Cast cordierite parts from Blasch for setters, saggers, burner nozzles and element holders up to 1,000 °C.
A kiln that heats and cools every shift wears out its furniture by cracking, not by melting.
Cordierite is made for that rhythm.
Cordierite ceramic is used in kilns and burners for parts that go through many heating and cooling cycles at moderate temperature: kiln furniture such as batts, shelves, props, setters, plates and saggers, and burner nozzles, element holders and insulators. Its low thermal expansion gives it high thermal shock resistance, and it insulates electrically. Blasch cordierite is stable up to 1,000 °C and is a lower cost alternative to higher grade materials where the temperature stays below that limit.
Cordierite is a magnesium aluminum silicate, 2MgO·2Al2O3·5SiO2. As a ceramic it is known for one property above all: it expands very little when heated, so a part can go from cold to hot quickly without cracking.
It also has useful mechanical strength, good wear resistance and electrical insulation, and it is less expensive than alumina, mullite or silicon carbide. That combination is why cordierite is so common in kiln furniture across many industries.
Blasch casts cordierite net shape in a broad range of sizes, so a setter can carry the exact profile of the ware it supports. How the Blasch process works
Kiln furniture rarely dies from the peak temperature; it dies from the thousandth heat-up, and cordierite is chosen to survive that.
Kiln furniture: batts, shelves, props, supports, plates, setters and saggers that carry ware through firing and sintering. Low mass cordierite furniture heats faster and takes less energy per cycle than thick firebrick supports.
Burner parts: burner nozzles and tips that see flame on one side and cooler air on the other.
Heating element holders and insulators: parts that have to stay electrical insulators while they hold hot elements in place.
Hot gas filters and recuperators: low expansion bodies for filtering and recovering heat from hot gas.
Blasch cordierite is stable up to 1,000 °C. Above that, or where furniture carries heavy loads at temperature, recrystallized silicon carbide carries load without sagging, and mullite or alumina hold their shape at higher temperatures. For extreme thermal shock with little load, fused silica is the other low expansion option.
Blasch values and uses: Blasch cordierite material page. Composition and low expansion of cordierite: W. D. Kingery, H. K. Bowen, D. R. Uhlmann, Introduction to Ceramics, 2nd ed., Wiley, 1976.
Parts for industrial process heating that cycle every day.
Plates and containers that carry powder and ware through the kiln.
Holders and insulators that keep elements in place and insulated.
Ceramic tips for burners that see flame and thermal cycling.
Candle filters and recuperator parts for hot gas streams.
Cordierite parts from Blasch go mainly into industrial process heating: sintering furnaces, firing kilns and burners. For the low mass furniture systems built around your ware, see kiln furniture and pusher plates, and for another low expansion material for molten aluminum, aluminum titanate.
Its low thermal expansion lets it survive many fast heating and cooling cycles, and it costs less than higher grade materials.
Blasch cordierite is stable up to 1,000 °C. Above that, mullite, alumina or silicon carbide furniture is the better choice.
Cordierite occurs as a mineral, but cordierite ceramics are made synthetically from raw materials such as clay, talc and alumina, then cast and fired.
No. It is an electrical insulator, which is why it is used for heating element holders and insulators.
Send the ware, the firing profile and the current furniture. A Blasch engineer suggests the material and the design.
