FEA Modelling of Deformation during Vitrification of Ceramic Materials

The deformation of ceramic bodies during vitrification has been studied. During sintering, two deformation mechanisms were considered: shrinkage as well as plastic deformation (creep). Creep deformation could be modelled by a viscoelastic mechanism whereas the shrinkage during sintering was assessed by measuring the thermal expansion as a function of temperature. The model was tested on sanitary ware by FEA. The fitting between measured and calculated deformation values was very satisfactory when using a model taking into account only the counteracting effects of the thermal expansion and the shrinkage occurring during the firing process.