Ceramic tiles: Above and beyond traditional applications

At present ceramic tiles are already being marketed with characteristics and performance features that make them products whose applications go far beyond traditional tile uses. These are not just future possibilities: their industrial and commercial reality already makes them immediately serviceable in multiple environments. And this is precisely the key concept in these new tile applications: their features make them useable for wholly different functions – functions till now reserved for other products – or, in certain cases, for entirely novel functions. In addition, the functionalities involved are destined to improve aspects directly related to the quality of life, conditions of habitability or, for instance, to using such a vital natural source of energy as solar radiation. It should, therefore, be stressed that these new generations of ceramic tiles are to be considered part of the range of architectural elements for both external and internal uses, since, as the following will show, they provide the surfaces they clad with a broad spectrum of properties and functions without detriment to the aesthetic qualities, always so characteristic, of ceramic tile. ustrate the above, the present paper describes three new families of ceramic products. These groups of products are conceptually different and many-sided, which makes them serviceable as functional elements in different contexts.