Development of a Process for the Application-oriented Investigation of the Cleanability of Tile Surfaces

摘要

The market still lacks an objective basis for the testing and assessment of cleanability, one of the most important functional characteristics of glazed and unglazed ceramic floor tiles. In response to an increasing number of customer enquiries, the FGK Institute for Inorganic Materials-Glass/Ceramics /DE has developed an application-oriented method for assessing both the cleanability and dirt sensitivity of tile surfaces in field-relevant conditions. In addition, the method provides the possibility to test the effectiveness of different combinations of cleaning equipment and cleaning agents in the laboratory. The development and validation of the method and the application of microscopic and topographic analysis for investigating the causes of the different behaviour are presented with reference to examples.