What is the Difference Between Porcelain and Ceramic

Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary says that porcelain is "a hard, fine-grained, sonorous, nonporous, and usu. translucent and white ceramic ware that consists essentially of kaolin, quartz, and feldspar and is fired at high temperatures." It also states that china is "vitreous porcelain wares (as dishes, vases, or ornaments) for domestic use." My interpretation (please take with a grain of salt) is that china is vases, cups, dishes, bowls, etc. for home use. Porcelain would be the other stuff that is white (figurines, art, etc. - painted or not). "Other" would be automotive inserts, electrical insulators, aerospace heat shields, etc. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the effort but we are talking toilets here

There is one tariff number for toilets of porcelain or china and another for toilets of cermic other than porcelain or china. I'm trying to determine the difference in the materials. I'm guessing there is a specific type of clay required to get porcelain while almost any fired clay qualifies as ceramic. Or some specific ingredient added to clay to get porcelain. (Or customs is just playing with my head is another possibility) BTW the tariff has the same breakouts for dishes, plates and vases.

Porcelain is mostly make from kaolin. China another name of porcelain due to where it originated. Ceramic can be any inorganic substance that when heated will form a solid.

Bricks, stoneware, even glass is considered ceramic.

"CERAMICS

The word ceramic is derived from the Greek word κεραμικός (keramos). The term covers inorganic non-metallic materials which are formed by the action of heat. Up until the 1950s or so, the most important of these were the traditional clays, made into pottery, bricks, tiles and the like, along with cements and glass. Clay-based ceramics are described in the article on pottery. A composite material of ceramic and metal is known as cermet. The word ceramic can be an adjective, and can also be used as a noun to refer to a ceramic material, or a product of ceramic manufacture. Ceramics may also be used as a singular noun referring to the art of making things out of ceramic materials. The technology of manufacturing and usage of ceramic materials is part of the field of ceramic engineering.

China
The Chinese perfected porcelain by using kaolin, a white clay, mixing it with china stone and firing it at high temperatures. That was in the 10th century and it took another 800 years before true porcelain was developed in Europe.
China, in this context, originally refered to a ceramic dinnerware coming out of the country of China which was particularly fine and exceptionally white. It was a standard of quality unknown elsewhere at the time.

To answer the question then, China is a ceramic product but of a very fine quality and it should more accurately be called porcelain.

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_between_ceramic_and_porcelain#ixzz1fyJ8tD40

Everything you ever wanted to know about porcelain....

http://www.answers.com/topic/porcelain

What do people in China call their good dinnerware?

低 能

, dīnéng

A PLATE...

No, no, no...

A common American term for the expensive dishes that are only brought out of the display case on special occasions is "the good china".

Well, there must be similar special events and meals where the Chinese bring forth their nice dinnerware to impress the guests... is it called "the good china" in China?

Willow?

I meant to imply that to some, just having a plate would be dining in style..

Ah, gotcha.

I'm a little slow on the uptake sometimes.

I get the sticks-and-box, but how about 'willow'? ER, will I be embarrassed by how dense I am being?

<in the voice of Churchill the Dog> Oh yes, yes, yes...

Willow pattern china

Ok thank you all for your input. I think I found it following one link to another I ended up here. Seems the answer is in the ingredients, you can make a ceramic from many types of clay but true porcelain comes only from kaolin clay and petuntse.

Thanks for the help folks.

Always a pleasure playing word games with you.

It seems the difference is the hardness, which is a product of the materials used and the firing temperature, at which point ceramic becomes porcelain eludes me, but it must be here someplace...

http://www.engineershandbook.com/Materials/ceramics.htm

In essence, all china is ceramic is porcelain.

Customs is all about walls and duty rates and VAT rates, so the importer wants the lowest duty and VAT and customs wants the highest.

The best way to handle this is find the lowest duty and VAT, and have the seller describe these goods.

China Toilet, Porcelain Toilet - whatever.

Customs just wants an invoice and a shipping label and the company catalog to say the same thing.

So the shipper must be thorough and send a catalog with all items described as catalog number -toilet - porcelain or what ever.

If you get the invoices for 10 years at the lowest rate, and yet the catalog has a descriptor at a higher rate, if customs ever finds out and sees that catalog, they will back charge you for 7 years unpaid duty and VAT

Actually no.

Customs and their duties are no longer considered a revenue source for Canada, haven't been for a long time now. Their primary function is protection, protection of Canadian citizens and to a lesser degree Canadian industry.

The BEST way to handle it is to do it right. When there is a different rate for a china toilet and a porcelain toilet, the best way is to learn the difference between those two materials and then ask the manufacturer (not the importer) what his goods are made of.

Please don't ask your shippers to include a catalog with their goods unless the catalog is included on the commercial invoice, packing list and all other documents. The catalog will have to be declared to customs and accounted for on the entry. Make sure they list a realistic value as well. Much easier not to send one at all.

The time limit for re-classification by the way is four years not 10. the same limit applies for a value adjustment but only 1 year to alter the country of origin and tariff treatment declared.

The absolute best way to get things right and have worry free commercial importations is to get a binding ruling from Customs BEFORE you import goods. This is a fun procedure where you can ask customs their opinion on an item and if you don't like their decision there are many avenues open to argue your case. Usually the top level is the CITT (Canadian International Trade Tridunal) where the case will be settled the same as in any court of law. You argue your case, present your evidence and experts and Customs does the same. The tribunal then issues their decision based on the law, the product in question and applicable precident. NOT on what the catalogue said.

I hope you give better engineering advice than you do importing advice.

Things must have changed. I used to own a group of computer shops in Toronto and Rochester NY, and from 1982-1985 I was importing about $10 million per year of computer goods from Taiwan and HK.

Admittedly, the harmonized codes now used are different to what I used.

I did all my own entries manually, into Canada, the USA forced me to use a broker or post a bond, paying cash and certified cheque, and my observations are somewhat dated. We paid the duty and Federal sales tax. My suppliers would often include a single copy of their catalog and this elicited little attention. multiple copies of a catalog would have to be entered.

I found a wide variation in customs officers. Some were martinets, obsessed with their own authority, and others were more experienced. I learned how to deal with each type.

I found it to be quite important that the descriptions on the invoices matched the tariff item listings. If not, some officers would want to place the goods into a catch-all category (at a higher rate). I would not fraudulently describe an item, too risky, but I would get is properly described in the tariff item scheme of things so it fitted into place exactly. I can not speak to how far back customs can go for re-assessments, because I sold out in 1985.

The harmonised system seems to be an improvement - of sorts, I see it has spawned its own group of holders of the secret keys...

Porcelain contains more glass than basic ceramic and china even more glass components.

Thank you.

Now that is an answer I can use. I found the same information of a couple of ceramic websites. This is the type of information that would be presented to Customs of a higher court if the issue ever came to a dispute.

The WTO (World Trade Organization) may write the tariff with one meaning in mind but if that is not exactly what they wrote they get shot down in court. They can't get up in court and say for example "well we wrote porcelain but we meant any ceramic with a hardness over x on the Mohs scale."

This is one of the typical situation we all as ceramic scientists and engineer struggle through out the life and still not able to provide a perfect definition. I will try to give a justification and will not claim I am correct.

Ceramic body is high temperature oxide/ oxides mixed sintered to together to have a usable shape. giving shape some time small amount of glass is added as high temperature binder to hold the oxide parties together which does not like to have any usability in most of the time.

Porcelain on the ther hand is also ceramic but this ceramic started from glass and then converted to glass ceramics. In doing this we created ceramic and used left over glass as high temperature binder. Since this is very unique method of making ceramic product which is smooth because of higher percent of left over glass and gives as smooth finish feeling we named it Porcelain. Most of the common porcelain has one common magterials Kaolin and then other ingredient based on what color and smoothness we like