So, my parents gave us a set of yixing teaware for Christmas, labelled
"Tang Chaoxing Purple Teapots." They smelled right, the color seemed
right, but I really don't have any idea how to tell if this stuff is real
or not.

So... I took it into work and asked the mass spectro guys to put it in
the machine. They did, and they got this out:

Element % +/-
------- ----- ----
Si 46.08 0.19
Fe 28.31 0.19
Al 21.72 0.20
Ti 2.05 0.14
Mn 2.22 0.06
V 0.22 0.06
P 0.20 0.01
Zr 0.16 0.00
Pb 0.02 0.01

This resulted in all of the nondestructive testing people hanging out and
asking "what the hell IS this?" I'm guessing it is real yixing from the
high iron content, although now I am really curious what form of iron salt
is actually in there. The detectable lead content is probably worrisome
to somebody. But what is with the titanium? Does it just come along for
free with the alumina?

Anyway, I found this interesting and if this helps anyone else identify
yixing ware, feel free to use it. The stuff definitely does have some
magnetic properties; it will change inductance of a coil if it's in the
middle, like a ferrite. The ND guys kept asking if it was actually a
ferrite. I'm not sure what to say...
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."