RAK Ceramics

Technology

The strength of RAK Ceramics lies in the speed with which it has innovated itself to meet market expectations. It has invested heavily & regularly as well, to produce products that would stand out in the market. For this it had the full backing of the technology providers in the ceramic field who having realized the potential & sincerity of the company, preferentially offered it the best support of technology of the times. RAK Ceramics also offered ample support to distributors to strengthen their position in respective markets.

Today we are manufacturing over 227, 000 sq. mt. of tiles per day at our Ras Al Khaimah plants alone, the production of which is possible with 10 most modern tile plants in the world. We also manufacture over 8000 pieces of bathware per day in 3 modern bathware plants at the same location. Expansion programs are ongoing, with some more plants under construction.

Research

Our qualified experts are performing extensive research and development in our laboratories on materials, design to create top quality and beautiful products. RAK Ceramics also has agreements with leading exclusive designers and laboratories in Italy and Spain for developing enchanting new designs.

Production Facilities

RAK Ceramics uses high quality fine clays with low organic contents available in the world. The quality of both materials and the products is assured by highly developed quality control systems to ensure that its products surpass the stringent specification of EN standards for ceramic tiles & bathware.

RAK Ceramics single fired (Monoporosa) wall tiles and (Monocottura) floor tiles are made from the locally available high quality fine clay, feldspars, silica sand and other suitable imported raw materials. The raw materials are crushed into manageable state and are wet milled in the most modern ball mill to obtain a homogenous mixture of water and clay called 'body slip'. The resulting 'body slip' is then pumped into the vibrating sieving machine to remove the impurities, to obtain the fine homogenous mixture of water and clay for the subsequent atomization process to convert the body slip into fine particles called 'granules'. These granules are collected in the silos for the subsequent pressing phase, which is carried out using SACMI'S hydraulic presses to give the ceramic tile body the maximum compactness.

The tile body is then subjected to a drying process of 30 minutes in the horizontal dryers and are then glazed and decorated with colored glaze to blend beauty and creativity with excellent physical and chemical characteristics. The simultaneous firing of the tile body and glaze is then carried out in SACMI'S single layer roller kiln at temperatures ranging from 1145° C - 1200° C to obtain the required porosity as per the EN 99 and ASTM C 373-72 standards for wall tiles and floor tiles. RAK Ceramics wall and floor tiles also offers high mechanical and physical characteristics, with high Modulus of rupture ranging from 20 N/mm2 for wall tiles and 32 - 40 N/mm2 for various type of red and white body floor tiles in compliance with EN 100 and ASTM C 648-71 (76) standards.

RAK Ceramics 'fully vitrified' porcelain tiles are manufactured using the most advanced modern technology from SACMI using carefully selected superior quality raw materials mainly China clay, Feldspars, silica sand and other suitable raw materials imported from U.K, Spain, Germany and France.

The mixture of raw materials is then broken into a manageable state in the crushers and is wet milled using most advanced continuous cycle ball mill to obtain a homogenous mixture of water and clay technically known as 'body slip'.

The resulting 'body slip' is then pumped into the vibrating sieving machine to remove the impurities, to obtain the fine mixture of water and clay for the subsequent atomization process to convert the body slip into fine particles with required color called 'granules'. These colored granules are collected in different silos for the subsequent pressing phase, which is carried out using SACMI'S hydraulic presses of PH 4200 - PH 7200 to give the porcelain tile body the required compactness.

The tile body is then subjected to a drying process of 30 minutes in the horizontal dryers and then go through various types of application ranging from printing designs using alkaline base salts (technically know as soluble salt design porcelain tiles) or applying glaze on the porcelain body (technically know as glazed porcelain) or directly pressing the colored granules in various combination to form the salt and pepper type of porcelain tiles.

The firing of porcelain body is then carried out in SACMI'S single layer roller kiln of length 129.5 meter at temperature of 1220° C - 1250° C to obtain the required physical and chemical characteristics as per the European and American Standards.

The high pressing force when combined with high firing temperature, forms a superior quality porcelain tiles with very low water absorption capacity, which is as low as 0.05%, measured as per EN 99 standard method. This very low water absorption capacity makes RAK Ceramics porcelain tiles frost proof following EN 202 standard, also enabling the tiles to be defined as "Fully Vitrified" in compliance with European standard EN 176.

Since the water absorption of our porcelain tiles is less than 0.05% and its wear and stain resistance makes the product suitable for use in high traffic areas. This stain and dirt resistance is also due to the fact that the surface of the unpolished tiles is sufficiently smooth for any staining agents to be unable to gain a purchase on the surface of the tile itself. Thus, the same can be removed without any difficulties.

This accompanied by a very high mechanical strength greater than or equal to 45 N/mm2 in compliance with EN 100 standard, as well as a deep abrasion resistance of 110 mm3 of materials. Also, our unpolished fine fully vitrified porcelain tiles have an average scratch resistance of 8-9 on the MOHS scale, measured using EN 101 test method, while our polished materials have an average scratch resistance of 5-6, depending upon the nature of their polished surface.

We have two "STATE-OF-THE-ART" bathware plants which produce over 2.5 million pieces of bathware per annum. Our products are manufactured with the latest technologies including a High-Pressure casting bench, and robot-spraying machine which is used to give each piece of bathware a perfectly even finish. We have 10 medium pressure casting plants for production of wash basins, pedestals, cisterns, lids and accessories. We also use the latest Italian technology for production including computerized kilns and for manufacturing ABS seat covers and acrylic bath. Fire Clay models are also produced using the most modern technology.