In May 2023, the European Commission and European Organization for Technical Assessment (EOTA) officially adopted a new European Assessment Document (EAD) that defines a new product category known as Sintered Stone.
The definition of this new category of material is as follows:
“An industrial product formed by a wet mixture of minerals that does not use resin or cement. The material is cold formed by vacuum vibro-compression and solidifies, once it has dried, by sintering at temperatures between 1,100 and 1,200°C. The production process is reversible. The material can be used in architecture and design for different interior and/or exterior applications and can be installed with adhesives, structural gluing or mechanical fixings.”
The material, which is manufactured in large sheets, is highly resistant to scratches, temperature changes, fire, salinity, humidity, UV rays and more.
Above all it is ecological, it is manufactured without using petroleum derivatives and, as specified in the EAD, it is the result of a reversible process that, at the end of its useful life, allows the material to return to its initial state and be reused. These characteristics make it a valuable material for the construction and design sector, both on land and at sea. It is also compatible with numerous quality and sustainability certificates around the world.
EAD 090142-00-0404, to which reference will soon be made in the Official Journal of the European Union, includes the list of the main characteristics and specifies the test methods necessary to verify the performance of this innovative surface. A significant advance that sheds light on the different specificity of the sintered stone and ceramic product categories to avoid overlapping, confusion and misuse of the terms. In addition, from now on, surfaces that meet the requirements of the new EAD will be able to carry the CE marking and circulate even more easily within the borders of the European community.
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