Ceramic tile. Composition, production, main characteristics

When tiles are made with your own hands, with love and creative imagination, they become unique and easily outperform any purchased finished product, reminding others for a long time about the homeliness, talents and abilities of the owner of the house or garden. If you are careful, make an effort and purchase high-quality raw materials, then anyone will be able to produce tiles, and the results obtained can decorate not only a bathroom, toilet or kitchen, but also paths in the garden or the wall of a garden house. The facing tiles do not fade, do not absorb liquids or odors, and stains are easily removed from them.

There are paving tiles (made of cement and sand), gypsum, tile and ceramic, and the last two types differ little from each other both in chemical composition and manufacturing technology. The basis of both types is kaolin; only the type of clay can differ. Tile is the same ceramic tile, only higher quality, durable, more expensive and more resistant to chemically aggressive substances and temperature changes. In addition, its service life is about 25-30 years, that is, it is also more durable.

How to make plaster tiles: we will need scales, a scoop, plastic buckets (they are easier to clean than iron ones), a drill attachment for mixing the mixture, a household drill itself, a pair of spatulas, 50 or 30 cm wide, silicone molds, although you can take others, and feedstock.

Additionally, you need to pour a solution of liquid soap into a spray bottle and keep it at hand. We will use this solution to wet the mold before pouring the mixture into it. As raw materials, you can take ordinary building alabaster, plasticizer and dyes for it. If you do not have a workshop, then the whole process can be carried out in the kitchen, having previously covered the table with film (can be cling film) to avoid contamination.

To make tiles at home, we wet the outside of the mold with liquid soap so that it slides over the film, and apply paint of the selected color with a brush to the inside surface, maybe in spots, and then spray the inside of the mold with a soap solution. This will help the finished mixture release from the mold more easily.

Now add warm water (1.4 l) to a plastic bucket, add 20 g of plasticizer and about 40 g of dry paint (more if you need a more intense color). Mix the resulting mixture with a drill with an attachment and carefully, slowly, add 2.5 kg of alabaster, continuing to knead the mixture with a drill. It is better if someone else helps you by adding alabaster while you work with the drill, but you can do it alone, since the whole process will take no more than a few minutes.

Then pour the resulting mixture into molds and level it with a spatula. It’s good if the surface of the table is flat, because otherwise the product may turn out lopsided. As it thickens, we continue to level the mixture with a spatula and add it to the brim from the bucket. Instead of alabaster, you can use architectural plaster, but its cost will be much higher.

We leave the filled containers for about 15 minutes, after which we touch the product with our hands: if its temperature is about 30°C, then production is completed. Now we easily release the products from the silicone molds by moving them to the edge of the table and carefully bending the silicone ends, since the tiles have not yet acquired final hardness and may break.

Final finishing

The manufacturing process is not completed until the so-called finishing work is carried out, for which you will need an acrylic water-dispersion primer with anti-mold additives and a water-dispersion tinted gloss varnish. The primer can be applied in different ways, but it is best to use special ditches, or baths, where it is simply poured, and intermediate products are also placed there. If the primer is applied with a brush, its consumption will be greater.

Products treated with a primer slightly change color, it becomes more saturated, but the final appearance of the tiles is acquired after varnishing, becoming a unique, original piece of art. The varnish can be applied 15 minutes after priming - either from a spray bottle or with a brush. Lacquered materials can be washed, so they are easy to care for.

Ceramic products

How to make ceramic tiles with your own hands? The production process involves the formation of a product of the required size and shape from the prepared clay mass, which will then undergo final finishing.

The entire technology for producing ceramics, as well as do-it-yourself tiles, is as follows:

1. First, we select the appropriate type of clay and mix it with the necessary additives. When choosing clay for making tiles with your own hands, you should know that the clay can be oily, very plastic, or thin, too fragile, but a medium-plastic type of clay is best suited. In addition, it should be taken into account that clays can be white kaolin, cement, brick, fire-resistant, acid-resistant, molding and bentonite.
2. We make a blank from raw clay, it is called “raw”. To do this, mix the selected clay with chamotte, sand or ground pumice in the required proportions and fill it with water. After a few days, knead it, mix it, you can rub it through a fine sieve, then spread it on old paper or rags in a layer of 10 or 15 mm. When it dries to the desired thickness, the mass is wrapped in a plastic bag, depriving it of air access for a while to remove pores from the material. After this, we place the clay in a mold (silicone or polyurethane) and compact it, cutting off the excess with a spatula, as is the case with gypsum technology.
3. We dry the raw material before further processing. The completion of drying is indicated to us by the lightening of the raw material and the fact that it becomes harder. At this stage, it should be borne in mind that the raw material is very fragile and breaks easily. However, this is also a plus: if something goes wrong, then at this stage you can still soak the clay again and start all over again.
4. We carry out primary heat treatment, during which terracotta is formed. In industrial conditions, the firing temperature reaches 1200°C and special equipment is used. At home, tiles can be made in an electric muffle furnace, which allows you to get a temperature of up to 900°C, which is quite enough for firing if the clay mass contains enough particles of pumice that sinter at this temperature. This firing is usually called biscuit firing, because the resulting terracotta has many small porous holes, although it is already strong and hard. When adding pumice to reduce the temperature required for firing, you should be aware that if its amount exceeds 40%, it will reduce the strength of the resulting terracotta. When calculating the parameters of the finished tile, it is necessary to take into account that the raw material will shrink during biscuit firing when moisture evaporates from the clay mass.
5. We carry out post-processing of the product, which can consist of either applying glaze with further firing (this is how majolica is obtained) or coating the product with varnish or enamel.

Epoxy resin tiles

How to make your own epoxy resin tiles? This topic either subsides or arises again due to the fact that such products are very beautiful, they are used for entire mosaic canvases, tabletops or decorations. But any work with epoxy resin is hazardous to health.

To produce tiles, you need a very high quality resin, a catalyst, a shape and various fillings, which give the products uniqueness and originality. The form can be a wooden frame, which is secured with nails to plywood, previously wrapped in two layers of paper. The filler (for example, pebbles) is placed in a mold, placing each element on a drop of paste, then the prepared epoxy resin is filled through a paper bag into all the gaps between them and around the perimeter of the frame and allowed to dry. Then they turn the work over, remove the paper and plywood and fill it with resin again.

Anything imaginable is used as fillers: from coffee beans and pretzels (for the kitchen) to sea urchins, shells and stars (for the bathroom). The sizes of such tiles can be from 5 to 60 cm on a side, the shapes can be not only square, but also rectangular, and the colors can be those that are not found in industrial products. But no matter how many hoods are installed in the house, toxic fumes can still enter the upper respiratory tract and cause poisoning. Therefore, it is better to leave such work to those who have suitable, well-ventilated premises, where the work carried out will not affect their well-being, disturb others and spoil their health.

Making ceramic tiles yourself is a task that can be completed by anyone who has:

• certain skills;
• required equipment;
• desire to create.

Few people succeed in obtaining a high-quality product on the first try. However, you shouldn't give up on this. And subsequent tiles will be better. They can be used for personal use or sale.

Before production, it is important to decide on technologies. The production of ceramics essentially follows one method. The basis is a plastic mass made of clay. It is used to create tiles of the required sizes. It is then processed.

Making ceramic tiles with your own hands

When creating ceramic tiles, you should adhere to the following technology:

1. Raw materials are being prepared. The desired type of clay is selected. Another batch is introduced and the wet mass is preserved.
2. A raw material is created. This is a blank made from unprocessed clay. The raw material is thoroughly dried.
3. Initial heat treatment is in progress. It is also called biscuit firing. At significant temperature parameters, tiny elements of minerals are combined by melting. This is how they form terracotta. This is high strength ceramics.
4. Giving products a decorative appearance. Glaze is applied to the surface, which has been prepared in advance. This is followed by firing to achieve a glossy surface.

So, the work begins with the selection of raw materials. As already noted, the basis here is clay. It can be of different varieties. It is also important to take into account the percentage of its plasticity. According to this parameter, fatty clay is considered the leader. It is suitable for creating any shapes. And the outsider is skinny clay. She has increased fragility and fragility. It is usually recommended to use the middle view. You can also dilute the fatty type with sand or fireclay. This way the clay will not be so refractory and will not burst during firing.

Materials for creating ceramic tiles

You may also come across breeds such as:

• Kaolin. Color: white. It is often used to produce earthenware and porcelain.
• Cement. Needed for the manufacture of cement compositions.
• Brick. It is characterized by low fusibility and is used to create brick products.
• Fire resistant. It has high refractoriness. Copes with melting temperatures up to 1580 degrees.
• Acid resistant. Does not interact with many chemical compounds. Serves as a production raw material in the creation of chemically resistant tableware.
• Molding. It has good ductility and fire resistance. It is often used in the metallurgical field.
• Bentonite. Has powerful whitening properties.

The strength of the prepared tile must be sufficient. To give terracotta shades, you can use natural pigments. Essentially, these are mineral oxides. They are found in some types of clay. This can give a certain shade.

After selecting the raw materials, it is necessary to prepare them. After working with the composition, mixing all the elements in the required proportions, you need to wrap the whole mass in a plastic bag. The task here is to keep air out of this mixture. The clay should be left in this state for some time. This way all the particles of the porous material will absorb moisture.

Tile molding

Next, you can begin to form the tiles. For comfortable work, it is better to use polyurethane molds. For small batches, gypsum ones are also quite suitable. Forms will help to make smooth products that have the same external data. This requires careful compaction of the clay and its proper distribution according to the existing shape. The same thickness must be maintained over the entire area of ​​the template.

After this work, a workpiece (raw material) is required. The required degree of drying will be achieved when the tiles lighten and harden. It is very important to be careful here, since the raw material is quite fragile at this stage. But if any defect occurs, molding and drying can be repeated. To do this, the workpiece can be soaked in water.

Firing molded tiles

At the next stage of work it is necessary to burn the raw material. Here, all minerals contained in the ceramic mass will be treated at high temperatures. They must fuse with each other. The task is to obtain a monolithic mass. After this procedure, the tile becomes significantly stronger.

Here you can follow what has already been proven - the clay is baked at thermal intervals of 1000–1300 degrees Celsius. Sometimes the readings can be reduced to 850–900 degrees. Such changes should not deteriorate the quality of the product, so first introduce pumice into the raw material composition, but not more than 40% of the mixture. Otherwise, the material will be less durable.

During the initial firing, the raw material shrinks as moisture leaves the composition. This criterion must be taken into account when calculating the final dimensions of the product. It is also important to take into account that at this stage the porosity of the tile structure also increases. In special workshops, it is possible to reduce the number of pores by applying additional pressure.

The porous structure also has its advantages. This will make it more convenient to carry out subsequent decorative processing. The pores will accept some of the outer coating and reduce its spreading.

Applying glaze

Your tiles need to be given shine. To do this, you can prepare your own special glaze. It may consist of glass, kaolin and tripolyphosphate. These components produce a dust-like powder. It must be mixed with clean water. Other minerals can be added to this mixture. The general list includes about 30 species.

In modern factories and factories, tiles are often produced by pressing and firing dry mass. Huge, expensive pressing machines and special ovens are responsible for this. At home, this is not the best option, so you will need to use wet clay, which you will shape into any shape.

Briefly, the process goes like this: take wet clay, shape it, dry it, fire it, glaze it, and fire it again (to set the glaze).

Now a little more detail

Before starting work, the wet clay rests in a bag and waits for you to make something out of it. When you start making tiles, they turn into raw ceramic products. While you are molding the tiles, they will gradually dry out, and by the end of molding they will harden a little. This stage, when the clay is still wet, is called the hard skin stage.

Once your tiles are completely dry, you will find that the color of the clay has become lighter. Now we can say that it is at the raw stage. At this point, the tile is already quite hard, but if you hit it lightly, it may crack or crumble. If you leave such tiles to dry outdoors and they get exposed to rain, the tiles may become limp and turn into a lump of clay. There is no need to be upset about this, because this property of clay is very beneficial. If you make a bad sample, just toss it in the clay scrap bucket and forget about your troubles. Later, when the clay has lain, it can be reprocessed and made into something new and beautiful.

After all the moisture has evaporated from the clay and the tiles have reached a raw state, they are ready to be placed in the kiln and fired. What you do next depends on what glazing technique you use; but in accordance with general practice, during the first firing, which is called biscuit, the clay is not specially fired. Depending on the temperature of clay maturation, the biscuit firing temperature can range from 850°C to 1000°C. Under these conditions, ceramic products remain porous and are able to easily absorb glaze.

The second (glaze) firing occurs at the temperature required to mature the glaze. This temperature may be lower - but never higher - than the temperature required for the clay to mature; otherwise, the glaze will melt and turn into glassy balls.

Clay and ceramic mixtures. Properties of clay

Clay is the basis for the production of tiles. It consists of oxygen, hydrogen, silicone and aluminum and when water is added it changes its structure, becoming more flexible and viscous. When water is removed, the clay hardens and becomes rigid. It is very important to know that clay that has only recently been dug out of the ground is not yet ready to be used as a raw material for ceramics. The working qualities of newly mined clay leave much to be desired. The main characteristics of clay that will be important to you are plasticity, firing temperature range and degree of shrinkage.

Plasticity of clay

Plastic allows you to obtain complex shapes(such as the corners of steps, for example)

If the clay is too plastic, it will not have sufficient strength to make large-shaped products from it, and it will collapse at high temperatures. In this case, it is worth adding coarse-grained materials to it. Clay with a coarse-grained structure will not be sufficiently plastic, it will tear when twisted and molded, and it will be impossible to obtain the desired shape from it. To make it more convenient to work with, add stickier or more plastic clays to the composition.

The plasticity of clay can be easily determined by eye by squeezing and rolling out a lump. You can do a simple test - make a sausage out of clay and start bending it in an arc. The smaller the radius of the arc along which the clay bends and does not crack, the more plastic it is. Another simple way to determine plasticity is to tear a clay sausage into 2 parts. If the ends of the edges are thin and stretch like threads, the clay is plastic. If the ends are thick and dry, like stumps, and the clay itself crumbles in your hands, it has low plasticity. Potters call plastic clays fat clays, and low plasticity clays lean clays.

Let us repeat that none of these types of clays can be used in their pure form to prepare tiles, they will definitely need to be mixed to obtain the material of the desired consistency.

Clay firing temperature range

Each type of ceramic clay and each added ingredient has its own specific melting point, which determines the firing temperature required to sinter the clay when it turns into ceramic. The clay mass formula or formulation may include several different clays, as well as other non-clay materials that are added to obtain a material with certain properties, depending on the purpose of use of the product.

Potters distinguish low-melting clays (with a melting point below 1350 degrees), medium-melting clays (temperatures from 1350 to 1580) and refractory clays (temperatures, you guessed it, above 1580 degrees). The more plastic the clay, the lower the firing temperature it can withstand. To increase the temperature, add fireclay or pumice to the clay (with pumice the temperature will drop to 800 - 950 degrees).

Clay shrinkage rate

Yours the product will change its mass and size during drying and firing, as the water evaporates from it. When you are making tiles that are specifically designed for a limited space, you need to learn as much as possible about the shrinkage rate of the clay in question.

The largest shrinkage occurs during firing when chemically bound water leaves. Next, a continuous process of hardening and compression occurs with the formation of glass crystals in the fired clay, which transform the clay mass into ceramics. The higher the firing temperature, the more the clay shrinks. To reduce shrinkage, increase the amount of fireclay in the ceramic mass.

Clay shrinkage testing For this test, you will need a ruler with centimeter divisions marked on it. Roll out a small slab of clay and cut a strip about 4 x 13cm in size. Using a needle and ruler, very carefully mark a 100mm line on the surface of the strip. Attach a label to the strip with the name of the type of clay, let it dry and fire until it matures Measure the length of the line: the difference between the measurements on the wet and on the fired clay strip will give the shrinkage percentage. The photo shows that the 100 mm line on wet clay decreased to 92 mm after firing and the difference was 8 mm. The shrinkage of the clay is therefore 8%.

How to avoid cracking and deformation of clay

Whether you succeed or fail in your tile making venture depends on choosing the right type of clay. One of your biggest challenges will be to avoid cracking and warping during drying and firing. Fortunately, this task can be made easier if add a significant amount of granules or particles of coarse material such as fireclay to the clay. Ideally, the amount of fireclay should be from 15 to 40 percent, and it is desirable that the particles be of different sizes.

A good tile clay should contain 12/2? percent finely ground chamotte and 25% medium grinding. For those who already have experience working with ceramic masses, this amount may seem extremely large (and it is not suitable for making small ceramic figurines, where the fireclay content is unlikely to exceed 20%), but the open porous structure that is obtained thanks to the fireclay, allows the tiles to dry more evenly and avoid deformation.

The assortment of construction stores pleases with constantly emerging new products designed for modern home decoration. But be that as it may, ceramic tiles do not lose their popularity at all, and remain one of the most popular materials for cladding floors and walls in rooms with specific operating conditions - with high humidity, with direct contact with water on surfaces, with a pronounced abrasive load , with the need for frequent wet cleaning using detergents. According to these criteria, this includes bathrooms, toilets and kitchens, hallways and corridors, balconies and loggias, entrance areas and some utility rooms.

In a word, in any house or apartment such finishing is sure to be widely used. That’s why the question is so relevant: how difficult is it to lay ceramic tiles with your own hands? Is it worth inviting a professional, or can you do it yourself? We cannot agree with the opinion of the authors of individual articles who claim that tiling is a very simple task. Such finishing requires strict adherence to technology, knowledge of many nuances, a certain skill and increased accuracy. However, it doesn’t seem impossible either - many homeowners have successfully completed the finishing work themselves. We hope that this article will help the portal visitor understand the basics of ceramic tile laying technology, carefully assess their capabilities and make the right decision.

How nice it is when everything in your own home is made with your own hands. By inviting guests, you can proudly show off your creations and listen to admiring reviews. Plus, all the timing and quality of the work done depend only on you, and at the same time you can still save significantly. It’s easiest to buy everything ready-made, but try it yourself! How to make molds for filling? Let's start with the fact that everyone knows the benefits of tiles, no matter whether they are tiled or ceramic, or maybe made of concrete or plaster, whether the walls of the house are decorated with it outside, inside, or in the yard. In any case, tiles are a guarantee of cleanliness, because they are easy to wash and clean. At first glance it may seem that it is difficult to do, but this is not so, because as often happens, the eyes are afraid - the hands do it.

Paving slabs are laid in the yard, paths are paved with it, thereby beautifying your country house or dacha.

Most often, tiles are laid in such parts of the house as the kitchen, bathroom, and toilet. Paving slabs are laid in the yard and paths are paved with it. But modern design has no prohibitions and therefore tiles can be laid even on the outer part of the walls of the house, for example, if you have a patio, you can make part of the yard for picnics, put a table, benches, chairs or wicker chairs. You can put tiles on one of the walls of the house, put a grill or barbecue and a table next to it, equip it with everything necessary for marinating meat, it will turn out like a kitchen, only outside. Making your own garden tiles is not only a great way to save money, but also an opportunity to learn something new.

Do-it-yourself mold for filling

Of course, you can buy a mold for it yourself, but this will be the easiest way. And since we decided not to look for easy ways, we’ll make it ourselves. There are different forms: rubber, plastic, silicone. Craftsmen make them from any materials from wood to children's sandbox molds. We will consider the method of liquid silicone or plastic, because it is not difficult or expensive.

There are different forms: rubber, plastic, silicone. Craftsmen make them from any materials from wood to children's sandbox molds.

We will need:

1. Lumber.
2. Liquid plastic (silicone).
3. Building level.
4. Saw.
5. Screws.
6. Drill.

A frame in the form of a box is constructed from lumber and checked with a building level to ensure that everything is level, since the evenness of our shape directly depends on this. The parts of the container box need to be glued together so that there are no gaps, otherwise the plastic will leak out. You need to carefully place sculptural plasticine inside; it won’t work for children because it’s too sticky; we lay it almost to the middle. A model of the mold is placed in plasticine. Holes are made in the plasticine with a pencil so that the layers do not move later, these will be locks. The amount of silicone needed is measured; for this, any bulk material is poured into the container, then it is poured into a measuring container, this will be the amount of silicone needed. After everything is ready, the model is lubricated with vegetable oil. The silicone is mixed, it should be homogeneous, without bubbles. Pour in a thin stream along the contour of the model. Complete hardening will occur after 24 hours.

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How to make ceramic tiles with your own hands

The main component for ceramic tiles will be clay; no mortar is needed.

We will need:

1. Clay.
2. Form.
3. An old washing machine or vibrating table.
4. Kiln for firing clay.
5. Glaze.

The main component here will be clay; no solution is needed. Clay is poured into the mold. The consistency of the filling, that is, the clay, should not be dry, but rather damp; for this it must be allowed to sit in a bag. Using a vibrating table or washing machine in spin mode, the clay is tamped into a mold and pressed on top with a spatula. The molded product is carefully removed from the mold. Several tiles are made in the same way, be careful when you remove the tile from the mold, as it is still fragile and can easily break. The finished products are laid out on a frying sheet and placed in the oven; the oven temperature should be from 850-1000 degrees Celsius. The next stage is glaze firing. The product is evenly coated with glaze and placed in the oven, the temperature should be lower than when firing the tile itself.

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How to make paving slabs with your own hands

We will need:

1. Shovel.
2. Sand.
3. Cement.
4. Pure water without impurities.

You need to make a solution of sand, cement and water in a ratio of one to three in relation to cement. Add water; the consistency of the filling should be thick and homogeneous. The mold is being prepared; it must first be greased with oil so that it can be easily removed in the future. The solution is poured into the mold, this is done with pressure so that voids do not form. The filled container is shaken or a vibrating table is used for this, if you have one, to compact the resulting mass. The next stage is drying the finished products; the tiles are removed from the mold and left to dry in a sunny place for two to three weeks.

From this mixture you can also make not tiles, but a ready-made garden path. If you have a lattice-shaped shape, if not, it’s okay, you can make it from available materials. From old tires, for example, for this you will need old tires in an amount equal to the length of the desired path, lay them out in a row and pour the solution on top.