Nowadays ceramics companies receive more and more requests for large-size slabs, with different thicknesses based on their intended use and the specific demands of the individual destination markets.

The increase in raw material costs and the difficulty in procuring these materials, coupled with higher fuel prices, have determined the need to reduce the thickness of materials without altering their resistance properties.

In this regard, MecTiles has found a way to satisfy these market needs by optimising the backing application process, which involves applying a fibreglass backing to the finished slab, so as to prevent it from collapsing or parts of it from detaching. In the traditional backing application process, the backing is glued to the ceramic slabs using polyurethane resin, but this process normally implies a high environmental impact and there are several critical aspects in terms of running costs and the quality of the finished product.

In its ongoing quest for new technologies, MecTiles has achieved all its pre-defined objectives by making the process more efficient. In doing so, it has also invented a “greener” application method with a lower environmental impact, while optimising the application of the fibreglass backing, reducing the space occupied by the system and keeping the product intact, completely clean and free of scratches or streaks.

Thanks to its collaboration with various partners in the chemical sector, MecTiles has replaced the traditional gluing process – a highly polluting activity due to the amount of solvent used and the airbrush method for applying the adhesives – with an innovative method for spreading the polyurethane resin, which acts as a glue; moreover, the company’s technicians have patented an unprecedented handling system in which the slabs move on specially designed self-cleaning trays that prevent the slabs from coming into contact with belts or rollers, allowing them to emerge without any streaks, marks or polyurethane residues.

The newly-built line complies with “Industry 4.0” criteria and is thus entirely automated.

Moreover, despite keeping the loading, unloading and control areas separate, the new MecTiles backing application line, as mentioned above with regard to its size, is 30 metres long, whereas traditional lines measure 65-70 metres. Moreover, the slabs come out clean, with their surface intact and their backing applied, after an environmentally sustainable process conducted on low-maintenance machines.