The University of Toledo Ceramics program is a comprehensive program that allows the ceramic student to explore a broad variety of techniques ranging from traditional and non-traditional methods of hand building, wheel throwing, slip casting, as well as digital 3D printing.  The ceramics studio environment provides a complete clay and glaze formulation facility that allows students to work with a wide range of clays including stoneware, porcelain, terracotta, and specialty clay bodies. Ceramic firing processes include high fire reduction, oxidation, primitive bonfire, saggar, raku and wood kiln firing.

Ceramic 3D Printing

Ceramic 3D Printing Terms
  • Green object: the clay object that still needs to be fired in a kiln.
  • Kiln: the oven used for the post-processing firing of the green object.
  • Firing: the process of partially melting clay particles to obtain a hard ceramics object.
  • Paste extrusion deposition: That’s the 3D printing process. It’s similar to fused filament deposition, where a plastic strand is heated up and then – layer by layer – extruded through a nozzle. In ceramic 3D printing, a paste material is extruded to form a green object.
  • Clay: a fine-grained natural rock or soil material that combines one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter.
  • Ceramic: an inorganic, nonmetallic, solid material comprising metal, nonmetal or metalloid atoms. It is usually made from clay sintered in a kiln.
  • Porcelain: is a material made by heating materials, generally including kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between 1,200 and 1,400 °C (2,200 and 2,600 °F). It’s more durable and heat-resistant.