Porcelain stoneware and Double firing tiles
Floor and wall tiles in porcelain stoneware and traditional double-fired ceramic – our area of excellence
Traditional and innovative solutions for every requirement
The Italian porcelain stoneware and wall and floor tiles made in the Reggio-Modena ceramic district are industrial products made from a body of clay, sand and other raw materials, widely available in nature. These bodies are processed and shaped raw, then dried and fired at high temperatures to provide a final product with characterised by hardness, mechanical strength, rigidity, fragility and inertness.
Porcelain stoneware: what makes this product so high performance?
There are some fundamental characteristics which, while they vary between individual products, nonetheless offer numerous advantages over other materials used for floors and walls:
Strenght
Its partially vitreous structure and high level of internal cohesion make ceramic a hard material which is very resistant to breakage and abrasion, as dictated by international standards. (EN 14411 ISO 13006). For further details about the characteristics of the product, please refer to the information on the packaging and data sheets.
Water-Proofing
Compact and non-porous, ceramic – especially vitrified ceramic – is waterproof and impact resistant and thus very quick and easy to clean. Ceramic also offers excellent frost resistance.
Safety
In contrast with many other materials, ceramic tiles are non-flammable, do not release toxic gas or fumes when burnt, and even inhibit the spread of flames, thus reducing the damage caused by fire to some extent.
Shapes and Sizes
Modern Italian ceramic tiles are available in modular sizes which run from a few cm to more than 1 m per side. This gives the user a vast choice of sizes and shapes.
Wellbeing
Ceramic is an inert material, in other words its composition is such as to prevent any release of substances hazardous to health. Furthermore, compared with some surfaces and objects, it does not retain dust, pollen or germs, thus minimising any health risks.
What is porcelain stoneware and how is it made?
Porcelain stoneware is a homogeneous material obtained from a mixture of high quality raw materials, which are first transformed into a fluid mixture, called slip, and then reduced to a very fine powder, after which it is compressed to form the tiles, and then fired at over 1200 degrees. This means that the surface colour of the tile is the same throughout its body. Furthermore, the resulting porcelain stoneware is very hard and thus particularly impact resistant; indeed, the Italian word “Gres” itself stands for the fact that the ceramic body is exceptionally strong.
The surface of the tile can be glazed or coloured with a vast range of pigments and textures to enable the user to personalise his walls and floors, both indoors and outdoors; alternatively it can be left in its natural finish to give a marble or stone effect, a wood effect or a metal one, and finally a cement effect, all styles which suit modern interior design techniques particularly well. None of these effects change the material’s technical hardness and strength in any way.
Porcelain stoneware, furthermore, has the lowest water absorption of any existing material and, thanks to its composition of natural clayey matter, is able to counteract the action of chemical and atmospheric agents.
Traditional double-fired ceramic.
Double-fired ceramic tiles are by far the most widely known and used, both because the product offers guaranteed safety, and because it is closely linked with the concept of traditional tile, often used not only for interior walls, but also for exterior walls. How does this method work?
Double-fired ceramic tiles are made by first firing the raw tile, and then firing it again after glazing, in the case of coloured and white glaze versions (the latter requires a special technique, but offers a marble effect of outstanding aesthetic value).
Compared with the single-firing technique, double-firing provides a more brilliant product with better defined colours and textures, and lower final weight.
The material is porous and of a ductile consistency, and is glazed to obtain the desired style. Given the more fragile nature of double-fired tiles, they are more suited for cladding walls than floors.
