Investigating the Effect of the Particle Size of Potter's Clay on the Pore Structure of Pottery

The pore structure of ceramic altar has the unique advantage of promoting oxygen exchange and increasing the contact area with Baijiu during the aging process of Baijiu. Four kinds of pottery samples were prepared and sintered using four kinds of pottery with different clay particle sizes, and the effects of particle size on the pore structure of the sintered pottery samples were analyzed from the compositional changes, sintering behaviors, and microscopic morphology, respectively. The results show that the alkali metal content, mainly Fe₂O₃, decreases with particle size, and acts as a flux to increase the liquid-phase generation during the sintering process, and the excessive Fe³⁺ increases the viscosity of the liquid phase and reduces the filling effect on the pores. The smaller the clay particle size, the greater the degree of contact between the particles, the apparent porosity decreased from 8.58% to 0.52% and the line shrinkage increased from 6.66% to 14.60%. Differences in clay particle size and compositional content combine to differentiate the pore structure of pottery samples with different particle sizes. The results provide a theoretical basis for optimizing the pore regulation process of pottery.