Porcelain Stoneweare

Grès Porcelain stoneware is a ceramic material with a compact (non-porous) and coloured body shaped by pressing. It appeared in Europe since the Middle Age and in East his perfecting has brought to porcelain.

The French term grès means that the ceramic body of the tile is extremely vitrified, that is to say compact, hence the exceptional great resistance.

The adjective porcelain, which underlines stoneware refined elegance, comes from the use of kaolin, white china clay also used for bone china production.

We can distinguish was first divided into two porcelain stoneware typologies:

natural stoneware, generally known as technical porcelain stoneware; has a marble effect very similar to that of natural marble though preserving all the stoneware technical features
glazed porcelain stoneware allows to choose among a variety of colours, styles, sizes, decorations and "textures" someway peculiar to glazed ceramic.

The porcelain stoneware is obtained through a mixture of clays and feldspars (mix of raw materials similar to that used for sanitary-ware) submitted to a firing process at extremely high temperatures (at 1200-1400 C°) until it reaches a non-porous vitrification and a complete water-proofing.

The high pressing ratio (350-400 Kg/cmq) and the extreme temperatures make tiles almost completely vitrified and turn into stoneware tiles with the following features: frost- and chemical- resistance, impact strength and scratch hardness.

In order to firing process (temperature and time), grès of various porosity and surface finishing can be obtained.

While in a glazed ceramic product section the body, which determines the mechanical resistance features of a tile can be easily distinguished from the glaze, which determines its aesthetic appearance and its wear resistance, the surface and body of porcelain stoneware make one whole: the porcelain stoneware tiles present a composition continuity between surface and body and the wear and tear bring to surface a layer exactly alike to the previous one, without changing the aesthetical and functional features of the flooring.

As regard to frost, chemical and stain resistance, impact strength and scratch hardness features, porcelain stoneware is absolutely resistant and hygienic.

Porcelain floor tiles are made by materials featuring the lowest water absorption levels (lowers than 0,5%), which means the quantity of water that the slab can absorb under certain conditions.

This feature (that is also one of the two parameters on which the EN ISO standards classification is based) also results in the highest level of bending strength, that is to say, the maximum tension that the material, subject to an increasing bending action, can bear before breaking.

Amongst the most significant features of grès porcelain stoneware there is also the high abrasion resistance, which means the resistance of the surface against the action related to the movement of bodies, surface or materials in contact with it.

Today, porcelain stoneware represent the most advanced ceramic material and hold over 80% of the total Italian production. For its performances and feature, it allows to create solutions both for indoors and for outdoors flooring and its uses range over public building and private houses.