Main Analysis Page - Tabs

Glaze Simulator offers three ways to work with your glaze recipes. The main Analysis Screen provides a hands on approach where you can select glaze materials and build your glaze recipe from scratch. The other two approaches offer you an automated approach to Recipe Creation and Recipe Adjustment. Create Wizard and Adjustment Wizard provide access to these functions.

Main Analysis Page - Left Section

The left column of GlazeSimulator is used to enter information about your glaze recipe. The main function of this screen is to provide a simple way to enter glaze recipes and get results. The Select Material Category select box offers a list of material categories. Simply click on this control and select a category. The list box below will fill with all the available materials from that category. When you find the material you want to add to your glaze recipe click on the name and it will appear in the first available empty field of your recipe.

If you wish to skip scrolling through lists of materials you can use the Find Material search box. Enter the name or part of the name you are looking for and click the Find Material Button button. If any materials matching all or part of your search are found they will be displayed and available for selection.

In the event you wish to select a material based on its constituent oxides Click on the Search Materials By Oxide. A new window will pop up where you can select an oxide and have all Materials containing that oxide displayed. This is an important tool to use for color development.

The following controls are used to select Color definitions to be applied to your recipe. The Firing Atmosphere has three to choose from. These settings are important when selecting and predicting color properties for your glaze recipe. Oxidation is usually associated with electric kiln firing. Reduction is usually associated with gas firing and OxRed refers to colors that will work in both Oxidation and Reduction firings.

If you want GlazeSimulator to help you formulate a specific color follow these steps:

Select a general color from the Choose a Color Category. This control will allow you to choose a general color from a list. Once you have chosen a general color, the screen will refresh and a Specific Color list will appear directly below this control. You can now choose the color description you want from this list.

Once you have choosen a Specific Color the Show Color Definition and the Change Recipe Color buttons will appear. If necessary use the Show Color Definition to display what the selected Color Definition. This will tell you what colourants will be added to your recipe and any Base Oxide restrictions you should be aware of before changing your recipe. Once you are satisfied with the Color Definition click the Change Recipe Color button and GlazeSimulator will modify your recipe to include the necessary colorants. Colorants will be added to your glaze recipe but the base materials and amounts will not be altered.

Note: when you choose a new color for your glaze recipe all existing colorants in your recipe will be removed before the new colorants are added. When your submitted Color Definition does not appear in the Possible Colors list this indicates that either the Atmosphere or Melt properties of your recipe and this Color Definition are not similar.

Main Analysis Page - Middle Section

There are three main controls in this section of the Analysis Page. You can display a graphical analysis of your glaze recipe for either Percent Analysis or Melt Analysis. The Percent Analysis shows a color coded graph of your glaze recipe divided into three categories of oxides: Glassformers (blue), Alumina (light orange), and Fluxes (green). The Melt Analysis graph shows the probability of success across several cone ranges. The cone range with the highest probability is the cone range where your glaze will most likely melt. In cases where the Melt Analysis cannot predict a cone range a single bar extending across the graph will be shown.

Under the left side of the graph(s) is the Analyze Button and below that a list of text boxes. Once you have selected your recipe materials and entered positive numbers for each material, clicking on the Analyze Button will refresh the Main Analysis Page with updated information about your glaze recipe. The red (crossed lines) icons to the left of the material text boxes provide a way to clear a field if you decide not to use a specific material. Once a material text box has been cleared it will be automatically filled the next time you select another material or process the page again, by clicking on the Analyze Button. The graph icon to the right of the amount boxes displays a graph of its corresponding material when clicked.

Directly under the graph is a general information window. The links under Display, Properties and Possible Colors will display information in this window. Please refer to the Main Analysis Page - Right Section (below) for more details.

Main Analysis Page - Right Section

This section of the Main Analysis Page consists of rollovers that display all the information made available by GlazeSimulator about your glaze recipe.

This section displays glaze recipe information in three categories. The first category is Analysis. Under Analysis you can select Percent, Seger or Flux Unity graphs. When you rollover any of these selections the a graph will be displayed. An brief summary of each is also displayed in the information section beside your recipe. The second category is called Recipe Properties. The properties you can display are as follows: Expansion (Coefficient of Expansion), Ratio, Cone Range and Adjustment Notes. Each of these properties are summarized with a description in the information section when selected. Cone Range provides a quick display of the predicted Melting range. Adjustment Notes displays the change in the above properties after an adjustment has been made to your glaze recipe.

The last section is called Color Range and will list one or more Color Definitions, if applicable. Each color definition represents one possible color based on the selection of firing atmosphere and the colorant(s) included in your recipe. When you move your mouse over each definition you will see information about each color in the information section. Base oxides that are Recommended, Necessary or that should be Excluded in the recipe in order to achieve this color will also be listed. The Color Range list shows all the colors possible based on the Firing Atmosphere and Colorants included in your recipe. In some cases a sub list --Out of Range-- will display more Color Definitions. These colors fall within some but not all current glaze conditions.