Akiln is a thermally insulated chamber, a type ofoven, that produces temperatures sufficient to complete some process, such as hardening, drying, orchemical changes. Kilns have been used for millennia to turn objects made fromclay intopottery,tiles andbricks. Various industries userotary kilns forpyroprocessing (to calcinate ores, such aslimestone tolime forcement) and to transform many other materials.
According to theOxford English Dictionary, kiln was derived from the words cyline, cylene, cyln(e) inOld English, in turn derived fromLatinculina ('kitchen'). InMiddle English, the word is attested as kulne, kyllne, kilne, kiln, kylle, kyll, kil, kill, keele, kiele.[1][2] In Greek the wordκαίειν, kaiein, means 'to burn'.
The word 'kiln' was originally pronounced 'kil' with the 'n' silent, as is referenced inWebster's Dictionary of 1828[3] and inEnglish Words as Spoken and Written for Upper Grades by James A. Bowen 1900: "The digraph ln, n silent, occurs in kiln. A fall down the kiln can kill you."[4] Bowen was noting that "kill" and "kiln" arehomophones.[5]
Pit fired pottery was produced for thousands of years before the earliest known kiln, which dates to around 6000BCE, and was found at theYarim Tepe site in modernIraq.[6]Neolithic kilns were able to produce temperatures greater than 900 °C (1652 °F).[7]Uses include:
Kilns are an essential part of the manufacture of almost all types ofceramics. Ceramics require high temperatures for chemical and physical reactions to occur that will permanently alter the unfired body. In the case of pottery, clay materials are shaped, dried and then fired in a kiln. The final characteristics are determined by the composition and preparation of the clay body and the temperature at which it is fired. After a first firing,glazes may be used and the ware is fired a second time to fuse the glaze into the body. A third firing at a lower temperature may be required to fix overglaze decoration. Modern kilns often have sophisticated electronic control systems, althoughpyrometric devices are often also used.
Clay consists of fine-grained particles that are relatively weak and porous. Clay is combined with other minerals to create a workable clay body. The firing process includessintering. This heats the clay until the particles partially melt and flow together, creating a strong, single mass, composed of a glassy phase interspersed with pores and crystalline material. Through firing, the pores are reduced in size, causing the material to shrink slightly.
In the broadest terms, there are two types of kilns: intermittent and continuous, both being aninsulate box with a controlled inner temperature and atmosphere.
Acontinuous kiln, sometimes called atunnel kiln, is long with only the central portion directly heated. From the cool entrance, ware is slowly moved through the kiln, and its temperature is increased steadily as it approaches the central, hottest part of the kiln. As it continues through the kiln, the temperature is reduced until the ware exits the kiln nearly at room temperature. A continuous kiln is energy-efficient, because heat given off during cooling is recycled to pre-heat the incoming ware. In some designs, the ware is left in one place, while the heating zone moves across it. Kilns in this type include:
In theintermittent kiln, the ware is placed inside the kiln, the kiln is closed, and the internal temperature is increased according to a schedule. After the firing is completed, both the kiln and the ware are cooled. The ware is removed, the kiln is cleaned and the next cycle begins. Kilns in this type include:[9]
Kiln technology is very old. Kilns developed from a simple earthen trench filled with pots and fuelpit firing, to modern methods. One improvement was to build a firing chamber around pots with baffles and a stoking hole. This conserved heat. A chimney stack improved the air flow ordraw of the kiln, thus burning the fuel more completely.
Chinese kiln technology has always been a key factor in the development ofChinese pottery, and until recent centuries was the most advanced in the world. The Chinese developed kilns capable of firing at around 1,000 °C before 2000BCE. These were updraft kilns, often built below ground. Two main types of kiln were developed by about 200 AD and remained in use until modern times. These are thedragon kiln of hilly southernChina, usually fuelled by wood, long and thin and running up a slope, and the horseshoe-shapedmantou kiln of the north Chinese plains, smaller and more compact. Both could reliably produce the temperatures of up to 1300 °C or more needed forporcelain. In the late Ming, theegg-shaped kiln orzhenyao was developed atJingdezhen and mainly used there. This was something of a compromise between the other types, and offered locations in the firing chamber with a range of firing conditions.[10]
BothAncient Roman pottery and medieval Chinese pottery could be fired in industrial quantities, with tens of thousands of pieces in a single firing.[11] Early examples of simpler kilns found inBritain include those that made roof-tiles during theRoman occupation. These kilns were built up the side of a slope, such that a fire could be lit at the bottom and the heat would rise up into the kiln.
Traditional kilns include:
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With theindustrial age, kilns were designed to use electricity and more refined fuels, includingnatural gas andpropane. Many large industrial pottery kilns use natural gas, as it is generally clean, efficient and easy to control. Modern kilns can be fitted with computerized controls allowing for fine adjustments during the firing. A user may choose to control the rate of temperature climb orramp,hold orsoak the temperature at any given point, or control the rate of cooling. Both electric and gas kilns are common for smaller scale production in industry and craft, handmade and sculptural work.
Modern kilns include:
Green wood coming straight from the felled tree has far too high a moisture content to be commercially useful and will rot, warp and split. Bothhardwoods andsoftwood must be left todry out until the moisture content is between 18% and 8%. This can be a long process unless accelerated by use of a kiln. A variety of kiln technologies exist today: conventional, dehumidification, solar, vacuum and radio frequency.
Conventional wood dry kilns[13] are either package-type (side-loader) or track-type (tram) construction.[14] Mosthardwood lumber kilns are side-loader kilns in which fork trucks are used to load lumber packages into the kiln. Mostsoftwood kilns are track types in which the timber is loaded on kiln/track cars for loading the kiln. Modern high-temperature, high-air-velocity conventional kilns can typically dry 25-millimetre-thick (1 in)green wood in 10 hours down to a moisture content of 18%. However, 25-mm-thickgreen red oak requires about 28 days to dry down to a moisture content of 8%.[citation needed]
Heat is typically introduced via steam running through fin/tube heat exchangers controlled by on/off pneumatic valves. Humidity is removed by a system of vents, the specific layout of which are usually particular to a given manufacturer. In general, cool dry air is introduced at one end of the kiln while warm moist air is expelled at the other. Hardwood conventional kilns also require the introduction of humidity via either steam spray or cold water misting systems to keep the relative humidity inside the kiln from dropping too low during the drying cycle. Fan directions are typically reversed periodically to ensure even drying of larger kiln charges.[15]
Most softwood kilns operate below 115 °C (240 °F) temperature. Hardwood kiln drying schedules typically keep the dry bulb temperature below 80 °C (180 °F). Difficult-to-dry species might not exceed 60 °C (140 °F).[16]
Dehumidification kilns are similar to other kilns in basic construction and drying times are usually comparable. Heat comes primarily from an integral dehumidification unit that also removes humidity. Auxiliary heat is often provided early in the schedule to supplement the dehumidifier.
Solar kilns are conventional kilns, typically built by hobbyists to keep initial investment costs low. Heat is provided via solar radiation, while internal air circulation is typically passive.
Vacuum and radio frequency kilns reduce the air pressure to attempt to speed up the drying process. A variety of these vacuum technologies exist, varying primarily in the method heat is introduced into the wood charge. Hot water platten vacuum kilns use aluminum heating plates with the water circulating within as the heat source, and typically operate at significantly reduced absolute pressure. Discontinuous and SSV (super-heated steam) use atmosphere pressure to introduce heat into the kiln charge. The entire kiln charge comes up to full atmospheric pressure, the air in the chamber is then heated and finally a vacuum is pulled as the charge cools. SSV run at partial-atmospheres, typically around 1/3 of full atmospheric pressure, in a hybrid of vacuum and conventional kiln technology (SSV kilns are significantly more popular in Europe where the locally harvested wood is easier to dry than the North American woods.) RF/V (radio frequency + vacuum) kilns use microwave radiation to heat the kiln charge, and typically have the highest operating cost due to the heat of vaporization being provided by electricity rather than local fossil fuel or waste wood sources.[citation needed]
The economics of different wood drying technologies are based on the total energy, capital, insurance/risk, environmental impacts, labor, maintenance, and product degradation costs. These costs, which can be a significant part of plant costs, involve the differential impact of the presence of drying equipment in a specific plant. Every piece of equipment from the green trimmer to the infeed system at the planer mill is part of the "drying system". The true costs of the drying system can only be determined when comparing the total plant costs and risks with and without drying.[citation needed]
Kiln dried firewood was pioneered during the 1980s, and was later adopted extensively in Europe due to the economic and practical benefits of selling wood with a lower moisture content (with optimal moisture levels of under 20% being much easier to achieve).[17][18][19][20][21]
The total (harmful) air emissions produced by wood kilns, including their heat source, can be significant. Typically, the higher the temperature at which the kiln operates, the larger the quantity of emissions that are produced (per mass unit of water removed). This is especially true in the drying of thin veneers and high-temperature drying of softwoods.[citation needed]
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