In the process of home decoration today, more and more attention is paid to the decoration effect of the house. Among them, marble is a material that everyone likes to use. Marble decoration adds a beautiful texture to the home and makes the family enjoy the feeling of home. At present There are two types of home improvement stone: artificial stone and natural stone. Many owners cannot distinguish between these two kinds of stone during decoration, which is often easy to suffer.
Today I will introduce the following two kinds of stone in detail, and the difference between natural stone and artificial stone, so that everyone is no longer unfamiliar with these two kinds of stone.
The same specifications of the plate, the life of natural stone far exceeds the life of artificial stone.
The wear resistance of artificial stone itself is not as good as the compression resistance and wear resistance of natural stone.
The texture and color of natural stone are naturally formed, and the texture is chaotic and naturally formed. The texture of artificial stone is a very regular line imitating the texture of natural stone, and the color is clear and single.
Tested with hydrochloric acid, a drop of a drop will appear rich foam on the surface of natural marble, while artificial marble will not have obvious foam.
For the two types of slabs under the same specifications, natural stone is very heavy, while artificial stone is lighter.
Natural stone is more permeable than artificial stone. If a colored liquid is dropped on the surface of natural stone, the color will penetrate into the interior of the stone, and it is not easy to remove the traces left. However, the permeability of artificial stone is poor, and the color penetration is slow. Wipe clean without leaving marks.
The five main types of natural stone are: marble, granite, sandstone, slate, onxy, quartzite, travertine, limestone.
Marble is formed from limestone, dolomitic limestone, dolomite and other carbonate rocks through regional metamorphism and contact metamorphism. It is mainly composed of calcite and dolomite. It is named after it is produced in Dali, Yunnan, China.
Marble is mainly used as a carving and building material, and is often used in the manufacture of monuments, paved floors, walls, carved railings, etc. The density is 2.6~2.8, the hardness is 2.5-5, and the radioactivity is generally low. It has the characteristics of no deformation, high hardness, long service life and no magnetization.
Granite is a plutonic acid igneous rock formed by the condensation of magma deep underground. Some granites are gneiss or migmatized rocks formed by the metamorphism of magma and sedimentary rocks. Most of them are light red, light gray, grayish white, etc. Because of its hard texture and beautiful color, granite is not only a good building material, but also the first choice for open-air carving.
9% of China’s land is granite rock mass, and granite is produced in many countries. The density is 2.6~2.69, and the hardness is 6-7. There are many types of granite, and the colors and patterns are more complicated. It is best to consider its best use when using it.
Sandstone is a kind of sedimentary rock, which is mainly cemented by various sand particles, the particle diameter is 0.05 ~ 2mm, the sand content is more than 50%, the structure is stable, usually light brown or red, mainly containing silicon, calcium, stock and soil Iron oxide.
The vast majority of sandstones are composed of quartz or feldspar. It is a natural stone with no radiation and no light pollution. Generally speaking, it is often carved and installed on the wall as decoration, because it is very easy to install on the wall, and the installation process requirements are low.
Sandstone is the most widely used stone material, and its noble and elegant temperament, natural and environmental protection characteristics have made it a flower in the history of architecture. The Louvre, which was decorated with sandstone hundreds of years ago, the British Royal Palace, the US Capitol, Harvard University, Notre Dame de Paris, etc. still have their charm and classics forever.
Slate is a rock with a plate-like structure and basically no recrystallization. It is a metamorphic rock. The original rock is argillaceous, silty or neutral tuff, which can be peeled into thin slices along the direction of the plate.
The color of slate varies with the impurities it contains. It is a characteristic plate-like structure, and the shallow metamorphic rocks are formed by slight metamorphism of clay, silty sedimentary rocks or medium-acid tuffaceous rocks and sedimentary tuffs. Because of the beauty brought by its unique and non-conflicting colors, strong durability and anti-skid wear resistance, it is often used in tiles, bathroom flooring materials, and can be used outdoors on floors and walls.
Onxy is mostly an ornament now. Onxy is divided into soft and hard and there are many branches. Most of them are not used for decoration in a large area (except artificial jade). The price is high and the output is low. Basically, it is more popular with collector’s favorite.
Quartzite, the main mineral is quartz, may contain mica minerals, hematite, goethite, etc. Quartzite is a metamorphic rock mainly composed of quartz. The content of quartz is more than 85%. It is formed by metamorphism of quartz sandstone and siliceous rock.
Quartzite is generally formed by quartz sandstone or other siliceous rocks through regional metamorphism and recrystallization, and it may also be formed by thermal contact metamorphism of siliceous rocks near magma.
Travertine, a porous rock, is commercially classified as marble. Travertine is a continental sedimentary rock, a calcium carbonate deposit. Since pores sometimes appear in the process of heavy accumulation, and because its main component is calcium carbonate, it is easily dissolved and corroded by water, so there will be many natural random holes in these deposits. Travertine is mainly used in building exterior wall decoration and interior floor and wall decoration.
Limestone is a crystalline stone formed by the accumulation of rocks, debris and other alluvial materials such as shellfish and corals under the seabed hundreds of millions of years ago through weather and crustal changes. Due to different depositional years, it undergoes dramatic changes in geothermal and crustal pressure. After that, stones with different hardness and softness are presented.
Artificial stone is a kind of stone made of non-natural mixtures, such as resin, cement, glass beads, aluminum powder, etc., mixed with crushed stone and diamond mixture or some curing agents. The classification of this kind of stone is also quite special. The two common classification methods are as follows:
There are five types of artificial stone: terrazzo, artificial stone, quartz, ultra thin rock plate, acrylic artificial stone.
Terrazzo is a product made by mixing crushed stone, glass, quartz stone and other aggregates into cement binders to make concrete products and then grinding and polishing the surface. Terrazzo made of cement adhesive is called inorganic grindstone, and terrazzo made of epoxy adhesive is called epoxy grindstone or organic grindstone. Traditional terrazzo has a huge market in the world due to its unique advantages such as low cost, arbitrary color matching and parquet, and convenient construction.
Artificial stone usually refers to artificial stone solid surface material, quartz stone, granite and so on. Different types of artificial stones have different compositions. The components of artificial stone are mainly resin, aluminum powder, pigment and curing agent.
Artificial stone is a practical building material using polymers. The manufacturing process is actually the reaction process of chemical materials. It is a new type of environmentally friendly composite material that is continuously improved and sublimated.
Compared with ordinary building materials such as steel and ceramic tiles, artificial stone is more versatile, rich in color, and has a wider range of applications. Artificial stone has the advantages of non-toxic and non-radiation, and good flame retardant performance.
Quartz, commonly referred to as quartz stone, is a new type of stone that is artificially synthesized by more than 90% of quartz crystals plus resin and other trace elements. It is a large-sized plate pressed by a special machine under certain physical and chemical conditions, and its main material is quartz.
Quartz is a mineral that easily becomes liquid when heated or pressured. Because it crystallizes last in igneous rocks, it usually lacks complete crystal planes and is mostly filled with other rock-forming minerals that crystallize first. Quartz has the advantages of corrosion resistance, high hardness, easy cleaning, and no radiation. It is a common artificial material used for cabinets and countertops.
Ultra-thin sintered stone, also known as slate, ceramic slate, is made of natural raw materials through a special process, pressed by a press of more than 10,000 tons (> 15000t), combined with advanced production technology, and fired at a high temperature above 1200 degrees Celsius. Large-scale new porcelain materials that can withstand cutting, drilling, grinding and other processing processes.
Ceramic slate is mainly used in the field of home and kitchen board. As a new species in the field of home furnishing, compared with other home furnishing products, slate home furnishing has the characteristics of large size, strong moldability, various colors, high temperature resistance, abrasion resistance, scratch resistance, anti-penetration, acid and alkali resistance, zero formaldehyde, environmental protection and health. Ceramic slates are not equal to ceramic rock slabs, because rock slabs can be drilled and polished, which is more convenient for cutting and making more shapes.
Artificial acrylic stone is actually a kind of artificial stone. Pure acrylic artificial stone (PMMA board), the main raw materials are methyl methacrylate, ultra-fine aluminum hydroxide and pigments. Pure acrylic artificial stone has strong anti-aging properties, and the aging cycle can generally reach 15 years, which can be used as outdoor decoration. Due to the high technical and equipment requirements of manufacturers, and the high cost of raw materials for other products, the market price has remained high.
The above is the introduction of natural stone and artificial stone, but no matter what material the stone is, it has its own characteristics and advantages. You can choose according to your personal preference.
George Stone
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