What is a tile?

Ceramic tiles are flat, thin items made of clay, silica, fluxes, colouring and other raw materials. They are generally used to pave floors and cover walls and façades. The clay used to make the slab may be for red firing or white firing. Both the floor tiles and the wall tiles are impermeable ceramic tiles that are normally made using a clay slab and vitreous coating: ceramic glaze. Tiles, anywhere/any place The wide range of ceramic products currently available on the market is conditioned by the different uses of this construction material. Depending on their use, there are different types of products with different characteristics. They are currently used for floors and facing.

The manufacture of ceramic floor and wall tiles has undergone considerable and continuous changes over the past years. Ceramic wall tiles are normally porous, which favours their adhesion to walls. On the contrary, floor tiles have low porosity, with low-medium water absorption, which gives them better technical characteristics. Traditionally, tiles were manufactured following different methods and by means of a practically manual process. As from the seventies, the process has gradually been automated and methods have been unified considerably, with dry pressing being the most common and allowing the product to be manufactured in two different ways:

In this process, the pressed body is fired to form a bisque and subsequently a glaze is applied on top of this and the body is once again fired to obtain the final finish.

In the single firing process, the glaze is applied directly on to the pressed and raw body; both are fired simultaneously to obtain the final finish. For many years there has been a controversy with regard to which of the two methods is better. In fact, having the correct formulation of both the body and the glaze, and keeping strict control of all the manufacturing stages, it is possible to produce good tiles using any of the methods. Traditionally the double firing process was used more, with firing cycles of forty and twenty hours for the first and second firing respectively (firing of the body and of the glaze). It is currently more convenient to follow the single firing process, with cycles that last only forty-five minutes. Moreover, in addition to the economy of the single firing process, it is very easy to automatize the different manufacturing processes, which in turn results in cost reductions. Ceramic floor and wall tiles are obtained by preparing a composition of purified raw materials comprising aluminous silicates, with different compositions in the case of floor and wall tiles in red body or in white body. These compositions undergo dry or wet grinding until a fine grain size is obtained, after which they undergo granulation or drying by subsequent atomisation in order to obtain granules with defined characteristics (size, shape, apparent density, fluidity, etc.). The granulated powder is the base for the obtention of the ceramic product and its homogeneity guarantees the constancy of the physical properties of these materials. The granules feeds a oleodynamic press with a force of 600 to 1400 MT, that forms the tile into the shape and thickness chosen, for which metallic moulds with the exact dimensions are available. Subsequently, the shaped tiles are dried and glazed with several layers of glazes of different compositions and with optional decorations in accordance with the models available. Once the tiles have been glazed and decorated, they are placed in an oven for firing in more or less quick cycles and high temperatures, depending on the type of product being manufactured. Maximum temperatures depend on the type of product to be obtained. The ceramic glaze and decoration embellish the tiles and give them the technical superficial characteristics desired. In the case of ceramic wall tiles, these are impermeability, resistance to detergents, etc, and in the case of floor tiles, they are resistance to abrasion, acids and scratching, etc. The techniques, process control requirements, careful design that meets the needs of each atmosphere and the care taken in classification, give the product homogeneous characteristics that are in accordance with the requirements of its use.

Ceramic tiles are impermeable and are made of a clay body with or without an essentially vitreous coating: ceramic glaze. The raw materials that they are made of come from the earth which, together the water and firing, produce a natural high quality product. Thanks to the use of these materials and high technological development, today a wide offer of ceramic products that offer many advantages is available. All this is produced through the use of three basic environmental elements: earth or clay, water and fire.

Ceramic ware is characterised by its easiness to clean, its ability to be kept from dirt and any type of corruptionCeramic ware is easily and simply cleaned with a damp cloth and if the surface is dirty or greasy, cleaning agents such as detergents or bleach may be used. The nature of a ceramic surface prevents anything from sticking, and grease may be eliminated easily. Thanks to this, ceramic products are today used generally in bathrooms, kitchens, hospitals, laboratories, swimming pools, and factories..., where their use prevents the generation of dirt and odours. On the other hand, their ability to act as electrical insulators, helps to make ceramic surfaces repel electrically active atmospherical dust, thus contributing towards our material ease.

The action of these organisms on certain non-ceramic surfaces is progressive and may cause stains on the surfaces and deterioration on their inside. Moreover, the proliferation of these agents must be prevented for hygienic reasons. For this reason, their use has increased in places where water is used continuously, such as in bathrooms, kitchens, factories, laboratories, swimming pools, façades...

Ceramic surfaces do not require any maintenance after they have been laid, except normal cleaning. Their resistance to abrupt temperature changes, chemical and biological agents, their hardness, resistance to friction..., gives them durability in buildings. A new building made of tiles may remain untouched anywhere. This is why their use has proliferated everywhere and stands out in façades, public areas, shopping centres, promenades and avenues... Their incombustibility also helps to prevent the spread of fires.