Improving the flexural strength of porcelain by residual stress in anorthite coating

Flexural strength is an important parameter of domestic ceramics to meet the criteria for mechanized washing, filling, and sealing process in the automatic production line. In this work, the anorthite coating was prepared using calcite, silica, and alumina as raw materials. Taking the temperature with the highest matrix strength as the optimal temperature, the influences of chemical formulation on the phase composition and the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of coatings were investigated. The enhancement effect of the coating with different formulations and surface number and thickness was compared. As a result, the flexural strength of the ordinary domestic ceramic body was improved due to the residual compressive stress in the coating caused by a mismatch of CTE between the coating and the matrix. At the optimal sintering temperature (1280°C), the coating with 20 mass% alumina addition has the best strengthening effect on the body, in which the thickness of the anorthite coating is approximately 50 µm and the flexural strength has increased by 64.6%, from 88 ± 4 to 144 ± 6 MPa.