Glass enamel they fused to aluminum in the 50s?

Hello to orchid-land,

I have been researching the art of enamel on metals with the idea
that I may try this and wanted to know if anyone knows what kind of
enamel they fused to aluminum in the 1950’s which is referred to in
the linked article.

I am very new to the idea but understand that hard enamels fire at
around 1500 F, and then is the only other choice the soft enamels
that fire around 250 or so?

According to this 1950’s article, more than two companies developed
hard enamels that fire at 1000 F and came in leaded and unleaded
varieties. It was developed to fuse glass to aluminum that has a low
melting temperature. It says Dupont was one of the first but that
many companies began making the same kind of 1000 degree F enamel.

I use a custom electric kiln and don’t like to ramp up my coils over
1300 degrees because I have tight corner bends and think they would
burn out at 1500.

Finding a relatively hard glass enamel that fuses at 1000 degrees
would be great for practicing with and using in my kiln.

Firing Glass Enamels on Aluminum: Design: Vol 68, No 4

thanks for any
Rick

Thompson Enamel used to carry the enamel for aluminum, but no more.
What I understand is that the enamel has a relatively short shelf
life for some reason. You might ask Mr. Ellis at Thompson for more
Eileen