Ceramics defines the raw materials used in the production of ceramic products and their manufacturing to make ceramic products in the narrower sense (clay pots, porcelain, technical ceramics, glass-ceramics, ceramic composites). Also articles themselves produced from this material (bathroom ceramics and tiles, functional and ornamental items) are defined as ceramics.

Porcelain is the fine variety of ceramics. Apart from a small number of trace elements, it consists of three raw materials: kaolin, quartz and feldspar. There is a distinction between hard paste porcelain, with a high melting point, which is resistant to mechanical stress and thermal shock, and the more fragile soft paste porcelain.

Hard paste porcelain is fired to great hardness at high temperature. The key characteristics are low translucency and high kaolin content (50%). This results in higher impact resistance and greater material density. Hard paste porcelain contains no bone ashes.

Bone china belongs to the group of soft paste porcelains. The name “bone china“ can be explained by the fact that up to 50% of real ground bones are added to the raw materials, which act as flux. It contains up to 50% animal bone ash. The mixture is fired and ground to form a fine powder that produces a white, translucent type of porcelain.

Vitreous China is a ceramic material with characteristics between those of stoneware and porcelain. The fired colour is pale or white, the body is impermeable but does not have the translucency of porcelain. Vitreous china is used for tableware and sanitary ware.