Moisture-related failures in agglomerated floor tiles

Of the countless innovations related to technology, means and methods of construction, and product development, one notable example is agglomerated stone tiles. Agglomerated stone is used for many applications, such as countertops, tables, wall cladding, and flooring it is an artificial stone product that is replacing more expensive products such as natural stone or terrazzo. Agglomerated stone tiles have an attractive appearance they can easily be mistaken for natural stone marble or granite, while actually they are an engineered, man-made material. “Agglomerated” means a group or mass of objects loosely thrown or huddled together or gathered into a ball or cluster, such as a mass of volcanic fragments linked through the action of heat. Similarly, agglomerated stones are engineered and manufactured by uniformly mixing natural stone fragments (e.g., marble, quartz, or granite) with a binding material.

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