Sensitech, a porcelain tile surface technology developed by Atlas Concorde to offer a high level of safety against slipping, easy cleaning, and comfort, has been extended to all outdoor surfaces.
Patented in Europe, Sensitech is aimed to further consolidate the position of the Italian company, which has been a major player in the global ceramic tile market for more than 50 years.
The technology is applied to both indoor surfaces with an R10 B coefficient and outdoor surfaces with an R11 C coefficient. This allows tiles to be used in a variety of indoor and outdoor applications, also ensuring projects with continuity between interiors and exteriors.
For residential applications, the technology is particularly suitable for bathrooms and spaces where there’s a lot of water and moisture, in order to ensure a high level of slip resistance.
Sensitech is also suitable for indoor applications in commercial and public settings, including stores, spas, wellness centres, and all other spaces where special safety requirements are required by law. Outside, this technology is especially suitable for applications in residential and public areas with a high risk of slipping, the company says, such as sloped pool edges, some types of stairs for entering the water, and many work and industrial spaces.
Traditional non-slip surfaces are rough and hard to clean. In fact, under a microscope normal tiles with high anti-slip coefficients have rough surfaces created by alternating peaks and troughs.
This irregularity generates friction – in other words resistance to slipping – but at the same time creates a surface that’s hard to clean. Dust and dirt particles also tend to build up in the depressions, making it harder to clean these kinds of tiles compared to those with smoother surfaces.
The Sensitech production process fills the troughs, Atlas Concorde says, thus preventing dust and dirt particles from nesting inside them. As a result, the surface is easier and faster to clean with common household detergents.
This is said to be important both for routine daily cleaning and for the final cleaning of building sites, which often leads to complications and delays.
Sensitech is designed for applications in spaces with a high risk of slipping. Thanks to its non-slip properties, it’s said to guarantee a high level of safety against slipping to those who frequent these indoor and outdoor spaces. As an added benefit, the company says, Sensitech combines these properties with an “unprecedented” pleasantness to the touch, which is said to make the surface smoother and more gratifying than traditional anti-slip surfaces.
The reason for this is because microparticles are applied to the porcelain tiles to fill the depressions in the surface, leaving the peaks unaffected and thus preserving their ability to create friction. At the same time, the ceramic surface is smoother and more uniform, thus more pleasant to the touch than traditional non-slip surfaces.
www.atlasconcorde.com/en
