施恩德家居

01 What is slate
The term slate has been used to describe ceramic products or to describe tile products less than 10 years ago. According to anecdotes, in 2014, a distributor of a Spanish ceramic slab brand in Jiangsu and Zhejiang (it is said that the dealer himself is also a designer) called the ceramic slab slate when selling the Spanish-made ceramic slab. Therefore, the term slate began to spread and became popular.

Manufacturers, distributors, designers, and users all think that slate seems to be taller than ceramics, ceramic tiles, and ceramic slabs. At the beginning, the word slate corresponds to ceramic slabs, because the term slate is taller. In most cases, people inside and outside the industry more prominently call it the big slate. To this end, I also joked that the name of marble tiles in the stone industry lawsuit against our ceramic industry has not yet been finalized. Now that the ceramic industry has produced large rock slab products, will the stone industry once again confront us and ask us to explain whether our products are ceramics or rocks?
In 2018, several ceramic enterprises in my country introduced imported presses to produce 1.6X3.2m ceramic slabs and slates. At this time, the production and manufacturing equipment of ceramic slabs and slate, especially the molding equipment of Sacmi and System of Italy, entered China in large numbers. At the same time, the traditional presses of Keda and Litai in my country can also produce 1.2X2.4m , 1.6X3.2m ceramic slabs and rock slabs.
The application of ceramic slabs and slates is also expanding. An important extension of the application of ceramic slabs and slates is the field of furniture. As a board for furniture manufacturing, it does not require too much size in the application of some coffee tables and desktops. So some ceramic companies think that since you have big slate, of course I can have small slate.
What is slate? The slate is a ceramic slab, or a ceramic slab with some special performance requirements. If the slate has a large slate and a small slate, then the slate is a ceramic tile, or a ceramic tile with some special performance requirements. From the concept of category compatibility, the slate is a part of the ceramic board and a part of the ceramic tile. The ceramic tile is backward compatible with the large ceramic board and is also backward compatible with the slate. And ceramic slabs and slates are not upward compatible with tiles.
In other words, the ceramic slab belongs to the ceramic tile system, and the slate belongs to the ceramic slab system.


02 Definition of Slate

Many people inside and outside the industry do not understand the definition of slate, and they will go to ask "Du Niang". Baidu Encyclopedia still defines slate like this: ceramic slate, the English description is SINTERED STONE, which means "sintered stone", is It is made of natural raw materials through a special process, pressed by a press of more than 10,000 tons (more than 15,000 tons), combined with advanced production technology, and fired at a high temperature of more than 1200 ° C, which can withstand cutting, drilling, grinding and other processing processes. Large-scale new porcelain material. Ceramic slate is mainly used in the field of home and kitchen board. As a new species in the field of home furnishing, compared with other home furnishing products, slate home furnishing has the characteristics of large size, strong moldability, various colors, high temperature resistance, abrasion resistance, scratch resistance, anti-penetration, acid and alkali resistance, zero formaldehyde, environmental protection and health.


It should be said that the definition of ceramic slate on Baidu Encyclopedia is widely circulated, but it is relatively amateur, not professional enough, and inaccurate, but it has a wide influence. Especially the English description SINTERED STONE of ceramic slate. It has almost become a translation of ceramic slate in many occasions. First of all, it should be said that there is no slate in English. If there is, it is more often described as CERAMIC SLAB. Occasionally, the term SINTERED STONE is useful, and it will be used in parallel with SINTERED PORCELAIN and so on. If there is no basic starting point for the size of the slate, or if there is a so-called small slate, it takes more than 15,000 tons of pressure forming, which means it is impossible to talk about. Not even high temperatures above 1200°C. As for the ability to withstand cutting, drilling, etc., it is not only related to the material, but also related to the equipment method for cutting and drilling.
Let's take a look at the introduction of three group standards for "slate" this year. How do you define slate?
Group Standard of Building Materials Circulation Association (Released): Plate-shaped ceramic materials with good machinability produced by using clay and other inorganic non-metallic materials as the main raw materials through milling, molding and high-temperature firing processes.
Guangdong Ceramics Association Group Standard (released): Clay and other inorganic non-metallic materials are used as the main raw materials, and they are made of raw material preparation, molding, decoration, high-temperature firing and other production processes with low water absorption and can be machined. Plate ceramic products used in home countertops, furniture finishes, electrical panels, floor decoration and other fields.
Group standard of China Building Sanitary Ceramics Association (released): Slate Macinable porcelain slab Used for home countertops, door panels, indoor and outdoor walls, floors, etc., plate ceramic products with low water rate and good machinability .
Let's take a look at the definition of ceramic tiles. The national standard GB/T4100-2006 "Ceramic Tile" defines ceramic tiles as follows: "Ceramic tile is a thin plate made of clay and other inorganic non-metallic materials for covering walls and floors. Products, ceramic tiles are formed by backlog or dry pressing or other methods at room temperature, and after drying, they are fired at a temperature that meets performance requirements. The tiles are glazed (GL) or unglazed (UGL). Non-flammable, not afraid of light.
The latest standard to replace the 2006 version of "Ceramic Tile" is the national standard GB/T4100-2015 "Ceramic Tile", which defines ceramic tile as follows: "Ceramic tile is made of clay, feldspar and quartz as the main raw materials for covering. Plate or block building ceramic products for walls and floors. [GB/T9195-2011, Definition 3.1.1]”
The latest international standard "ISO13006:2018 CERAMIC TILES" defines ceramic tile thin slab made from clays and/or other inorganic raw materials, generally used as covering for floors and walls, usually shaped by extruding(A) or pressing(B) at room temperature, but may be formed by other processes(C), then dried and subsequently fired at temperatures sufficient to develop the required properties.
Judging from the definition of slate of these three groups and the definition of ceramic tiles of national and international standards, there is almost no essential difference between the two in terms of definition. So when it comes to the concept of slate, we can say that slate is a ceramic slab, or a ceramic slab with some special performance requirements; slate is a ceramic tile, or a ceramic tile with some special performance requirements. I don't think we need to avoid this question deliberately. Because the essence, the essence, is clearly here.



In any case, when discussing the definition and lexical properties of slate, it is impossible to avoid the "conventional" inertia. The most classic "conventional" product names in the ceramic tile industry are: "Antique Brick" and "Modern Antique Brick". All kinds of product names are flying all over the sky, some of them have a long-lasting vitality, and they stay, and some are forever forgotten or completely abandoned.

Discussing the definition of "slate", it seems that there is a concept of "slab" and "brick" that should not be avoided. In our national standard industry standard, about ten years ago, the area of 1.62㎡ was regarded as the critical line of brick and board. But now several "slate" group standards do not have a lower area limit. On the contrary, as long as the basic performance indicators can be "satisfied", the slate can "full coverage" of the tiles, and the 45×95mm glazed mosaic is no exception. Is this appropriate? The critical dimensions of tiles and slabs have been discussed several times in ISO standards meetings.
Regarding the definition of "slate", there are already some definitions and some disputes. The definition of "slate" is still evolving. Personal views, sometimes called "ceramic slabs and rock slabs" may be accurate enough.
In most cases now, slate is still a commercial term. There is no complete and precise definition. It is almost another name for ceramic slabs. It looks taller, elegant and natural, and is easily accepted by manufacturers, processors and consumers. . In the minds of manufacturers, processors, and perhaps consumers, slate has better post-processing properties than ceramic slabs. Some people have thought of formulating slate standards. So far, three group standards for "slate" have been introduced, and it seems that they have not been fully recognized by the industry. The clear boundaries and differences between slate and ceramic slabs, slate and ceramic tiles are not very clear, and slate is still a relatively vague concept.
Regarding the definition of "slate", there are also many extreme views in the industry. They believe that slate is a new and tall category, and it is slate that is used in furniture, customization, ceilings and other pan-home areas, while traditional floor coverings are slates. The walls are tiles, not slate, and the slate should preferably be as far away from the tiles as possible. Of course, there are other extremes. There are large slates and small slates. There can also be tiled slates. In fact, it may also be slates and slates, but sometimes we don't want to admit it. There are even more extremes, that the slate is a false proposition and the slate standard is a false proposition.