In recent years, technical advances and innovative production processes have made it possible to manufacture a new type of building material: sintered stones.
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Sintered Stones consist of natural inorganic materials such as clay, kaolin and feldspar. In a complex production process, the previously finely ground starting materials are pressed together and fused at high temperatures of 1280 degrees Celsius to form resistant slabs.
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Sintered stones form an alternative to the building materials previously available on the market, such as natural stone, quartz and ceramic tiles. But how do the materials differ and what is there to consider when buying?
Since the differences are not obvious at first glance, they are explained below.
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Ceramic tiles
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The main ingredient of ceramics is clay. Depending on the area of application and the resulting requirements, however, mixtures from various clay pits as well as additives such as kaolin, calcite or fireclay are added.
The starting materials are mainly shaped into the appropriate form by two processes. In the so-called extrusion process, the ceramic mass is formed into a long strip by extrusion and then cut into the desired tile size. For the dry pressing process, specially prepared ceramic powder is pressed into templates under high pressure and then fired.
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Ceramic tiles are divided into two qualities: first and second choice. Both visual and qualitative requirements are placed on glaze, surface, dimensional stability and water absorption. To assess the quality of ceramic tiles, factors such as water absorption, abrasion resistance, slip resistance, breaking strength and bending strength, acid resistance, stain sensitivity and ecological aspects are taken into consideration. Depending on the application, different requirements are needed and require certain standards in the above quality factors.
Ceramic tiles are a mass product and are available in many different patterns and colors.
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Quartz stone
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Quartz stone consists of the natural mineral quartz which is bonded with resin under high pressure in a vacuum to form slabs. Quartz stone offers uniform colors and patterns, but is not suitable for large sizes due to its monotony. The quality of quartz stone can vary widely. While high quality quartz stone is relatively hard, stain resistant, heat resistant and scratch resistant, low quality quartz stone can easily allow dirt to penetrate inside and even relatively low temperatures can cause the quartz stone to melt, emitting unpleasant odors.
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Natural stone
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Unlike the other alternatives, natural stone does not require much explanation. Any rock that occurs naturally in nature can be called natural stone. Natural stone has been used for thousands of years and is known for its naturally beautiful appearance and high price.
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Quality and color is highly dependent on the mine and cannot be guaranteed uniformly. Elaborate patterns and fancy colors are often accompanied by very high prices.
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Due to its naturalness, natural stone has some disadvantages compared to its processed competitors. Due to its open-pored structure, natural stone is susceptible to dirt buildup and bacterial proliferation. Cracks and associated fractures are also a well-known problem of natural stone, which also makes transportation very costly.
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As described above, Sintered Stones consist of natural materials such as natural stone powder, feldspar and other inorganic raw materials. Processing gives Sintered Stones their shape and exceptional hardness. The resulting slabs can then be printed and further processed. The different patterns and colors are almost inexhaustible, they can be based on natural stone but also take on many other forms such as a wood look. Through printing, the choice of patterns and shapes is almost limitless and gives virtually no restrictions to creativity, even if the patterns are of course not as unique as those of natural stones.
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Due to the high pressure during production, Sintered Stones have an enormously high density and are therefore the most stable of the materials treated here.
The extreme hardness leads to some other very interesting properties:
Unlike ceramic fluxes, Sintered Stones offer the prerequisites for deep machining. Due to the hardness in combination with a high elasticity, Sintered Stones are very easy to process. This allows fine cuts and clean holes where ceramic tiles and natural stone would become brittle. The scratch resistance is also amazing with a Mohs Hardness of Level 7 and thus also allows direct cutting on a Sintered Stones work surface.
Due to the exceptional hardness, Sintered Stones can be used at significantly lower thicknesses than other materials while maintaining the same stability. For example, the average weight of conventional tiles is 23 to 27 kg/㎡, while the average weight of Sintered Stones is only 7 kg/㎡. Therefore, not only weight but also a lot of space can be saved and the space can be better utilized.
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The water absorption rate of our Sintered Stones is very low at 0.06%.
For comparison, the group with the lowest water absorption rate among ceramic tiles must have a water absorption rate below 0.5% according to the European standard, which is still many times higher than that of Sintered Stones. This makes Sintered Stones extremely weather resistant and therefore an ideal material for outdoor use.
Also the heat insensitivity is outstanding and allows the use in sometimes very demanding environments.
Another advantage of sintered stone, which is likely to become much more important in the future, is its low environmental impact. Unlike natural stone, sintered stone does not require the conversion of entire areas of land into quarries. With Sintered Stones, fragments of natural stone that normally end up as rubble are recycled into a new reusable material. Compared to conventional tiles, more than 60% of raw material resources, more than 50% of total energy consumption and even 80% of exhaust emissions are saved.
Due to their special properties and the affordable price compared to natural stones, sintered stones will play a much more important role in the building materials industry in the future, especially in areas where the relationship between noble aesthetics and the associated costs is important.
