A comparative investigation of the wear characteristics of a high power diode laser generated single-stage and commercial epoxy tile grout

A comparative study of a single-stage ceramic tile grout, generated using a 60 W high power diode laser (HPDL), and a commercially available tile grout has determined the wear characteristics of the two materials. Within both normal and corrosive environmental conditions, the single-stage ceramic tile grout proved to have a superior wear rate over the epoxy tile grout, 0.9 mg/cm2 h compared with 125 mg/cm2 h, when in an HNO3 environment. Likewise, life assessment testing revealed that the single-stage ceramic tile grout gave an increase in wear life of 4–42 times over the commercially available epoxy tile grout, depending upon the corrosive environment. It is believed that the economic and material benefits to be gained from the deployment of such an effective and efficient means of sealing ceramic tiles could be significant.