In 2016, 2017, 2018, I was able to attend seminars conducted by the manager of the Ceramics of the Future plant, Valery Nikolaevich Zhelezovsky. The information presented by this enthusiastic person, a master of his craft, turned out to be understandable, accessible and useful for me. Having passed it through myself and used it in practice, I decided to pass it on to visitors of the InfoCeramics website in the form of a series of articles: 1) Ceramic granite. Types of surfaces; 2) Ceramic granite. Dimensions - design - structure - facade;
Today, ceramic granite has a strong belief among architects and designers that this interesting material should be used for finishing administrative buildings and housing in the middle price segment. The question is WHY?
The main problem is the persistent belief that porcelain stoneware is produced in Russia at affordable prices only in sizes 300x300 and 600x600 millimeters. Using these formats, you can achieve a neat facade, but not its attractiveness.
The second reason is limitations in design solutions. Glazed porcelain tiles cannot be used on facades (although many disregard this prohibition to implement design ideas). But real ceramic granite, in which the design is created by pressing natural colored powders into a mass without the use of glazes, is not produced in Russia.
The third reason is the lack of structural porcelain stoneware surfaces on the market. The consumer is accustomed to seeing and using only smooth porcelain stoneware, matte or polished. Although structured porcelain stoneware (with relief) on the facade looks much more attractive and also largely hides the problems of different colors. And structural granite after polishing looks even more interesting. In Italy, this product is called lappated. But the ceramic industry does not stand still these days, and production has emerged that is designed to significantly improve the aesthetics of ceramic granite facades.
Solution to the main problem. Since 2014, Russian factories began to offer porcelain tiles in 1200x600 and 1200x300 formats with monocolor designs, which was a big step forward. Many architects hastened to take advantage of the opportunity to use large-format porcelain stoneware, including in facade systems. In September 2014, in Balabanovo, under the brand name “KFS Ceramics of the Future,” a porcelain stoneware production facility was launched, which produces slabs with dimensions of 1200x1200, 1200x600, 1200x300, 1200x200 millimeters. The price for large formats is slightly higher than the price for standard porcelain stoneware - only 20-30 percent. Taking into account the fact that the remaining components of the entire subsystem for the ventilated facade remained unchanged, the total cost of a square meter became more expensive, but not by more than 5 percent. Tests of large formats of porcelain stoneware slabs were successful, and permitting documents were received confirming the possibility of their use in façade systems.
Solution to the second problem. All the crises of recent years have forced the founders of ceramics to come up with something new for decorating real ceramic granite. In Italy, digital printers have been created that pour powders onto a basic powder press with a specific design. Moreover, the design itself has a size of about 24 square meters, which makes it possible to produce tiles where the pattern can be repeated through 20 tiles measuring 1200x1200, that is, an almost complete repetition of the stone in design. In addition, it should be noted that, with less thickness and weight, porcelain stoneware slabs made using modern technologies have significant superiority in technical characteristics such as water absorption and strength over natural stones.
Solution to the third problem. For ceramic manufacturers, this is the easiest task - creating tiles with structure. This is done by installing special punches during pressing. This method is inexpensive and fast, while the structure of the tile itself is not destroyed and its technical characteristics are not deteriorated. After all, when creating a structure on a stone, technologies similar to sandblasting are used, which damages the original structure of the stone. "Ceramics of the Future" offers a large selection of structures for all colors and sizes, including 1200x1200. And the 1200x200 format, taking into account the design and structure, will make it possible to begin using real ceramic granite for finishing the facades of individual residential buildings, and therefore you can forget about repairing the facade for at least 50 years. So, it's time to look at ceramic granite facades in a new way. The road is open to more interesting design solutions in facade finishing without compromising strength and durability.