Ceramic Stain Resistance

Ceramic tiles offer a combination of durability, versatility and convenience and are available in hundreds of different styles, shapes and colors.
Tile is a ceramic surfacing unit, usually relatively thin in relation to facial area, made from clay or a mixture of clay and other ceramic materials, called the body of the tile, having either a “glazed” or “unglazed” face and fired above red heat in the course of manufacture to a temperature sufficiently high to produce specific physical properties and characteristics.
special-purpose tile is a tile, either glazed or unglazed, made to meet or to have specific physical design or appearance characteristics such as size, thickness, shape, color, or decoration; keys or lugs on backs or sides; special resistance to staining, frost, alkalies, acids, thermal shock, physical impact, high coefficient of friction, or electrical properties.
(According to ISO 10545-2) Method applicable to all working surfaces of ceramic tiles to determine their resistance to stains. Each staining agent  (Green staining in light oil/red staining for green tiles,  Iodine alcohol solution, Olive oil) must remain on at least 5 testing samples (whose proper surface has first been cleaned and dried) use of different cleaning agents, for at least 24 hours, whose working surfaces has been cleaned and dried beforehand. Removal of the staining agents takes place in subsequent steps using various cleaning agents and cleaning procedures.
Classification of the results follows visual inspection: class 1 tiles are the easiest from which to remove a given stain, while with class 5 tiles, such stains cannot be removed and the proper surface has been damaged irreversibly.

Cleaning agents
1) Hot water.
2) Weak commercial cleaning agent.
3) Strong commercial cleaning agent.
4) Solvents (hydrochloric acid, potassium hydroxide, acetone, others to be specified)

Cleaning procedures
A) Running hot water.
B) Manual cleaning with weak commercial cleaning agent.
C) Mechanical cleaning with strong commercial cleaning agent.
D) Immersion in suitable solvent (hydrochloric acid, potassium hydroxide, acetone, others to be specified).


Class 1 - the stain is removed using hot water
Class 2 - the stain is removed using a weak commercial cleaning agent
Class 3 - the stain is removed using a strong commercial cleaning agent
Class 4 - the stain is removed using solvent, such as acetone for example
Class 5 - such stains cannot be removed and the proper surface has been damaged irreversibly.