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The solution to control drying, filtering and adhesion of slabs is a simple update of the production line with the drying and hardening Xilex furnaces: Ares and Kronos. With more than twenty years of experience in the treatment of natural stone, especially marble and granite, we have developed machines answering the usual problem of controlling resin filtration.
Quality, resistance and final finish of the pieces depend on both the correct drying and the optimal filtration and hardening of the resins during the treatment. Lines with conventional ovens, manufacturers have difficulty for the total elimination of the wáter in slabs, which causes failures in the filtration and lack of adherence of the resin in the pieces.
Lack of control of this process cause material breaks and faulty final finishes, which represents significant economic losses for stone companies.
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Not correct resin filtration on a black marquina marble slab processed with conventional ovens. |
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Filtration of the resin obtained with different resins in black marble slabs processed with Xilex ovens. |
Current problem in the control of resin filtration: marble and granite
According to the data provided by natural stone manufacturers, breakage of slabs due to poor filtration and adhesion of resins was as high as 20% in some cases. Such breaks normally occur at factory during processing, but some slabs also break once delivered to customers, or show quality problems over time, which can lead to returns of material and undoubtedly affect the image of the company and to the buyer’s trust.
The most common reasons for breakage and finishing defects are related to drying and adhesion processes:
- Difficulty for total elimination of water in the piece.
- Hardening furnaces that do not carry out resin filtration correctly and homogeneously throughout the piece (penetration of hairs, cracks, microporosities …).
- Incapacity of filtration control and achieve the desired final finish tones.
- Faults in the adhesion of the reinforcement nets.
Added to this are the high times required by conventional ovens, which extend this production phase up to 72 hours, requiring large spaces for intermediate storage and slabs handling.
Full control of drying and resining with Ares and Kronos from Xilex
Ares and Kronos drying and resin furnaces are easily installed to adapt conventional lines and translate into annual savings that can reach 350,000 euros/year (for resin lines of 30 slabs/hour of production).
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| Ares 3500 Humidity drying | Kronos 3500 Resin curing |
The combined action of Xilex machines facilitates the production of high quality material to respond to market demands, adding important productive advantages:
- Quality in the final finish of the slabs: optimal filtering of resin in cracks, hairs and surfaces (without the need of vacuum), perfect grip of the reinforcing mesh, greater compaction and resistance of the material, control of tones color of the surface and increased gloss duration.
- Reduction of the processing time: the slabs are resined in line in a continuous process, so they can be ready for polishing in just 60 minutes (after leaving the gang saw or multiwire).
- Efficiency in resin consumption due to a perfect filtration in the material. Also, our machines allow to achieve different finishes with the same chemical product.
- Energy saving: preheating is not necessary and the ovens only work when detecting the piece. This represents an energy saving of up to 40%.
- Space reduction: the machines are small in size to adapt to production lines without the requirement of masonry work or foundations. In addition, intermediate warehouse spaces are removed as waiting times disappear.
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