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porcelain
Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating materials, generally including kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between . The toughness, strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainly from vitrification and the formation of the mineral mullite within the body at these high temperatures.
Porcelain derives its present name from the old Italian ''porcellana'' (cowrie shell) because of its resemblance to the translucent surface of the shell.〔''Oxford English Dictionary'': "The ceramic material was apparently so named on account of the resemblance of its translucent surface to the nacreous shell of the mollusc. () The cowrie was probably originally so named on account of the resemblance of the fissure of its shell to a vulva (it is unclear whether the reference is spec. to the vulva of a sow)."〕 Porcelain can informally be referred to as china or fine china in some English-speaking countries, as China was the birthplace of porcelain making.〔OED, "China"; An Introduction to Pottery. 2nd edition. Rado P. Institute of Ceramic / Pergamon Press. 1988. Usage of "china" in this sense is inconsistent, & it may be used of other types of ceramics also.〕 Properties associated with porcelain include low permeability and elasticity; considerable strength, hardness, toughness, whiteness, translucency and resonance; and a high resistance to chemical attack and thermal shock.
Porcelain has been described as being "completely vitrified, hard, impermeable (even before glazing), white or artificially coloured, translucent (except when of considerable thickness), and resonant." However, the term ''porcelain'' lacks a universal definition and has "been applied in a very unsystematic fashion to substances of diverse kinds which have only certain surface-qualities in common".〔Definition in ''The Combined Nomenclature of the European Communities'' defines, Burton, 1906〕
== Scope ==
The most common uses of porcelain are for utilitarian wares and artistic objects. It can be difficult to distinguish between stoneware and porcelain because this depends upon how the terms are defined. A useful working definition of ''porcelain'' might include a broad range of ceramic wares, including some that could be classified as a stoneware. Porcelain is used to make household wares, decorative items and objects of fine art amongst other things.
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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