Technical Information - Load distribution

It's a heavy buisness

There are loads that must be carried during the life of an Argelith tile that simply cannot be simulated. They have to be experienced and withstood. A trip to a specialist industrial plant gives an impression of the truly shocking loads!
Even when it is not in operation, industrial production equipment can press exert several tons of weight onto just a few centimetres of floor. When the equipment is running at high speed, additional vibrations and oscillations occur that generate further stresses. Argelith special ceramic tiles are not affected by any of these situations.

When loads weighing several tons are moved in industrial halls it is not uncommon for heavy duty moving equipment and vehicles to be used. Argelith special ceramic tiles have exceptional point-loading capacity, high compression strength and resistance to bending. This means that they are easily able to carry extremely high loads. The chamfering on the four upper edges of Argelith tiles ensures that ed floors are additionally protected against cracking and fractures caused by heavy moving equipment. This is why Argelith special ceramic tiles can be found in use in the plastics, paper, automotive, aircraft and printing industries.		  
Fliese 15 mm auf Betonplatte
5/8" tile on concrete slab:
Fracture of slab and tile at 37,800 N = 8,267 lbs (average value)		  

Fliese 20 mm auf Betonplatte 

3/4" tile on concrete slab:
Fracture of slab and tile at 45,200 N = 9,965 lbs (average value)

  

Tests were carried out with a load increase of approximately 1000 N (corresponds to ~ 221 lbs) per second.

The break occurred as the force decreased, bringing along with it visible damage to the test pieces.

System mit dünner Fliese - 8 mm - 

System with a thin tile (1/3")

  

System mit starker Fliese - 20 mm -

System with thick tile (1")

  
 
The test clearly shows:
  • The thicker the tile, the greater the load required to cause fractures.
  • Load distribution of tiles depends on their thickness.
  • As tile thickness increases, load distribution is also greater, resulting in increased mechanical resistance.
  • Ceramic tiles work to distribute the load into the substructure. This load-distributing effect is greater when thicker tiles are used. This should be taken into account during selection and when determining the expected mechanical load.