What Is Ceramic Tile Made Of

The clay used to build porcelain tiles is generally denser.

What is ceramic tile made of.

The density of porcelain tile makes it more durable than ceramic tile while being less subject to wear and tear. The density of porcelain tile makes it ideal for high traffic areas in homes and most commercial properties. Note in the illustration how the exposed body of the tile closely resembles the surface. Common materials used to produce ceramic tiles include white clay talc sand feldspar illitic and kaolinitic clay dolomite and calcite.

Ea ch manufacturer likely has its own time tested recipe for ceramic tile but clay is usually the main ingredient along with other items such as sand feldspar quartz and water. They can either be glazed or unglazed. When making ceramic tiles they can either be glazed or unglazed but the majority of homeowners have glazed ceramic tiles in their home. The manufacturer will quarry and refine them.

Porcelain tiles or ceramic tiles are porcelain or ceramic tiles commonly used to cover floors and walls with a water absorption rate of less than 0 5 percent. Ceramic tile is made of clay that has been fired in a kiln. Tile defined as ceramic uses a coarser clay with a smaller ratio of fine kaolin clay and it generally lacks some of the additives used in porcelain clay. While technologies have improved production the process is very much the same now as it was a long time ago.

Historically porcelain was not the usual material for tiles which were much more often made of earthenware or stoneware. The manufacturer will quarry and refine them. Ceramic tile is similar to porcelain tile and while some companies use the terms interchangeably they are actually very different. This gives porcelain tile several important traits.

Ceramic tile is made up of sand natural products and clays and once it has been moulded into shape they are then fired in a kiln. Simply explained ceramic tile is tile made of clay that is shaped and then it is fired in a very hot kiln. Ceramic tile is not as dense and has a higher absorption rate. Porcelain is made from very fine clay that is fired at high temperatures to remove more moisture from the tile resulting in a hard and dense tile.

The entire tile is made of the same material with no surface glaze or finish so scratches blend in with the surface. These ingredients are mixed and grounded up in a ball mill to create what s known as the body slip. In earlier times the production process was that unglazed tile was fired once while glazed tile was fired twice.