“Hiding Power” and Tonality Optimization for Ceramic Tiles

Hiding power is the ability of a paint to hide a surface to which the paint was applied.
‍

‍
‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍Abstract
‍Study the correlation between formulation andchemical composition and the effect on performance parameters (e.g. L*a*b*, gloss, hiding power, price).
‍

‍

Supply Problem
‍The chemical composition of supplied rawmaterials for ceramic tiles is constantly changing based on their source. Thishas an impact on the behaviour of the various component of the ceramic tile. For example, new clays impose grayish or brownish body, which then requires better hiding power of the layers that follow (engobe, top glaze).
‍

Process Problem
‍R&D teams need to collect the scattered data of chemical composition of: minerals, frits, body, engobes, glazes, inks to develop and adjust the formulations ofall components, while considering the match in thermal expansion, the LOI, kilnprofiles and cost.
‍

Unusable Data
‍Chemical compositions of supplied materialsare measured by XRF and delivered as CoA in PDF formats or even in paper. Formulations are managed by pen and paper notebooks. Sometimes this data is managed in excel.
‍

‍

‍Data Consolidation (connect, ingest, structure & enhance)
‍Digitizing and organizing the chemical composition, formulations, properties and performance parameters of the various components into a unified Materials Knowledge Center.
‍
‍
‍Visual Analyzer
‍The Visual Analyzer multi-dimensional cross-correlation analysis allows a smart selection of a set of materials with the best formulation performance.

‍

‍
‍Predictive Co-Pilot
‍Predictive Co-Pilot recommends optimized formulations (DOE) that provides the best cost effective performance. i.e. perform fewer experiments to achieve the optimization of whiteness (L*), gloss and hiding power, using economic and environment friendly ingredients.

 70% fewer experiments with maximal L* and hiding power optimization