EU Defines Sintered Stone
VEDELAGO, Italy – There’s an official definition of the term sintered stone … in Europe.
Lapitec announced earlier this month that the European Commission and European Organisation for Technical Assessment adopted a new document that details a new product category for sintered stone.
European Assessment Document (EAD) 090142-00-0404 will soon be included in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), offering the following definition for sintered stone:
An industrial product consisting of a wet mix of minerals, without the use of resin or cement. The material is cold-formed by vacuum vibro-compression and then consolidated, after drying, 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 various interior and/or exterior applications and can be installed by means of adhesives, structural bonding or mechanical fixings.
The OJEU listing will also contain the details on essential characteristics of the surface, and specifies the test methods necessary to verify performance. Surfaces that meet the requirements of the new EAD can be CE marked and circulated more-easily within the European Community’s borders.
The definition closely aligns with Lapitec’s production process, including the use of vacuum vibro-compression that is also key in engineered-stone manufacturing lines from parent company Breton S.p.A.
The document also notes the environmental sustainability of sintered stone by not using petroleum derivatives in production, and that it can be recycled (the “reversable” manufacturing process).
