Suspending agents: nature, function, and chemical-physical principles

Suspending agents belong to a broad category of additives whose primary purpose is to provide ceramic suspensions (slips, glazes, engobes, or frits) with good internal stability, counteracting potential sedimentation phenomena.Available in both liquid and solid forms, these products act within the suspension to ensure the right balance.There are various mechanisms that can be employed to properly maintain the solid phase of the mixture in suspension.Among these, the most significant are about viscosity, electrostatic repulsion, and concentration (solid/liquid ratio).This episode, after reviewing the properties of suspending agents, focuses on these three main tools, delving into the reasons and mechanisms behind each, also considering the application systems through which suspensions are deposited onto the ceramic substrate—a detail that can significantly influence the type of suspending agent to be used.