Recently posted on a thread about etching metal to make an instrument panel for a tractor.
I have further researched the use of silk screening on metal and the use of fired enamels, it's the latter in which I had come across the use of uranium as a glaze.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium_tile
Vibrant colors of orange, yellow, red, green, blue, black, mauve, etc. were produced on tiles and other ceramic materials, and by some estimates, some 25% of all houses and apartments constructed during that period [circa 1920–1940] used varying amounts of bathroom or kitchen tiles that had been glazed with varying amounts of uranium.
These can now be readily found in older homes, apartments, and other buildings still standing from that era by use of a simple geiger counter that readily detects the beta radiation emitted by uranium's ever-present decay chain radio-daughters.[1]
In most situations, the radiation exposure is not excessive, but there are some exceptions in which pure uranium oxide [which produces red-orange coloration as a glaze] on bathroom floors can pose a hazard for infants crawling around for hours on end, day after day.
Register To Reply
Originally Posted by pjost
Bookmarks