Clay
What is clay?
Clay represents a sediment made of clayish minerals characterized by physical and chemical properties that add plasticity if mixed with water and refractoriness if dehydrated. These properties led and still lead many companies to succeed in the ceramic and building industry, as happened at C.B.C.
Clay for ceramic uses
Depending on the composition, the clay can be destined for different final applications.
The most common use is in ceramics, which takes advantage of clay’s principal property: plasticity.
Plasticity is essential during the shaping process which consists in reducing the substance to the desired shape before irreversibly consolidating it during the following processes that are grinding, pressing/wire drawing, drying and firing.
The greater the ability of the clay to absorb and retain water, the greater its plasticity so its ability to be transformed into a doughy mass that can be molded at room temperature without breaking or cracking.
Italian production, historically tied to ceramics and refractory materials, has been gradually declining because of increased competition from raw materials from outside the country (mainly Ukraine and Turkey).
TYPES
C.B.C. buys and sells the following types of clays