Hello all, I'm designing a teapot and would like to use some kind of molded cement or concrete rather than ceramic because cement does not need to be fired. I was wondering if there is any foodsafe cement avaliable or any sealants you would recommend. The sealent would need to be invisible and maintain the cement's natural matte texture.
Thanks for the help!
Joey
That sounds like a bad idea. For engineering purposes, you should assume cement and concrete have no strength in tension. A teapot must have a handle which will be in tension at the top, and when full of hot water it will have hoop stress which is also in tension.
Prestressed concrete has steel rods built into it which apply compession to counteract tensile forces. Failure doesn't occur until the tension exceeds the compression. Prestressing seems overkill for a teapot.
If you want an unfired material, how about a sol-gel glass?
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