Abstract:
The Silicone-Wax Filler discussed in this paper was developed for a reputed porcelain tile manufacturing company for use as a surface filler/sealer to a grade of floor tile called the polished tile, to make the tile stain resistance. Further investigations on the sealing characteristics on other surfaces have revealed that the filler is suitable as a surface filler/sealer to many surfaces such as marble, granite, terra cotta, terrazzo, cement and timber.
The polished tile is a tile with a polished surface closely resembling a marble or granite surface. This tile is different to the normal glazed tile in that after the firing process the surface is cut and polished to give high reflection. In the cutting and polished process, 0.3-0.5 mm of the glazed surface is removed, resulting in a polished surface, which has microscopic pores on the surface, due to the removal of the glazed layer in the cutting and polishing process. The tile can get stained easily because coloured materials such as food stains, mud stains and organic stains can get into the surface pores. The removal of such stains is extremely difficult, if not impossible, because, the pores are so small that a surfactant cannot easily enter these pores to remove the stain. This problem is also common to terrazzo, marble, granite and terracotta floors.
Due to the surface staining problem of polished tiles the said company had many customer complaints and had a special cleaning team visit such customers and clean floor stains using expensive and dangerous chemicals. As the chemicals used were hazardous they could not be recommended for client use.
To overcome this problem, the only option available to the company was to apply a surface filler/sealer to the polished tile after the manufacturing process so that the surface became stain resistant. At the time the author was requested to develop the filler the company was using a surface filler imported from Italy at a very high price. The cost of applying the surface filler was approximately Rs. 10/= per sqft.
After several months of experiments and trials the author was able to develop a Silicone- Wax Surface Filler, which had sealing and stain resistant properties similar to that of the imported filler. The Research and Development Division of the tile manufacturing company carried out rigerous tests on the filler for coverage, stain resistance, discolouration, durability and other possible effects that could arise after the application, with time. The filler has passed all these tests and the cost has been found to be l/3rd of that of the imported filler. The filler is now used by the said tile manufacturing company, to give stain resistance to the polished tile.
