How to keep the cast plasma smooth for a long time?

Hello, this is Fuchino.

Have you ever had the experience that when you made plasma for casting and molding, the viscosity of the plasma became too high after a short time, making it difficult to pour, or that when you poured the plasma it was silky smooth, but when you drained it, it became sloppy and difficult to remove?

In this article, we will discuss how to keep the casting plasma smooth for a long time.

Method 1: Increase the amount of agglutinant such as sodium silicate
Method 2: Increase the amount of water

Method 1: Increase the amount of agglutinant such as sodium silicate in the casting plasma.

The ease with which the casting plasma becomes smooth or not depends on the type of porcelain clay.

Some porcelain clay is easy to become smooth, while others are hard to become smooth.

Furthermore, the amount of sodium silicate added to the same porcelain clay is not always the same.

If you add the same amount of sodium silicate as usual, but the mud plasma is not as smooth as usual, add a little more sodium silicate.

Likewise, if the plasma is silky smooth right after it is made, but becomes slippery after some time, add a little more sodium silicate.

If the situation is improved by adding sodium silicate, this is OK.

Method 2: Add more water to the casting plasma

However, there are times when no change can be seen even after adding sodium silicate.

In this case, water should be added.

Following the article on the amount of water used to make mud plasma, I used 10 kilograms of clay, 20 grams of sodium silicate, and 1,400 cc of water to make mud plasma with 30% water content, but the viscosity of the mud plasma was still too high and it did not become smooth. So, I added another 5 grams of sodium silicate to it. However, there was not much change.

In such a case, you can add more water.

First, add 100cc of water, and if it becomes smooth, it’s OK.

If it still doesn’t look good, add another 100cc of water. The water content is now a little over 31%.

If it’s not quite right, add another 100cc of water, and the water content will be just under 32%.

In this way, if you have added sodium silicate, but the effect of the silicate is waning, add more water to adjust the moisture content.

If these two methods don’t work, you will have to use other chemicals.

This will be explained another time.