the most prestigious type of pottery for its delicacy, strength, and its white colour. It combines well with both glazes and paint, and can be modelled very well, allowing a huge range of decorative treatments in tablewares, vessels and figurines. It also has many uses in technology and industry.

The European name, porcelain in English, comes from the old Italian porcellana because of its resemblance to the surface of the shell. Porcelain is also referred to as china or fine china in some English-speaking countries, as it was first seen in imports from China. Properties associated with porcelain include low permeability and elasticity; considerable strength, hardness, toughness, whiteness, translucency and resonance; and a high resistance to chemical attack and thermal shock.


Source: Wikipedia
  1. Porcelain is a product of the   process.
  2.   is the transformation of a substance into a glass.
  3. The porcelain which is made of clay mixed with bone ash is called   .
  4. Porcelain is a pottery with a   , fine-grained body that is usually translucent.
  5.   is the ability of a material to resume to its normal shape after being stretched or compressed.
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  1. Do you have porcelain at home? If yes, please describe it.
  2. What makes porcelain valuable?
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