Natural stone is one of the oldest building, decorative or appliance materials. It has been used for a long time, using natural stone since human origin. Today, natural stone and its products are still synonymous with high-end architecture, high-end decoration and some rare and precious ornaments.
On the other hand, after entering the modern industrial revolution, with the excavation of various technologies, the progress and improvement of various processing methods, processing machinery and tools, more and more new materials have been developed. Each material has its own personality and advantages, and it also shows consumers its best side and gives consumers more choices. Faced with too many choices, consumers are sometimes confused. In recent decades, this phenomenon has become more prominent.
So, what are the types of these materials? What are their main performance characteristics? What inspiration or influence can these materials bring to natural stone? Faced with such market conditions, how should the natural stone industry respond? It also deserves the attention and attention of the natural stone industry.
Ceramic Stone Tiles
Regardless of scale, influence, brand or business model, ceramics is a very big industry! In the development of traditional ceramic products, one of the design priorities of surface color and texture. Many ceramics will invest heavily in this area, and even hire big European industrial product designers to lead the work.
An obvious feature of product development is that the main product has been changed to high-quality imitation natural stone varieties, and there is even a well-known slogan of "don't use marble, use tiles"! As a result, the product development of almost all branded ceramic companies has turned to this direction, including at least one or more "marble tile" product lines.
Nano White Stone
Nano white stone is a product characteristic between ceramics, glass, artificial stone and natural stone, but it is different from any of them. It is a special product branch with a relatively small mass - a hard texture, the same as the surface, with a dense crystal structure. High density (solid without holes), high temperature resistance, can be cut, polished and processed into various furniture countertops, kitchen countertops, and handicrafts.
Artificial Stone
The types of artificial stone are terrazzo, artificial marble and quartz stone, which can be divided into organic or inorganic according to the binder used. In the past 20-30 years, it has developed rapidly, and is especially suitable for granite floors, wall decorations, and quartz stone for kitchen and dining room countertops in indoor commercial spaces. According to relevant statistics, the total production capacity of the Chinese market has rapidly exceeded 200 million square meters per year, and the proportion of the total use of natural stone has dropped by 20% from less than 10%.
Composite Stone
A segment of the natural stone industry itself. Many people know that the developed countries in Europe initially developed stone composite panels to meet certain special places, such as aircraft cabins, cruise ships, luxury cars, elevator cars, etc., which require both the texture of the stone and the light weight. requirements, typical suppliers such as the famous German brand Grama Blend.
Then more products of this series were derived - mainly natural slate, which is especially suitable for this type of product. The core technology of these products is still dominated by Germany. The main features are that it can be bent, natural, flexible, ultra-thin, etc.
Conclusion
All kinds of stone substitutes are imitations of natural stone without exception, indicating that the advantages of natural stone are recognized by many industries, so they are imitated.
The technological innovations made during the development of these alternative products are worth learning from the natural stone industry. Of course, the emergence of these alternative products will definitely compete with the original natural stone market, putting pressure on the natural stone industry.
Natural stone itself has many unique advantages, such as natural properties; its scarcity and non-renewable nature, we can continue its preciousness; convenient processing, wide application range, can give full play to human creativity, as well as cultural and artistic talents, breakthrough Sexual thinking, with modern means to develop a variety of pioneering new products.
