[Clayart] Lithium
Joseph Herbert via Clayart
Potters are usually at the mercy of the larger ceramics industry and the
vagaries of mineral mining for the availability of the materials we use in
our glaze buckets. In the case of lithium, potters are competing with Elon
Musk and the playing field is different. A battery for a Model S Tesla
apparently contains 138 pounds of lithium in a mixed metal form. And that’s
not the only model and Tesla is not the only electric car maker!
The few grams of lithium you need for your glaze have to be in an insoluble
form, ‘cause that’s the way glaze slurries are (except for Shino) and
soluble glaze components cause problems. So, your need for spodumene is
competing with societal “need” for lightweight high capacity batteries to
make screaming fast Model S Teslas. (Plaid model s 0-60 mph in 1.9
sec.!?!?! After traveling about 90 feet??? Yes, society DOES need this! )
You can take a few moments here to look at YouTube videos of burning Teslas
someone drove into salt water and mourn the loss of 100 pounds of lithium.
In the past I have noted that potters seem willing to accept greater risk
than are other groups (except teenage boys). I say this because some might
look to new or used lithium batteries as a replacement for their spodumene.
Lithium batteries are dangerous; remember those labels on the Amazon box
last time you replaced the portable drill battery? They really mean it!
Some lithium batteries have flammable (explosive!?!) electrolytes makes
opening these batteries very dangerous.
Worse than that, the anodes of the batteries are a complex mix of lithium
and other metals, like cobalt, manganese, and iron, so any lithium you
might extract will be intimately mixed with other undesired metals. Just
recycle them!
Spodumene maybe has become the Albany Slip or Gerstely Borate of this age.
We won’t like it, we will mourn the favorite glaze (now lost forever), but
we adapt and go on.
Joe
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glasshole09 via Clayart
Yes, battery demand is driving prices up. Unless supplies step-up or some better electron storage technology appears this won't change.
In Brazil, there are Li-bearing spars and syenite-ish rocks obtained as a byproduct of obtaining other more valuable minerals, such as tantalum. This byproduct is sold as a 'feldspar' to ceramists and glassmakers, and it has 1-1.5% Li2O; Li essentially replacing Na and/or K in aluminosilicate host. Here is a link to a study using one of these in glaze frit: https://abceram.org.br/wp-content/uploads/area_associado/58/PDF/15-001.pdf It's in português, but the data is clear. The Li shows up in the ore as spodumene. This particular material has a lot of Fe2O3, which is not good for delicate work, but not an obstacle for tile — roofing or paving.... nor pots, of course.
Li2O, as such, introduced as concentrated spodumene currently costs about $10k USD/tonne. Introduced as Li2CO3, it's about $50k/ton. Adding either to a frit increases the cost/atom by the cost of making the frit.
I never saw where Li2O did anything so spectacular in glaze or glass that for the cost made it interesting — it's not good for colors, but can help hardness and durability, and moderate expansion, which can matter a lot in certain niche applications. In glass it is brutal against the glass contact materials.
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