Thermoanalytical investigations of ancient ceramics Review on theory and practice

The review consists of four parts. Part I is about the thermal transformation in clay minerals under firing and about the properties of fired clay. The transformations in the clay are expressed quantitatively with the extent of conversion, alpha, which is the function of two parameters of firing process, time t and temperature T: alpha = f(t, T). Part II is about the estimation of firing temperature after the analysis of the products of firing clays. All the estimations are speculative, without mathematical equations. It is impossible to derive the value of only one variable T from alpha = f(t,T), the function of two variables. Part III is about the long-term inverse transformation in fired ceramic paste under ambient conditions. The mass gain as a function of time is used for the evaluation of the time elapsed from the ancient firing, t. Part IV is about the visualization of the extent of conversion of the clay in the paste after all direct and reverse reactions, i.e., alpha.