Study on low-temperature pottery thermometry via thermal expansion analysis of Yaozhou kiln loess

Abstract An accurate method of estimating the firing temperature of low-temperature pottery unearthed in Shaanxi Province was proposed based on the firing temperature dependence of the thermal expansion characteristic of the indicator mineral. In this study, the samples with different firing temperatures were prepared using the Yaozhou kiln loess, and analyzed by XRF, XRD, TG-DTA, SEM and thermal dilatometer. The results indicated that the calcite in the sample gradually decomposed with the increase of firing temperature. Due to its decomposition behavior being reflected in the thermal expansion curve, the original firing temperature range of samples could be predicted by identifying the thermal expansion curve characteristics. To calculate the original firing temperature ( T ), the expansion-shrinkage peak area ( A ), the linear relationship between A and T was established: T = − 243.90 A + 1019.51 . The method was applied to the pottery fragments unearthed from the tomb of Liu Jing of the Tang Dynasty.