Apparently invisible. Chemistry in ceramics.

Chemical product labelling plays a key role in ensuring safety and regulatory compliance across the entire industrial value chain. In this episode, we explore the European regulatory framework, focusing on how CLP, REACH and BPR interact, and how together they balance health protection, environmental safety and market access.

We take a closer look at different product categories, highlighting their distinctions, areas of application and regulatory implications. We also examine the main technical communication tools — from labels and safety data sheets to the UFI — explaining their practical function and their importance in emergency response.

A structured overview designed to help navigate obligations, responsibilities and best practices, turning regulatory requirements into a proactive tool for risk prevention and management.

This episode explores the technological development of temporary binders for the ceramic industry, starting from the TENACER range developed by Zschimmer & Schwarz. In today’s ceramic manufacturing environment—marked by large-format tiles, ultra-thin slabs, super white bodies with high glass content, and increasing variability in raw materials—maintaining the mechanical strength of the green body has become a key factor for ensuring both process stability and final product quality.
The podcast introduces the main product lines within the TENACER range, outlining their different technological approaches and formulation strategies, while also highlighting the industrial considerations that guide their application in production environments.

The episode also addresses several critical aspects of the ceramic process, including how additives interact with other production variables, the issue of black core formation, rheological behavior, and typical dosage ranges. Overall, it emphasizes that the effectiveness of binders is never determined by the additive alone, but rather by the careful balance between formulation choices and process conditions.

Zschimmer & Schwarz did not enter the water-based digital adhesives arena overnight; its position today is built on more than a decade of dedicated research, hands-on industrial testing, and continuous product refinement.

In this podcast episode, we take a closer look at the AQUABOND range of water-based digital adhesives, exploring how the line has evolved, the technical principles behind it, and the development strategy that shaped it.

Alongside essential background insights into the technological and market landscape, we provide a structured comparison of the different products within the range—highlighting their distinctions, intended functions, and performance profiles, and explaining how each formulation has been engineered for specific production environments.

Water content, the presence or absence of fusible components, operating temperature, lubrication level, machine runnability, and other critical parameters become practical benchmarks to guide product selection—giving listeners a clear framework to assess and fully leverage the potential of the AQUABOND line in advanced industrial applications.

The pivotal role of rheological additives in ceramic processes: how deflocculants and binders shape the stability, viscosity, and workability of ceramic suspensions.

The discussion explores particle interactions, colloidal stability, the electric double layer, and the main electrostatic and steric stabilization mechanisms.

The goal is to highlight how the right use of additives can optimize production processes and enhance the quality of the final ceramic product.

This episode provides a quick overview of the “black core” effect—an internal discoloration in porcelain tiles, typically caused by incomplete oxidation of the ceramic body due to trapped organic residues.

It highlights the production conditions that make the defect more likely to appear and then outlines practical corrective strategies to prevent it.

All in just ten minutes.