Glass & Ceramics

A very important use of zinc oxide is the the manufacture of glass and ceramics. One of its main roles is as a fluxing agent in the preparation of frits (a type of ceramic glass that predominantly consists of silica, diboron trioxide, and soda) and enamels for ceramic objects (such as wall and floor tiles, or for sanitary and tableware objects). It is used to reduce the melting temperature; which reduces the energy and equipment requirements while improving the brilliance of color glazes. It is also used in heat-resistant glass, cookware, and specialty glass applications including photochromic lenses. Zinc oxide is also currently used in the fabrication of artistic glass, table and cooking ware or crystalline glass. While our direct grade, and more particularly our EPM grade, is widely used for the production of frits, artistic glasses or enamels also use our different qualities of indirect grades, depending on the chemical quality requested.