Porcelain is technically a specialized subset of ceramics; both are made of clay and kiln fired. But porcelain uses different raw materials and glazes—and has higher density and is fired at a higher temperature. This makes the material more durable and water resistant.

Porcelain (/ ˈpɔːrs (ə) lɪn /), also called china, is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between 1,200 and 1,400 °C (2,200 and 2,600 °F). The greater strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arise mainly from vitrification and the formation of the mineral mullite within the body at ...

The Chinese have been making porcelain as far back as perhaps the first century. What is porcelain, exactly, and why did it take hundreds of years for the process to be duplicated anywhere else?

porcelain, vitrified pottery with a white, fine-grained body that is usually translucent, as distinguished from earthenware, which is porous, opaque, and coarser. The distinction between porcelain and stoneware, the other class of vitrified pottery material, is less clear. In China, porcelain is defined as pottery that is resonant when struck.

To make porcelain, the raw materials—such as clay, felspar, and silica—are first crushed using jaw crushers, hammer mills, and ball mills. After cleaning to remove improperly sized materials, the mixture is subjected to one of four forming processes—soft plastic forming, stiff plastic forming, pressing, or casting—depending on the type of ware being produced. The ware then undergoes a ...