Porcelain has been used for floor and wall tiles for thousands of years, but with modern manufacturing technologies and production methods, it has become one of the highest-performing floor coverings available. It is an extremely hard and durable material that makes an ideal surface for flooring inside buildings and outdoors. It is weatherproof, doesn’t rot or decay, discourages the growth of moss, lichen and bacteria, keeps its colour well, is slip-resistant even when wet and fire rated to Class A.
In this blog post, we will look into the manufacturing process and see what gives porcelain these unique characteristics.
What are the stages of porcelain tile production?
Stage 1: Batching
The performance of the tile is determined by the composition of the clay mixture, with different amounts and proportions of each raw material influencing the colour and hardness of the finished tile. This mixture is produced in batches, with each raw ingredient being weighed carefully to ensure an accurate mix.
Stage 2: Mixing & Grinding
The mixture is then placed in a large tank called a ball mill and water is added. Tennis ball-sized ball stones are also added to the mill and these help grind the mix into fine, spherical particles of uniform size. The fineness of the particles is important, as coarser particles will reduce the porcelain’s stain resistance and low-maintenance properties.
The mixing and grinding process can take between six and eight hours, and when it is finished it produces a material called slip. The ball stones are removed and the slip is ready for the next stage of the process.
Stage 3: Colour Mixing
High-quality porcelain tiles now have pigments added to the slip. This ensures the base colour of the tile is carried through the entire tile so that if a tile is cut, the cut edge will match the surface.
Stage 4: Drying
Before the porcelain can be formed into tiles, all excess water must be removed from the slip. This is done by a process called spray drying, where the slip is pumped at high pressure through nozzles that atomise the semi-liquid – a bit like the process that turns paint into a mist for spray painting. As the atomised particles pass through rising hot air the excess moisture is removed, turning the slip into a fine powder.
Stage 5: Pressing
Now the tile must be pressed into shape. The dry powder is added to a forming die and subjected to a pressure of more than 400kg per square centimetre. This extreme pressure is required to ensure the finished tile’s strength and low water absorption.
Stage 6: More Drying
Now formed, the tile must undergo further drying, but this time it is a slow process in a high-humidity environment to reduce the risk of cracking caused by shrinkage.
Stage 7: Decorating & Glazing
At this stage, texture and pattern are applied to the surface of the tile to give it the authentic look and feel of natural stone or woodgrain. Using laser inkjet dyes, this stage also further improves the tile’s stain resistance. Finally, a glaze is added to provide extra moisture resistance and further enhance the decorative effect.
Stage 8: Firing & Curing
The tile is still relatively weak and soft and must be fired to gain its finished strength and durability. This takes place in a roller kiln, where temperatures of 1200°C remove all remaining moisture, harden the clay and set the glaze.
The firing process can take about four hours, during which time the fine particles are fused into an exceptionally dense structure that is exceptionally strong and reduces the tile’s porosity to 0.05%.
After firing, the tiles are placed on racks to cure and prepare them for finishing.
Stage 9: Finishing
Once the tile is cured, the surface and edges need to be finished.
The top surface is ground and polished to give it the required level of gloss. This will vary depending on where the tile is to be used: high-gloss tiles for interiors will require much more grinding and polishing to achieve the required effect, while a rougher texture will be required to give an anti-slip texture for outdoor, kitchen, bathroom or poolside tiles.
As the tile might still be several millimetres oversize, the edges are cut or ground to make them perfectly square and uniformly sized. This grinding is carried out underwater to suppress the amount of dust the process generates and to ensure a perfectly smooth finish to the edges.
Stage 10: Quality Control
Before the tiles are packed, they undergo rigorous quality checks to ensure they aren’t substandard. Special scanners can detect production defects such as cracks at the same time as monitoring the colour rendition and texture of the surface.
This ensures that only tiles that can be guaranteed to meet customers’ expectations in terms of appearance and performance will be approved
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We hope that you enjoyed this insight into porcelain tile production and have gained an understanding of what goes into producing quality porcelain products such as the Atria range from Raaft.
As a leading UK designer and manufacturer of roof terrace and planter systems, roof decking and tiles, Raaft can assist you at every stage of the design, specification and installation process. To discuss your ideas with Raaft, contact us on +44 (0)20 3146 7879 or at enquiries@raaft.co. Alternatively, send us a message via our website enquiry form and one of our technical support team will respond promptly.
In this blog post, we will look into the manufacturing process and see what gives porcelain these unique characteristics.
What are the stages of porcelain tile production?
Stage 1: Batching
The performance of the tile is determined by the composition of the clay mixture, with different amounts and proportions of each raw material influencing the colour and hardness of the finished tile. This mixture is produced in batches, with each raw ingredient being weighed carefully to ensure an accurate mix.
Stage 2: Mixing & Grinding
The mixture is then placed in a large tank called a ball mill and water is added. Tennis ball-sized ball stones are also added to the mill and these help grind the mix into fine, spherical particles of uniform size. The fineness of the particles is important, as coarser particles will reduce the porcelain’s stain resistance and low-maintenance properties.
The mixing and grinding process can take between six and eight hours, and when it is finished it produces a material called slip. The ball stones are removed and the slip is ready for the next stage of the process.
Stage 3: Colour Mixing
High-quality porcelain tiles now have pigments added to the slip. This ensures the base colour of the tile is carried through the entire tile so that if a tile is cut, the cut edge will match the surface.
Stage 4: Drying
Before the porcelain can be formed into tiles, all excess water must be removed from the slip. This is done by a process called spray drying, where the slip is pumped at high pressure through nozzles that atomise the semi-liquid – a bit like the process that turns paint into a mist for spray painting. As the atomised particles pass through rising hot air the excess moisture is removed, turning the slip into a fine powder.
Stage 5: Pressing
Now the tile must be pressed into shape. The dry powder is added to a forming die and subjected to a pressure of more than 400kg per square centimetre. This extreme pressure is required to ensure the finished tile’s strength and low water absorption.
Stage 6: More Drying
Now formed, the tile must undergo further drying, but this time it is a slow process in a high-humidity environment to reduce the risk of cracking caused by shrinkage.
Stage 7: Decorating & Glazing
At this stage, texture and pattern are applied to the surface of the tile to give it the authentic look and feel of natural stone or woodgrain. Using laser inkjet dyes, this stage also further improves the tile’s stain resistance. Finally, a glaze is added to provide extra moisture resistance and further enhance the decorative effect.
Stage 8: Firing & Curing
The tile is still relatively weak and soft and must be fired to gain its finished strength and durability. This takes place in a roller kiln, where temperatures of 1200°C remove all remaining moisture, harden the clay and set the glaze.
The firing process can take about four hours, during which time the fine particles are fused into an exceptionally dense structure that is exceptionally strong and reduces the tile’s porosity to 0.05%.
After firing, the tiles are placed on racks to cure and prepare them for finishing.
Stage 9: Finishing
Once the tile is cured, the surface and edges need to be finished.
The top surface is ground and polished to give it the required level of gloss. This will vary depending on where the tile is to be used: high-gloss tiles for interiors will require much more grinding and polishing to achieve the required effect, while a rougher texture will be required to give an anti-slip texture for outdoor, kitchen, bathroom or poolside tiles.
As the tile might still be several millimetres oversize, the edges are cut or ground to make them perfectly square and uniformly sized. This grinding is carried out underwater to suppress the amount of dust the process generates and to ensure a perfectly smooth finish to the edges.
Stage 10: Quality Control
Before the tiles are packed, they undergo rigorous quality checks to ensure they aren’t substandard. Special scanners can detect production defects such as cracks at the same time as monitoring the colour rendition and texture of the surface.
This ensures that only tiles that can be guaranteed to meet customers’ expectations in terms of appearance and performance will be approved.
We hope that you enjoyed this insight into porcelain tile production and have gained an understanding of what goes into producing quality porcelain products such as the Atria range from Raaft.
As a leading UK designer and manufacturer of roof terrace and planter systems, roof decking and tiles, Raaft can assist you at every stage of the design, specification and installation process. To discuss your ideas with Raaft, contact us on +44 (0)20 3146 7879 or at enquiries@raaft.co. Alternatively, send us a message via our website enquiry form and one of our technical support team will respond promptly.
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