In late July, two large-scale ceramic professional exhibitions (Ceramic Equipment and Materials Exhibition, Ceramic Industry Technology and Products Exhibition) were held in Tanzhou, Foshan and Pazhou, Guangzhou respectively. In view of the slate products that have become extremely popular in the past two years, upstream companies have shown their special skills. Judging from these two exhibitions, some new materials, new equipment, and new technologies have been put into use, and some have not yet been popularized, but they all reflect the current popular trend of slate products to a certain extent.
In the process of high-quality development of rock slabs, what “black technologies” will emerge that will bring its decorative application performance to a higher level? After some exploration, Zhongtaojun sorted out the five major technical difficulties that rock slab companies should focus on overcoming
Surface texture of ultra-thin rock slab
Digital glaze, digital grinding tools, fine carving ink
"During the production process of slate slabs, the moisture content of the decorative layer cannot be too high." This can be said to be the consensus of all slate slab manufacturers, especially the ultra-thin slate slabs currently developed for home decorative panels. There are strict requirements on water quantity. Excessive moisture in the production process of ordinary rock slabs will cause the product to decrease in strength and be easily damaged; while excessive moisture in the production process of ultra-thin rock slabs may even lead to blasting.
Yangzi Glaze Digital Mold Series< /p>
The question of whether "inkjet" or "glaze spray" should be used for the decorative layer of ultra-thin rock slabs has triggered discussions among industry insiders. In this process, digital series processes such as "digital glaze, digital dry granule, and digital mold" have once again been pushed to the center of the stage with their significant advantages such as more controllable glaze spray volume, stronger coverage, and thinner and more uniform glaze layers. .
Wonderfully produced 2mm ultra-thin rock slab
Just this year, Yangzi Pigments’ water-based digital glaze successfully helped Meimei Ultra-thin Slate produce 2mm ultra-thin slate. It is understood that the equipment used in the beautiful ultra-thin rock slabs is the glaze spray machine from Senditech. Relevant personnel of Senditech said that the application of spray glaze technology in the field of ultra-thin rock slabs is very mature, and there is no problem that ultra-thin rock slabs can only be printed with inkjet.
Digital glaze products of elite materials< /p>
Not only ultra-thin rock slabs, but also the advantages of fully digital and digital mold technology in the production of "large and thin" ceramic products. Full digital can ensure a flat and smooth glaze surface with a smaller amount of glaze application, while digital molds can simplify production while diversifying mold textures. Moreover, while digital glaze can effectively reduce glaze loss, it can also make the surface of the rock slab more wear-resistant. To sum it up in one sentence, "There are no disadvantages except that the cost is higher."
Fine carving ink is also a magic weapon commonly used in digital mold and micro mold technology. It can not only achieve the effect of combining bright, matte and shiny surfaces on the glaze surface of rock slabs, but can also further enhance the layering and three-dimensionality of ultra-thin rock slabs, which is what we often call texture. At present, Dahong Glaze, Sima Chemical, Elite Materials and other companies have exhibited fine carving ink products at the exhibition.
Stone Star Diamond Glaze Series
"Sparkling" dry granules
Since the beginning of the new year, many ceramic tile brands such as Jinyitao, Samit, Eagle, Hongyu, Qianghui, Wells, and Xinruncheng have launched "Jingdiaan", "Xingdiaan", "Xingdiaan" and "Xingdiaan". "Yao" series of sparkling products. It is reported that this type of product mainly uses a new type of crystalline material, combined with the process of crystallizing dry particles, so that the product can produce a flash effect under light irradiation.
Dow Technology’s ice crystal dry granular products
Dow Technology began to develop the first generation of ice crystal dry particles in 2015, and successfully applied for the invention patent for "a dry particle glaze with diamond luster effect" in 2019. In 2021, Dow Technology developed a new second-generation dry ice crystal granule. This version of dry ice crystal granules is thicker, shinier, purer, and has fewer impurities. It is currently being mass-produced and applied by Xinjincheng Group.
Crystalline dry granular products of Sinocera Kanglitai
In addition, the companies that mainly promote crystalline dry granular products this year include China Ceramics Kanglitai, Baoyou Glaze, Wandao Glaze, etc. These products incorporate glazing processes that are both dry, wet, and both wet and dry.
Mandao Glaze’s Star Diamond Glaze Products
The Star Diamond Glaze product launched by Mandao Glaze mainly combines the wet glazing process. Due to the heavy weight of the crystal particles, in order to prevent them from settling, Manjima Glaze proposed the method of using a suspending agent to suspend the crystal particles on the glaze surface and evenly distribute them, which can make the rock slab better show the "sparkling" effect.
As we all know, whether it is architectural ceramics, sanitary ceramics or daily ceramics, an opacifying whitening agent is required to increase the whiteness of the body, which is zirconium silicate. Since the beginning of the new year, the price of this raw material has skyrocketed. A ceramic company revealed to the media that "the price of zirconium silicate has increased from more than 12,000 yuan/ton to more than 18,000 yuan/ton."
Zirconium silicate powder
Does the rise in the cost of whitening agents mean that there is an obstacle to the popularization of ultra-white rock slab technology? Not really. Someone in the industry who is engaged in the sales of zirconium silicate told Zhongtaojun that the whiteness of the rock slab body is around 70, which is a watershed. Although zirconium silicate has a whitening effect, it cannot be achieved by the accumulation of one kind of raw and auxiliary materials alone. Super white blank.
King Kong Group’s nano-scale whitening agent products
In response to the ultra-white slab technology of rock slabs, King Kong Group has developed products such as composite clay, ultra-white kaolin, and nano-scale whitening agents for slabs. Among them, the experimental data of the ultra-white kaolin series shows that the whiteness (wet) of this product can reach more than 85, and the whiteness (dry) exceeds 92. Not only that, King Kong Group’s whitening agent series products have achieved the same effect as zirconium silicate at a ratio of 1:2.
Products using Wanhe New Material Super White Ball Clay
Wanhe New Materials has also developed ultra-white ball soil for the ultra-white slab process of rock slabs. It is reported that the fired whiteness (1200℃) of this product can reach over 90, and the kiln wet whiteness is over 80. It also has higher dry strength, plasticity and fluidity than ordinary clay.
Nowadays, ultra-white slabs have evolved from the original unique characteristics of porcelain polished bricks to become the best choice for rock slabs pursuing "pure and white slabs, transparent and moist color".
Super black blank of rock slab
Full body+super thick+super black
Just this year, Delifeng Slate Home Furnishing launched the Diamond Slate 2.0 series of products. One of the 2CM ultra-thick full-body black slate slabs was displayed as a successful case by Zhongguan Company at the exhibition. Zhongguan is an old color glaze company in Guangdong. According to relevant personnel of the companyAccording to the introduction, the special blank black produced by Zhongguan for ultra-thick rock slabs has the advantages of fast burning and no sandwich.
Deli Feng Slate Home’s 2CM ultra-thick full-body slate
Why is the ultra-black body of rock slabs prone to "sandwiching"? Li Ping, general manager of Hengte New Materials, explained this problem well through a speech on the cause of the black material of the green ceramic rock plate.
Li Ping believes that the ultra-thick and ultra-black slabs of rock slabs are prone to sandwiching, mainly because they are not cooked. The lack of cooking is related to the air pressure of the kiln, the firing system, the glaze used and the production formula.
From the perspective of production formula, some rock slab manufacturers in the industry have tried to use vanadium titanium magnet slag to achieve ultra-black effects, but they cannot solve the problems of rock slab color, strength, compactness (pinholes) and other issues at the same time. . Substances such as carbonates and sulfates will also absorb heat during the decomposition process, further increasing the temperature difference between the surface of the rock slab and the center layer. The thicker the slab, the greater the temperature difference will be, resulting in the center layer of the green body being undercooked.
Blank black products from the black expert< /p>
In view of the ultra-thick and ultra-black blank of the rock slab, the black experts under Hengte New Materials have adjusted the color products. Based on the two structures of the black crystal and spinel, the black experts reasoned that the absorption The ideal state structural formula with the most light waves. Li Ping believes that in order to avoid the sandwich phenomenon in ultra-thick ultra-black rock slabs, the composition of raw materials needs to reduce the content of sodium and potassium and increase the content of calcium and magnesium.
The integrity of the rock slab
Color, fabric, pattern tracing
The overall performance is the key to distinguishing rock slabs from large slabs, and is also the key to making rock slabs comparable to stone. At present, slate brands such as Delifeng, New Pearl, Mona Lisa, Nobel, and Zhongyan have launched full-body slates with a "real stone" effect.
Stone slab products can still remain "the same on the outside and on the inside" after going through cutting, drilling, grooving, edging, polishing and other processing processes, which is conducive to breakthroughs in the overall technology of the building ceramics industry. There are many technological processes involved, such as the selection of color materials, cloth technology and digital alignment technology of inkjet machines.
In terms of color selection, the dry-mixed color materials launched by Elite Materials can reach the level of micro-powder full-body fabrics. Compared with the surface texture and prosthetic full-body fabrics of traditional building ceramic products, it has achieved a qualitative leap.
Bohui Electromechanical Fabric Equipment< /p>
In terms of fabric technology, Bohui Electromechanical launched a digital fabric system in 2017. At present, this system has evolved into four series: digital true-body fabric, digital micro-distribution fabric, digital ultra-thin secondary fabric and glaze line digital dry grain fabric.
Jingtao Company’s inkjet equipment
The stone slab digital AI intelligent system solution proposed by Jingtao Company demonstrates the currently more advanced digital alignment and whole-body technology of inkjet machines. It has the ability to connect and trace patterns, allowing the rock slab products to be infinitely close to the whole body. .
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The "black technology" of slate production is actually far more than the above, but a glimpse of it tells the whole story. The decorative application performance of domestic slates is changing with each passing day. China's slate industry is moving towards a stage of high-quality development. .
(Author: Hong Xiaochun)
