SURFACE QUALITY

The quality of a tile surface, whether glazed, unglazed, or polished, is measured

first by the absence of any visible surface defects that involve an alteration of surface
appearance and, secondly, by the uniformity of appearance of all the tiles in a
commercial lot or, at least, those that are going to the same site unit or building
application.

Standard EN 14411 is very sparing in its definition of defects and even more so
in its requirement of uniformity of appearance, arguing that the firing process causes
slight differences in colour. For that reason, it does not even envisage the obligation of
assigning a colour code.

However, it is indispensable that a product should leave the factory properly

referenced and guarantee a uniform appearance. Otherwise, the distribution and sales
company will need to carry out this control based on samplings from different packing
units before shipment to the building site.

At any point in the marketing and sales chain it is necessary:

► To check that the same colour code is assigned to tiles that display a uniform
surface appearance
► To monitor that uniformity, with the same code, in highly temporal series
► To control terracotta or fired clay tiles and all tiles that bear complex
treatments
► To check that tiles that display directionality in background patterns and/or
decorations are not square

Surface quality in standards EN 14411 and ISO 10545-2

Definition

This is defined as the absence of defects on the fair face of the ceramic tile,
applied in particular to glazed tiles, GL. The test method described in international
standard ISO 10545-2 identifies the following types of defects:

Crack: any fracture in the body of the tile, visible on the fair face, back, or both.
Crazing: fracture of the glaze that appears as irregular hairline cracks.
Dry spots: areas without glaze on the face of the glazed tile.
Unevenness: unintentional depression in the surface of a tile or in the glaze
Pinhole: tiny pits in the fair face of a glazed tile.
Glaze devitrification: visually perceivable unintentional crystallisation of the
glaze.
Specks or spots: any unintentional visually contrasting area in the fair face of
the tile.
Underglaze faults: visible fault covered by glaze.
Decorating fault: visible fault in the decoration.
Chips: fragments broken off from the edges, corners, or surface of a tile.
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Surface quality
 Blisters: small surface bubbles or blowouts caused by gas expulsion during
firing.
Rough edges: any unintentional irregularity along the edge of a tile.
Welts: unusually heavy accumulations of glaze in the form of a ridge along the
edge of a tile.

It also distinguishes between the concept of defect and effect, considering the
latter to be the intentional achievement of a texture, colour, or graphics by the
manufacturer under the generic concept of decorative effect.

Equipment

Control of surface quality takes place visually using a tile panel at least one
metre square, which contains at least 30 units. Visual inspection is performed at one
metre distance, using fluorescent light with a colour temperature of 6000 to 6500 ºK.

Procedure

Preparation of the tile panel and visual examination should not be done by the
same person. Intentional effects on the panel surface should never be considered
defects. Light intensity should be verified at the centre and in each corner of the panel,
to ensure it is as uniform as possible (about 300 lux of light intensity).

The number of examined tiles, evaluation criteria used, and percentage of tiles
without defects should be noted.

Expression of results

Surface quality is expressed as the percentage of tiles without defects. According

to standard EN 14411, a maximum of 5% defects is permitted in first-quality tiles.

For tiles with plain colours and uniform gloss, standard EN 14411 includes a test
method for measuring small colour differences, based on standard ISO 105-J03 (1995)
applied to textiles, bearing the code ISO 10545-16 (2000), and leaves it up to the
manufacturer whether or not to use the test.

If the test is used, samples are tested by comparison with standard and test
pieces, measuring the detected difference in colour with a reflectance spectrophotometer
or tristimulus colorimeter, and comparing that difference with the tolerance (cf) agreed
between manufacturer and client. If a tolerance has not been agreed, a value of cf = 0.75
is applied.

In large tiling projects (facades, tunnels, large murals), this test may be required
in plain-coloured, glazed tiles.

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Surface quality
Comments

The sought-after absence of defects and uniformity of appearance is achieved

through inspection of a deck of tiles by skilled eyes under appropriate lighting. Absence
of defects is accomplished by separating faulty tiles from first-quality tiles, while
uniformity of appearance is attained by assigning a colour code that assures uniform
appearance in terms of the various factors that condition the optical perception of
uniformity of appearance in a group of tiles installed as a tiling finish:

► Uniformity of background colour and overlay patterns or decorations

► Directionality of the patterns (veining, relief or embossing)
► Texture uniformity
► Uniformity of the gloss and, in general, of the degree of light reflection

Comments on surface defects

Before we deal with the description of surface defects, some brief remarks
follow regarding the term intentional effects in standard ISO 10545-2. In our view, the
only admissible intentional effects in the list proposed in the standard are faded shades
(either in the same tile or among tiles); deliberately provoked crazing, stemming either
from the glaze composition or the screen printing decoration (craquelé or crackle
effect); and surface unevenness or relief/embossing.

The most representative faded shades correspond to wall and floor tiles on
which a coloured glaze is airbrushed to obtain random colour degradation, though it
may also be achieved by screen printing using printing screens with different mesh open
areas. In these cases, the manufacturer shall state the characteristics of the product and
advise, on each packing unit, that the pieces should be judiciously mixed before they are
installed.

In contrast, if the faded shades do not correspond to a variation in colour

intensity on a uniform background but involve a change in overall tile colour compared
with a standard model (something that often occurs in different production lots), these
cannot be considered an effect, but rather a defect; wall or floor tile fixing using boxes
that contain different colours is certain to lead to divisions in the tiling, which may
sometimes be quite shrill, unless each different colour is identified by the relevant code
on the boxes.

In this case, standard ISO 10.545-16 envisages a control procedure based on the
ASTM C-609/81 standard. In any event, for this type of product, the user should check
that all boxes contain the same colour and even put together panels with tiles from
different boxes to check the overall effect. This operation is always recommendable.

When there is intentional glaze surface crazing, craftware (real or simulated) is

usually involved, the effect being intended to suggest aging. Here, the manufacturer
should state the effect pursued. In any other case, surface crazing shall be considered a
defect, as laid down in standard ISO 10545-11.

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 Unevenness or irregular surface relief/embossing, usually produced in the
pressing stages (relief in the dies) or in glazing by dripping or special applications (grits,
reactive screen prints, etc.), may be considered a decorative effect when there is a
certain aesthetic uniformity in the tiles overall. Obviously, it can never be considered an
effect when it appears in isolated tiles in a group; rather, it is then usually a serious
glaze application defect that has not been noted and eliminated during finished product
sorting.

After these preliminary remarks, let us briefly examine the most common types
of defects:

• Shades among pieces: Aside from the defect already described in the
foregoing paragraph, resulting from a differing glaze composition or
different application, shades or small colour differences usually also occur in
firing owing to the existence of firing sections in which the temperature is
not uniform, particularly in tunnel kilns, or owing to the kiln charging
system. This defect is often found in unglazed rustic floor tiles that have
undergone a different firing cycle or in which some tile regions have been
differently sintered from others as a result of the piling system, producing
bands or strips of different colour.

• Exfoliation or debonding of the glaze: Uncommon defects that only appear in

wall and floor tiles made by double firing. They may be due to a mismatch
between the body and the glaze, the presence of a dirty film on the body
prior to the glaze application, the existence of caliches in the porous body,
and the strangest or most uncommon cause: glaze in a state of compression
on the body, this being the opposite case to that which produces crazing.
Given the nature of these defects, such tiles are systematically removed in
the sorting stage and rarely reach the user.

• Cracks at the glaze edges: Infrequent defect resulting from the firing curve
during cooling or inappropriate rheology of the aqueous dispersion
containing the glaze composition. In other cases, cracks may also extend into
the body.

• Crystallisations on glossy glazes: Such defects are also known as

eggshelling, veils, and crowns when they occur at the tile edge. They involve
a loss of surface gloss (very pronounced in high-gloss products) and are
sometimes quite marked; the defect is obviously less visible on granular or
matt surfaces. The cause lies in the efflorescence of crystallised soluble salts
in the body and, particularly, in devitrification phenomena as a result of the
glaze composition and an unsuitable firing cycle (cooling stage).

• Stains and drops on the surface of the glaze: Quite frequent defects, resulting
from various applications of glaze(s). They are usually systematically
eliminated in the sorting stage.

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 • Craters, pores, and bubbles in the glaze: These are the most frequent defects
in glazed wall and floor tiles. They may be considered defects or be
tolerable, depending on their nature; for this, it is advisable to keep to the
instructions in standard ISO 10545-2, point 7.4. There is furthermore the
case of trapped bubbles in the glaze, which surface when the tile is subjected
to an abrasion process, and may lead to a significant impairment of
appearance. This point is dealt with in the section on mechanical strength.
The formation, frequency, and appearance of these faults at the surface
depend on a great many factors and causes, which are too protracted to
enumerate.

• Unevenness, edge bands, and surface depressions: The first two faults
appear in glazed tiles as a result of incorrect applications, while the last fault
appears in the presence of lumps of wet clay in the pressing process and of
gas in the glaze. They are serious defects and difficult to detect in some
cases. The first two may create undesirable optical effects in a tiled finish.

• Defects in the decoration: These include all screen printing defects, or those
occurring in any decorating phase or process, which involve a deterioration
of tile aesthetic quality.

To the foregoing defects one would need to add those characteristic defects of
ceramic tiles that are subjected to polishing and rectification or machining processes,
such as polished glazed products and essentially porcelain tile, whose market share is
steadily increasing.

In this case, beside the different decorating defects associated with the
anomalous distribution of spray-dried powder in the cavity of the press die and the
presence of contaminations, which are defects that could be included with some of those
already described, one could consider all the defects deriving from the polishing
operation itself.

Thus, one may find defects ranging from scratches caused by the abrasive
elements to non-uniform polishing of the surface, with the appearance of bands and
veils. On the other hand, there are also defects of deficient bevelling stemming from an
inappropriate rectification process.

In all the instances dealt with, faced with any type of defect on the wall or floor
tile fair face, the user should examine the product following the instructions of standard
ISO 10545-2, section 7. The product standards all allow a maximum tolerance for
defects of 5%.

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Surface quality
 Bubbles, craters, and pores.
The most common glaze defects

Defects that affect tile integrity

Physico-chemical fundamentals. Scientific-technical aspects

The defects described may have a great many possible origins, which it would
go beyond the scope of these lines to pursue. Generally speaking it may be noted that
the reasons for the appearance of these anomalies may lie in any one of the different
production process stages.

However, if one wished to establish just two groups of defect sources, on the one
hand one could group all those deriving from the starting raw materials and different
additives used, in terms of lack of consistency in their characteristics or the presence of
contaminations. On the other hand, one could consider the presence of defects
originating from the different physical operations to which the tiles are subject during
processing and the physico-chemical transformations that develop during firing. In this
case, any mechanical failure or change in the firing conditions might cause defects like
those described.

In any event, the measures to be taken if defects appear in the tiles require prior
research in order to try to pinpoint the causes that have led to the anomaly, followed by
subsequent reproduction of the defect to verify the assumptions.

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Surface quality
Relative effect on the appropriateness for use of the tiles

It is evident that the presence of anomalies in tile surface appearance is going to

cause dissatisfaction once the tiles have been installed, fundamentally because of
aesthetic deficiencies resulting from the alterations described.

This situation makes it necessary to have a strict inspection and sorting process
of the end product in order, first, to detect the presence of some of the defects indicated
and appropriately to downgrade the tiles involved and, in the second place, to classify
the tiles in lots of similar colour so that the defect will not be noticeable in a production
run. All these criteria should be appropriately indicated by the manufacturer via
appropriate coding on the product packing.

In the face of these situations, it may be noted that the existence of different
qualities in a particular product leads to the presence of tiles whose classification
criterion will depend on the manufacturer, a criterion not identical for all producers,
thus making it possible to find significant discrepancies between the tolerances of the
different producers. The end-user will do wisely to take these circumstances into
account, and verify the characteristics of the final product in each given case.

State of the art

It may be noted that the technological development in processing, together with

ever stricter control of the raw materials, has allowed the percentage quality production
to increase, considerably reducing the quantity of defective products.

In addition, implementation has recently commenced of systems that allow

automation of the final production process stage by detecting defects and classifying
tiles according to quality and shade. Until now, these operations needed to be performed
using visual inspection by skilled workers, operations that were therefore susceptible to
human error.

The equipment mentioned, which despite notable commercial efforts is at the

present time still in the prototype phase, uses advanced computer technologies and
algorithms for image treatment to identify the tiles that are being inspected and detect
discrepancies in comparison with an established standard, with the additional difficulty
of requiring adaptation to inspection in real time at quite high production rates.

Everything suggests that significant improvements will shortly be achieved in

these types of systems, though it would always be more desirable that the development
of the production process and the characteristics of the raw materials supply were such
as to allow any end inspection of the manufactured tiles to be dispensed with altogether,
this apparently still being a distant objective at the present time.

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