FreeShip- Dolomite, Very Coarse, ~16 Mesh, Glaze Matte Agent, Magnesium Source - (Prompt rebate on orders with 3 or more FreeShip items!)

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This material is a very coarse white dolomite with large particle sizes of mostly 0.75mm to 1.5mm. There are a few particles that range outside that, from 0.5mm to 2.25mm. It's around a 14x25 mesh, or about a median of 16 mesh.
Dolomite is a calcium carbonate-like (aka calcite) material. They are both used in ceramics and as fillers in resins, although calcite is used much more often than dolomite for that purpose. Calcium carbonate as a resin filler yields a fairly white, opaque blend. This dolomite as a resin filler yields a translucent light tan in thin sections. We have a 200 mesh size that yields a darker tan that's less translucent. Calcium carbonate and dolomite are similar in several ways. They are both carbonate minerals, both anhydrous, both found mostly in sedimentary rocks. Calcite, however, is easily found in all three types of rocks, sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic. Their physical properties, like hardness, heaviness, colors found, are similar but not exactly the same. The chemical name for calcite is calcium carbonate. The chemical name for dolomite is calcium magnesium carbonate. You can tell from the chemical names that dolomite acts like a calcium carbonate plus a magnesium carbonate. The formula for calcite is CaCO3. The formula for dolomite is CaCO3.MgCO3 (or CaMg(CO3)2). You can also see from the formulas that the main difference is the presence of magnesium in dolomite.
Their physical properties are:
-Calcium carbonate mohs hardness is 2.5-3.0.
-Dolomite mohs hardness 3.5-4.0.
-Calcium carbonate specific gravity 2.70-2.71.
-Dolomite specific gravity 2.84–2.86.
-Calcium carbonate is a source of calcium.
-Dolomite is a source of magnesium and calcium.
So, to sum up, they are similar but dolomite is somewhat harder and heavier than calcium carbonate. And dolomite gives us magnesium in addition to calcium, while calcium carbonate only gives us calcium (that matters when comparing the two for use in ceramics).
Other names for dolomite: dolomitic limestone, dolostone [the rock that contains dolomite], Magnesiodolomite, Pearl Spar, Compound Spar.
Some Mineralogy facts: it can have a pearly lustre, is sub-conchoidal when fractured and fractured surfaces can have a vitreous to sub-vitreous lustre, and it is translucent to transparent.
CAMEO, the art materials database lists a few uses of dolomite { http://cameo.mfa.org/wiki/Dolomite } :
"Although usually a translucent white in color, the mineral dolomite varies widely to yellow, pink, green, brown and gray. Iron is often a minor component replacing some of the magnesium. Dolomite rock has been and is currently used as a building stone, in furnace linings, in ceramics, and as a filler in paper. Under high temperatures and pressures, dolomite is metamorphosed into dolomitic marble."

Wikipedia lists additional uses { https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolomite } :
"Dolomite is used as an ornamental stone, a concrete aggregate, and a source of magnesium oxide [and] magnesium....Where calcite limestone is uncommon or too costly, dolomite is sometimes used in its place as a flux for the smelting of iron and steel. Large quantities of processed dolomite are used in the production of float glass.
In horticulture, dolomite and dolomitic limestone are added to soils and soilless potting mixes as a pH buffer and as a magnesium source.
Dolomite is also used as the substrate in marine (saltwater) aquariums to help buffer changes in pH of the water.
Calcined dolomite is also used as a catalyst for destruction of tar in the gasification of biomass at high temperature.
Particle physics researchers like to build particle detectors under layers of dolomite to enable the detectors to detect the highest possible number of exotic particles. Because dolomite contains relatively minor quantities of radioactive materials, it can insulate against interference from cosmic rays without adding to background radiation levels.
In addition to being an industrial mineral, dolomite is highly valued by collectors and museums when it forms large, transparent crystals. The specimens that appear in the magnesite quarry exploited in Eugui, Esteribar, Navarra (Spain) are considered among the best in the world.

Digital Fire, the ceramics material database, says { https://digitalfire.com/4sight/material/dolomite_273.html } :
"Dolomite as a ceramic material is a uniform calcium magnesium carbonate. In ceramic glazes it is used as a source of magnesium and calcium. Other than talc, dolomite is the principle source of MgO in high temperature raw glazes. 'Dolomite matte' stoneware glazes, for example, are highly prized for their pleasant 'silky' surface texture. Dolomite by itself is refractory, but when combined with the typical oxides in a glaze (especially boron) it readily enters the melt.
Dolomite Glaze Matteness [with] Silky surface:
Dolomite can be used in glazes melting over 1170C to produce a silky matte surface. This occurs because high percentages of dolomite help to form diopside crystals (CaMg(SiO3)2) on cooling, and it is these that produce the popular butter-matte effect."-

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Reviews

Reviews (3)

Average:

Mar 23, 2022

Great! Perfect for my project.

Cubelets

Jan 13, 2021

Arrived well, no problems. Thank you.

Elia Sanchez

Feb 14, 2020

Exactly what I needed perfect!

Alessia Ellis