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According to a press release from Tile Edizioni, 2009 marked the first year in the tile production sector’s history that production fell.

Although Asia’s share of the production and consumption markets continues to grow, Europe and the Americas have experienced a sharp downturn in imports and exports.

According to data collected in a survey conducted by the magazine Ceramic World Review (published by Tile Edizioni), world tile output dropped to 8,515 million m², 0.1 percent down from 8,520 million m² in 2008. This compares unfavorably to average annual increases that were 6 to 7 percent in the period 2004-2007 and a 3.2 percent increase in 2008.

While Asia’s market share is growing and is now at 65.1 percent of world production, the opposite trend occurred in the Americas and  Europe, which experienced a decrease of 24.8 percent since 2008 (equivalent to a drop of 354 million m²) bringing production to 1,076 million m².

Total tile consumption grew by just 1.3 percent, compared to 3.6 percent growth in 2008 and an average 8 percent growth during the previous years. The breakdown in consumption by geographical area mimics that of production. Asia showed the highest growth in demand at 8.2 percent.

Growth was reported in Africa (10 percent) and in Central and South America (1 percent). In North America demand dropped 10.9 percent. In the European Union, demand plummeted 18.8 percent, with the biggest biggest drop in Spain.

But export trends were the worst hit by the world crisis. Imports/exports, which had already slowed sharply in 2007 (2.4 percent) and in 2008 (0.47 percent), dropped by 9.6 percent in 2009. The only exception was Asia, although its exports grew by a much smaller amount than in the past.

Exports from the European Union fell 19.3 percent, and non-EU Europe experienced a 25 percent drop. Central and South America exports fell 20.7 percent, North America fell 16.4 percent, and Africa  dropped 8.3 percent. Asia saw the only increase, up 5.8 percent.

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Deltaker, S.A. tile. Credit: ASCER

The Association of Ceramic Tile Manufacturers of Spain (ASCER) says it is working with the Harvard Graduate School of Design on a one-year research effort to explore the best ways to meet the increasing challenges of product customization, adjustment to buyers’ preferences, and sustainability in production.

The Ceramic Futures project will be led by Martin Bechthold, professor of Architectural Technology, and Christoph Reinhart, associate professor of Architectural Technology. According to an ASCER press release, the project consists of three phases.

The first phase (December 2009 to spring 2010) is focusing on current design-to-manufacturing processes. Work during this time is based on in-depth case studies on sustainability, manufacturing and related design and business strategies.

The second phase (January to June 2010) includes a detailed evaluation of the performance of ceramic materials in buildings. Integral parts of this phase are prototyping and experimentation studies that investigate the customization of ceramics through robotics and other digital fabrication technologies.In

In the final phase (May to December 2010), the group says it will develop the best ideas generated in the previous phase, and complete one or more prototypes to highlighting possible improvements in the fabrication of ceramic products.

Although details have not been announced, ASCER says it will disseminate the findings of the research project via lectures and publications.

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The prototype tile, developed by MIT grads, is designed to turn dark in cold weather and white in warm weather. (Credit: Patrick Gillooly/MIT.)

Anyone with even a passing knowledge of physics knows that dark surfaces absorb heat, while white surfaces are more effective at reflecting heat – hence the growing number of experts arguing that people should paint roofs and other parts of buildings white to help tackle global warming.

A team of MIT graduates has developed a new tile that changes color as the temperature changes, producing a white surface when hot and a black surface when it is cold.

Dubbed the Thermeleon, to rhyme with chameleon, the researchers claim that in their white state the tiles reflect about 80 percent of sunlight landing on them, while in their dark state they reflect around 30 percent of the sun’s energy.

The team, which last week won a $5,000 prize as part of MIT’s annual Making and Designing Materials Engineering Contest, is now looking at developing a commercial version of the technology that will be able to cope with harsh outdoor weather conditions.

The current version of the technology uses a common commercial polymer in a water solution, which is then trapped between plastic layers, one of which is colored black. When the temperature drops below a level determined by the nature of the solution the white polymer dissolves revealing the black surface.

Because the materials are common and inexpensive, team members think the tile could be manufactured at a price comparable to that of conventional roofing materials — although that won’t be known for sure until they determine the exact materials and construction of their final version.

MIT said the team is now working on an even simpler and lower cost version of the technology that will effectively integrate the polymer solution into a paint that could then be painted straight onto existing black roofs.

Ceramic tile makers take note. Is this a technology that can find its way into the manufacturing of ceramic tile, or even solar tile panels? Or is poly-resin going to be the next big thing in environmentally-friendly, energy saving technology?

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