Can Egyptian Paste Techniques (Faience) Be Used For 3D Printed, Solid Free-form Fabrication of Ceramics?

目前3D打印领域的研究集中在创造功能材料上。这项研究项目将开发一种基于历史悠久的埃及保真技术的工艺，使陶瓷艺术家、设计师和工匠能够在他们熟悉的材料上打印3D物体，并且可以一次烧成即可上釉和玻璃化。瓷器是人类发明的第一种釉面陶瓷材料。埃及陶器起源于公元前五千年，不是由粘土制成(而是由石英和碱熔剂组成)，不同于意大利的陶器或马约利卡陶器，后者是一种锡质釉陶器。(最早的Faience总是蓝色或绿色，表现出它们之间的所有色调，着色材料通常是铜)。研究人员认为，有可能创造出一种当代3D可打印、自釉、非塑料的陶瓷材料，展示出埃及Faience的特征和质量。这是本研究感兴趣的自上釉性能。1960年，S·武尔夫在《埃及人可能在伊朗幸存下来》一书中推测，他在库姆观察到的被描述为胶凝玻璃的技术，可能是埃及人从公元前4000年开始使用的一种方法。为了给未烧制的物体上釉，它被埋在釉粉中，放在盛器(一种用来支撑和保护精致物品的保护性粘土容器)中，然后烧制。在烧制过程中，釉直接通过化学反应在坯体表面形成，但釉块作为一个整体不会融化。现代技术使用3D打印来通过各种方法从虚拟数字文件形成物理模型。使用附加层制造工艺来沉积各种材料：通常是UV聚合物树脂、热熔化的‘ABS’塑料和喷墨粘结剂或激光烧结的粉末材料。这些技术以前被称为快速成型(RP)。随着更好的材料和设备的出现，一些真实材料的快速成型现在成为可能。这些工艺越来越多地被称为固体“自由形式制造”(SFF)或附加层制造。这项研究将询问埃及人使用的三种主要的玻璃方法。上釉：类似于现代上釉技术，通过刷釉或浸釉的方式将釉浆涂抹在主体上。风化玻璃：以水溶性盐的形式与主体混合的玻璃材料。当身体干燥时，盐会迁移到表面形成一层，在烧制时会熔化成釉料。第三种方法是胶合上釉。我们将使用这些技术作为开发现代替代品的基础，并将尝试复制一些原始配方的化学成分，然而，使用现代材料将产生更一致和可重复的结果。研究小组将观察、记录和评估一组艺术/设计/手工艺从业人员，他们将被选为该项目的案例研究和共同贡献者。他们将测试并帮助确定与研究团队反复合作的过程参数，最终形成新的展览创意作品。在埃及，从新王国开始，埃及Faience的调色板被扩展，并开发了新的第四种制造方法。相关的博士生将更像玻璃一样专注于埃及忠诚的第四种方法，其中身体是完全均匀的，没有单独的釉层。表面大体上是光滑的，但并不总是光滑的。玻璃相是在Faience混合物中加入有色熔块后产生的。(熔块是玻璃成分的混合物，尚未完全反应在一起，本身就是一种材料，可以用作颜料或制作物品)。申请人认为，添加彩色熔块可能会使埃及风格的材料适合3D打印，调色板大大增加。

Current research in the field of 3D printing concentrates on creating functional materials. This research project will develop a process based upon historic Egyptian Faience techniques, which will enable ceramic artists, designers and craftspeople to print 3D objects in a material which they are familiar with and can be glazed and vitrified in one firing. Faience was the first glazed ceramic material invented by man. Originating in the 5th Millennium BC, Egyptian Faience was not made from clay (but instead composed of quartz and alkali fluxes) and is distinct from Italian Faience or Majolica, which is a tin, glazed earthenware. (The earliest Faience is invariably blue or green, exhibiting the full range of shades between them, and the colouring material was usually copper). The researchers believe that it possible to create a contemporary 3D printable, self-glazing, non-plastic ceramic material that exhibits the characteristics and quality of Egyptian Faience. It is the self-glazing properties that are of interest for this research. In the 1960's Wulff in 'Egyptian Faience a possible survival in Iran' postulated that the technique he observed in Qom, described as cementation glazing, could have been a method used by the Egyptians from 4,000 BC. In order to glaze the unfired object, it is buried in a glazing powder, in a sagger (a protective vessel of fireclay to support and protect delicate objects) then fired. During firing, a glaze is formed directly by chemical reaction on the surface of the body but the glaze mass as a whole does not melt. Modern techniques employ 3D printing to form physical models by a variety of methods from a virtual digital file. An additive layer manufacturing process is employed to deposit a variety of materials: commonly UV polymer resins, hot melted 'abs' plastic and inkjet binder or laser sintered, powder materials. These techniques have previously been known as rapid prototyping (RP). With the advent of better materials and equipment some RP of real materials is now possible. These processes are increasingly being referred to as solid 'free-form fabrication' (SFF) or additive layer manufacture. This research will interrogate three primary methods of glazing used by the Egyptians. Application glazing: similar to modern glazing techniques where glaze slurry is applied to a body by brushing or dipping. Efflorescent glazing: where the glazing materials in the form of water soluble salts are mixed with the body. As the body dries, the salts migrate to the surface forming a layer, which fuses to a glaze when fired. The third method is cementation glazing. We will use these techniques as a basis for developing contemporary alternatives and will try and replicate the chemistry of some of the original recipes, however the use of modern materials will give more consistent and reproducible results. The research team will observe, record and evaluate a group of art/design/craft practitioners who will be selected as case studies and co-contributors to the project. They will test and help define the parameters of the process working iteratively with the research team, culminating in new creative work for exhibition. In Egypt, from the New Kingdom onward, the colour palette of Egyptian Faience was extended and a new 4th method of manufacture was developed. The related PhD student will concentrate upon this 4th method of Egyptian Faience more like a glass, where the body is entirely homogeneous without a separate coating of glaze. The surface was generally but not always glossy. The glassy phase results from the addition of coloured frit to the Faience mixture. (Frit, a mixture of glass ingredients that have been incompletely reacted together, is a material in its own right and can be used as a pigment or for making objects). The applicants believe that the addition of coloured frit may enable an Egyptian Faience like material suitable for 3D printing with a greatly increased colour palette.