and shaped objects, but they can be used as laboratory equipment in a number of high-tech contexts. Frits made predominantly of silica, diboron trioxide (B2O3) and soda are used as enamels on steel pipes. Another type of frit can be used as a biomaterial, which is a material made to become a part of, or to come into intimate contact with, one or more living organisms. Molten soda-lime-silica glass can be "poured into water to obtain a frit", which is then ground to a powder. These powders can be used as "scaffolds for bone substitutions". Also, certain frits can be added to high-tech ceramics: such frits are made by milling zinc oxide (ZnO) and boric acid (H3BO3) with zirconium (Zr) beads, then heating this mixture to 1100 °C, quenching it, and grinding it. This frit is then added to a lithium titanate (Li2TiO3) ceramic powder, which enables the ceramic to sinter at a lower temperature while still keeping its “microwave dielectric properties." In laboratory and industrial chemical process equipment, the term frit denotes a filter made by the sintering-together of glass particles to produce a piece of known porosity referred to as fritted glass. Automotive windshields incorporate a dark band of ceramic dots around the edges called a frit. In 2008, the Spanish ceramic frit, glaze and colours industry included 27 companies employing nearly 4,000 people with a combined annual turnover of approximately €1 billion. In 2022, the global market for ceramic frits was estimated to be worth a total of US$ 1.67 billion. See also References External links Blue frit from Amarna now in the Petrie Museum Fritting pan with green frit now in the Petrie Museum An Archaeometallurgical Explanation for the Disappearance of Egyptian and Near Eastern Cobalt-Blue Glass at the end of the Late Bronze Age Internet Archaeology Frit Consortium a trade body for 34 European frit manufacturers Ceramic materials Warm glass