Line blends are used when you may want to explore

• changes involving a single material in a recipe e.g. if in the Cone 10 Glaze recipe we wanted to explore the effects resulting from changes to just EPK Kaolin.
• the variations in colour from the addition of a single colourant.
• the results of blending two different recipes. e.g the B recipe in the blend may be designed to have less Al2O3 an SiO2 than the A recipe such that the Al:Si ratio is kept constant

We will use the last case above as an example. We have already designed this glaze

Designing the Corner Recipes for the Line Blend

We will need to have three recipes for the corners of the triaxial blend.. Corner A - will be the original Cone 10 Glaze recipe Corner B - will be the Cone 10 Glaze altered to reduce Al2O3 and SiO2 levels maintaining the Al:Si ratio

The following recipes were prepared in the Recipe to Formula environment. After making the reductions indicated above the recipes were converted to total 100. Note that the recipe names include the letter which indicates in which corner the recipe will be place.

All three recipes were saved to the following location: C:/Prgram Files/Matrix/Blends/Cone 10 Line/.

The Cone 10 Line folder was created in the Blends folder to hold all of the line blend files.

Creating the Blend

Move to the Blends environment and start the blend-making process by entering the name Cone 10 Glaze Line in the Blend Name text box. Note that the moves down to the Select the Blend Type button indicating that clicking this button should be your next action..

Fig.1 Enter the blend name and select the blend type

After clicking the Select the Blend Type button the display shown in Fig.1 appears. The three types of blends are shown. Click on the type of blend you wish to create. The display changes to that shown in Fig.2

Fig.2 Selecting sample numbers and A & B recipes for the line blend

After selecting the blend type the display changes offering further choices for information that Matrix needs to create the blend. Selecting Sample Number For each blend you can choose the size of the blend. Line blends can be created in four sizes. Selecting Corner Recipes Matrix needs to know which recipes you will use for the "corners" of the blend. For a line blend you need to point to two recipes. When one of the red buttons is clicked the Windows File Selection dialog opens. You must navigate to the location of the recipe you wish to use and double click on its name.

Fig.3 Matrix is ready to create the blend - click the Make Blend button

When you have made the sample numbers and corner recipes selections Matrix has all the information it needs to create the blend. The moves down to the Make the Blend button which you can now click to generate the line blend. (Fig.3)

Fig.4 The Line Blend has been created. Data can be viewed and printed.

After clicking the Make the Blend button the Checking Blends Progress window opens to indicate when the blend has been created. (Fig.4) Click the OK button to close the Checking Blends Progress window. You may now save the blend worksheet and recipe in the folder that you created for this blend. The Display Blend Data panel offers buttons which will open windows containing blend information. More ... The button will open an enlarged Limits Graph with the formulae for all of the individual blend recipes displayed. The button will open an enlarged Al:Si Graph which displays the Al2O3 and SiO2 limits for the temperature set in the Recipe to Formula environment.

The blend worksheet and recipes may now be saved using the buttons in the Save the Blend panel. More ...

You will also want to print out the worksheet data so that you can mix the blend mand you may want to obtain a printout of the blend's recipes and formulae using buttons in the Print Blend Data panel.

Physically Making the Blend

To physically making the blend you will need to print the worksheet data.

Click the Worksheet Data button in the Print Blend Data panel to get the printout you need. You can take this printout to your glaze mixing lab and prepare the blend recipes and test tiles for firing.

Assessing the Blend After Firing

After you have fired the blend you will want to refer to the individual recipes representing the glazes on the test tiles.

Click the Blend Recipes button in the Print Blend Data panel to get the printout which includes all recipes and their unity formulae.

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