Ceramic industry
Electrical resistance furnaces

Electric resistance kilns have been used in the ceramics industry for many decades, and are constantly being improved. The wide variety of products produced (bricks, tiles, vases, sanitary ware, household items, industrial products, etc.) is based on similar techniques: preparation of a more or less plastic paste, shaping of this paste to give it the required form, high-temperature firing of the shaped objects to give them special properties, and possibly protection and decoration of the objects by special coatings. Ceramics are generally made from a mixture of mineral materials; the table 1 summarizes the main applications of ceramics, by type of product.

Firing of...