THE CAPILLARY SUCTION OF SOME CERAMIC MATERIALS1

The forces which act when clay is mixed with water and when water is removed from wet clay by evaporation have received little study. For this reason, very little definite information regarding the internal mechanism of the drying of clayware is available. In this paper, the writer reviews the experiments and theories of Pukall, Terzaghi, Dixon, etc., lists some of the forces which may act when ware is drying, and defines an important force which he calls “capillary suction.” A simple experiment is described, by means of which this force can be readily demonstrated. The development and final form of an apparatus for measuring the capillary suction of ceramic materials is described and data obtained from measurements on a ball clay, a kaolin, flint, feldspar and mixtures of these substances are reported. Capillary suction decreases rapidly with increase in the flint and feldspar of a ceramic body. By utilizing the capillary suction produced by evaporation of water from a clay surface, water at atmospheric pressure has been made to enter a steel bomb in which the gas pressure was maintained at 200 lbs. per square inch.