Q: How are natural decorative stones classified in terms of stone types?
A: The American Society for Testing and Materials classifies natural decorative stones into six categories: Granite, Marble, Limestone, Quartz-based, Slate, and Other stones.
Q:What is the basis for naming natural decorative stone varieties?
A: Natural decorative stones are named based on their color, pattern and origin, which reflects their natural and decorative qualities. Thus, the names of natural decorative stones are often poetic and intriguing, such as Origin of Life, Ink Interest, Golden Spider, and Buddha's Light.
Q: Is the name of a stone related to its place of origin?
A: Generally, yes. In most cases, the name of a stone is related to its place of origin, such as Indian Red from India and Brazilian Black from Brazil. However, there are special cases, such as Brown Fossil from England is actually from India and French Beige from Indonesia.
Q: What are the main mineral components of stone?
A: As we all know, stone is a type of rock extracted from mines that is formulated by various minerals that have formed through geological processes. These minerals are the stable natural products of various chemical elements found in the Earth's crust.
Q: What is a rough stone?
A: A rough stone is a type of stone that has a certain specification after processing, which is used to produce decorative panels.
Q: What is granite?
A: Granite is a type of rock with quartz, feldspar, and mica as its main components, with a feldspar content of 40-60% and a quartz content of 20-40%. The color of granite is determined by the type and quantity of components it contains. High-quality granite has fine and uniform grains, a compact structure, and a bright luster.
Q: What are the characteristics of granite?
A: Granite possesses a hard and durable texture, resistance to wear and corrosion, high strength, a large specific weight, and generally has uniform and regular color patterns. Its weak water absorption and difficulty in adhesion and processing make for a good glossy finish.
Q: How is granite commonly used?
A: According to the grain size, granite can be polished or carved for use as decorative panels or art pieces with fine-grained textures. For medium-grained granite, it is commonly used in the construction of bridge piers, bridge arches, embankments, sea ports, foundation supports for buildings and road surfaces. Coarsely grained granite is crushed for use as superior aggregate in concrete. Due to its acid-resistant properties, granite is also used as acid-resistant lining and containers in chemical, metallurgical production.
Q: What minerals typically compose marble?
A: Marble is a metamorphic rock derived from carbonate rocks and is mainly composed of calcite, dolomite, serpentine, and magnesite, with calcium carbonate accounting for more than 50% of its components. Its chemical composition is mainly calcium carbonate with small percentages of magnesium carbonate, oxides of calcium, manganese, and silicon dioxide.
Q: What is a water-washed stone?
A: Water washing, also known as water jetting, is a process that uses a high-pressure water gun to wash and strip the softer parts of the stone surface, forming a natural uneven surface texture. Sometimes abrasive materials like river sand or corundum are added to the water to achieve a certain uneven texture.
Q: What is natural decorative stone?
A: Natural decorative stone refers to natural rock that has a certain block size, strength, stability, workability, and decorative performance.
Q: What do "Ma stone" and "Cloud stone" refer to?
A: "Ma stone" (commonly known as granite) and "Cloud stone" (commonly known as marble) refer to different types of natural stone.
Q: What is artificial stone?
A: Artificial stone is made from non-natural mixtures, such as resin, cement, glass beads, aluminum stone powder, crushed stone and binder. Generally, unsaturated polyester resin is used as the binder, and pigments and fillers are added. After a certain processing program, artificial stone can be produced.
Q: What is the difference between quartz and quartzite?
A: "Quartz" is an abbreviation used by artificial stone manufacturers for their products. Since the main component of artificial stone is quartz, which can reach up to 93%, it is called "quartz". "Quartzite" is a natural mineral sedimentary rock formed by metamorphism or thermal metamorphism of quartz sandstone or siliceous rock. In short, quartz is artificial, while quartzite is natural.
Q: What is limestone?
A: Limestone, also known as gypsum, is a carbonate rock mainly consisting of calcite. Sometimes it contains dolomite, clay minerals, and detrital minerals. Its colors range from gray, gray-white, gray-black, yellow, light red to brownish-red. Its hardness is generally not high, and it reacts violently with dilute hydrochloric acid.
Q: What are the names of the five categories of natural stone?
A1: The naming codes for the five categories of natural stone are:
1. Granite (Code: G, Type: Granite)
2. Marble (Code: M, Type: Marble)
3. Limestone (Code: L, Type: Limestone)
4. Sandstone (Code: S, Type: Sandstone)
5. Slate (Code: SQ, Type: Slate)
Q: Are all mosaic products made from offcuts or waste materials?
A: When the project requires a large amount of production, using general offcuts or waste materials cannot meet the supply needs. Therefore, to meet production needs, opening large or undeveloped materials is required.
Q: What are the standard natural stone mosaic products?
A: The standard natural stone mosaic products are divided into six categories: Molded Mosaic, Small Particle Mosaic, 3D Mosaic, Broken Surface Mosaic, Mosaic Carpet, and Castle Brick.
Q: There are thousands of varieties of natural decorative stone. Is there a classification system from a design perspective other than marble and granite?
A: Yes, one classification system from a design perspective is based on color. Natural decorative stone can be roughly divided into white, beige/yellow, gray, blue, green, red, brown and black color series. There is also a category of unique and colorful stones that are difficult to classify under a particular color series.
Q: Is granite suitable for outdoor use?
A: When used for outdoor building decoration, granite needs to withstand long-term exposure to wind, rain, and sunlight. Because it does not contain carbonate, it has a low water absorption rate and strong resistance to weathering and acid rain. Therefore, granite is suitable as a stone material for outdoor use.
Q: How do you distinguish between artificial stone and natural stone?
A1: Artificial stone lacks the naturalness of natural stone. Although artificial stone can produce a variety of patterns artificially, it still lacks the richness and naturalness of natural stone.
2: In addition to artificial granite, most artificial stone materials have a pattern on the reverse side.
3: Bubbles can often be found in artificial stone.
Q: What are the characteristics of stone decoration compared to ceramics?
A1: The main feature of stone decoration is its natural properties, low carbon and environmentally friendly. Mining can be achieved without the need for firing and other processes that cause pollution.
2: Natural stone has unique texture and natural changes without artificial traces.
As people's living standards improve in China, stone materials have gradually entered the home decoration market and become commonly used.
Q: What are the characteristics of marble and granite?
A1: Marble has a reticulated particle structure, a soft texture, weak strength, and is prone to breakage. It can generally be bonded, has strong water absorption, is easy to process, and prone to fading. The patterns are complex and variable.
2: Granite has a granular particle structure, hard texture, strong strength, and is not easily broken. It generally cannot be bonded, has weak water absorption, is difficult to process, can maintain its color for a long time, and has a uniform distribution of patterns, except for some individual stones.
