Large Format Porcelain

Introduction

With the latest manufacturing technology, porcelain has now become one of the most exciting products for commercial building cladding. With exceptional aesthetics, combined with its mechanical properties, porcelain offers many benefits and exceptionally low maintenance. Traditionally, porcelain has been limited in panel size (typically max size 1200 x 1200mm) which combined with a fairly brittle nature, has limited it’s use in active seismic zones. Latest production techniques have radically changed this.

Fire Rating

Porcelain is fired at 1200 - 1250°C during production and is non-combustible; plain porcelain will not support combustion or produce toxic fumes/smoke. The new multi-layer, large panel format is typically 2 thinner sheets, robotically laminated with a high-quality, polyurethane adhesive and fiberglass fabric reinforcement. The adhesive is completely encapsulated between the two non-combustible layers, as such a small level of smoke and fumes are produced in the event of fire (yet significantly less than most other cladding materials), and will not openly support combustion. In some classes of building it is important to consider potential implications of this with the project fire engineer. Insite Facades have experience with this and fire-test data, to support robust engineering and ensure NZBC code compliance.

Manufacturing

Aesthetics

Large-format porcelain provides unmatched aesthetics to create stunning facades. With the advent of large-scale digital printing techniques, utilising coloured silica sand and specialist oxides, large format porcelain offers the ability to create any desired aesthetic including;

• Solid colours
• Wood grains
• Concrete: fair finish & off-form
• Limestone, basalt and terrazzo
• Marble, calacatta, carrerra, statuario: book-match / end-match
• Metals: grey iron, corten steel, copper, brass and titanium

Construction Details/ Carrier System / Structural & Seismic