Production
PRODUCT SCOPE AND IDENTIFICATION
A.T.S. Ates Tugla San. Tic. Ltd.’s EKOS Clinker Bricks are masonry brick tiles, produced of fired clay. (Extruded Bricks, Vertically Perforated Bricks, Floor and Facade Cladding Tiles, Cotto & Terracotta Tiles, Terracotta Ventilated Facade Tiles; Wall copings and specially designed and shaped tiles for stairs, gardens and waterways etc.)
CONTENT- RAW MATERIALS
EKOS Clinker Bricks are made up of naturally occurring raw materials such as clay, chamotte, fluxes and other inorganic ceramic raw materials.
Clays: In general, clay can be identified as a system consists of hydrated aluminum silicate minerals in which most of the particles are smaller than 2 microns, becoming plastic when wettedv and becoming permanently hard when fired. Clay minerals are basically hydrated silicates made up of silica, alumina and water. They also contain slight amounts of iron, alkali and earth alkali respectively. (Ampian, 1985)
Chamotte: Chamotte can be identified as pre-calcined raw material which basic refractory clays are fired and grinded in order to be mixed to the body. As a pre-calcined material, it does not contain any organic raw materials or salts in it. Chamotte materials can either be obtained by this calcination process, or the waste products of other factories working with close firing temperatures such as brick, ceramic, granite ceramic, porcelain or sanitary ware factories can also be processed.
Fluxes: Fluxes are used in our recipes in order to obtain liquid phase sintering while firing and controlling sintering process and temperatures. Fluxes control vitrification degree of the body, so the required technical properties such as water absorption, density, frost resistance etc. It ensures what is called “clinker”.
PRODUCTION
A.T.S. Ates Tugla San Tic. Ltd. manufacturing process consists of grinding and dry mixing of clays, chamotte, fluxes and other inorganic ceramic raw materials, watering of the recipe, shaping by vacuum extrusion of the tiles, drying down to less than 1% humidity, and firing (sintering) at1180 Celsius degrees of the material in order to create ceramic bonding of the body to reach required technical properties. The produces pieces can be called as clay tiles, brick tiles or unglazed ceramic tiles.
The quality of EKOS Clinker Tiles are ensured by the quality of the refractory clays used as raw materials, the perfect particle size distribution of the grinding process, the perfection of mixing process, precise shaping under high vacuuming and high pressure conditions, homogenous and even drying process and again, homogenous firing process at highest sintering point of 1.180 Celsius Degrees.
The sintering quality of EKOS Clinker Tiles is ensured by homogenous sintering process in terms of both temperature and atmosphere, so that all tiles have more or less the same color and they are all fired at same temperature and same atmospheric conditions at same duration. The competitive advantage of EKOS Clinker Tiles when compared to other tiles is that they are produced of refractory raw materials, mixed with chamotte and fired at relatively higher temperatures. By this way, they have good sintering property and becoming somewhat a composite material.
PHYSICAL & CHEMICAL PROPERTIES
Technical Classification and Chemical Properties
As EKOS Clinker Tiles are produced of refractory clays and chamotte and fired at high temperatures, they are classified as semi-silica/ chamotte firebricks. While Semi- silica bricks and tiles contain low amount of alkalis and other impurities, they generally contain 18-25% Al2O3 and 72- 80% SiO2.
GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS
EKOS Clinker Bricks and Tiles are classified as Semi silica, which show excellent load bearing strength and high modulus of rupture. On the other hand, they have low water absorption and frost resistance thanks to high sintering temperature and their composite structure.
The high firing (sintering) temperature prevents any soluble salts to come up to the surface of the tile after application. The main reason of that is high temperature decomposes any salts that raw material may contain, preventing efflorescence to occur.
EKOS Clinker Tiles are dense, heavy, hard and abrasive products. They are chemically stable.
The color of EKOS Clinker Tiles does not fade or change within time. No chemicals/ paint are added to the products and the color of the products is obtained from the natural raw materials. The physical properties are given to their own test reports.
