Porcelain tile - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Porcelain tiles are ceramic

Ceramic

A ceramic is an inorganic, nonmetallic solid prepared by the action of heat and subsequent cooling. Ceramic materials may have a crystalline or partly crystalline structure, or may be amorphous...

tiles with a water absorption rate of less than 0.5 percent that are used to cover floors and walls. They can either be unglazed or glazed

Ceramic glaze

Glaze is a layer or coating of a vitreous substance which has been fired to fuse to a ceramic object to color, decorate, strengthen or waterproof it.-Use:...

.

The hardness of the tile is rated from zero to five according to the ASTM C1027 (or ISO 10545-7) test for surface abrasion resistance of glazed tile. This rating, (sometimes mistakenly called the PEI rating) determines the tiles suitability for various end use conditions.

Large scale production of porcelain tile is undertaken in many countries, with the major producers being China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

and Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

. There are also countries undertaking small scale production, such as Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

and strong growth in developing countries such as Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

.

Porcelain Tile is also a very common trend in tile installation. There are many different styles of porcelain tiles on the market and they have proved to outperform ceramic tile in durability and looks.

It is important to note that the differences of the body of the porcelain tile, as it relates to ceramic tile, has caused many "job failures" of tile installations.
Tile setters that are self trained and novices to the industry will often use cements or mastic to install the impervious body of the porcelain tile to a substrate only to have delamination occur rather quickly. Highly Modified cements are necessary for installation of this material due to the very qualities that make it such a durable long lasting decorative surface. Those specifications are determined by and dictated as industry standards by the Tile Council of America, and supported by the Tile Contractors Association..

See also