A digital wall tile is a ceramic wall tile whose design is printed onto the glaze by an inkjet printer before firing. The term describes how the tile is decorated, not a different body or a different grade.
Almost all wall tiles made in Morbi today are digital. Older methods such as screen and roller printing still exist, but inkjet printing has largely replaced them because it allows fine detail and fast design changes.
How a digital wall tile is made
The basic process is the same in most plants. The differences between a good tile and a poor one come from how carefully each step is controlled.
- Clay powder is pressed into the tile shape and dried.
- A layer of engobe is applied to cover the body colour, followed by a base glaze.
- The inkjet printer applies the design in several ceramic ink colours, in a single pass along the line.
- Some lines add a protective or effect glaze on top, for gloss, matt, satin or a metallic or glitter look.
- The tile is fired in a roller kiln, then sorted by grade, shade and calibre and packed.
Most Morbi wall tiles have a ceramic body with high water absorption, in group BIII under ISO 13006. That is normal for wall tiles. The reasons are covered in what water absorption ceramic wall tiles have.
What digital printing changes for you
Digital printing gives you range. A plant can reproduce marble veining, wood grain, concrete, terrazzo, hand-painted patterns and decor pieces on the same line. New designs can be loaded as files, so catalogues change often.
It also means one design can be printed with several different faces. Each face is a slightly different version of the image, so a wall does not show the same vein repeating tile after tile. The number of faces matters more on large walls and on stone looks. Our guide on face variation in digital tile designs explains how to judge it.
Because the design is only a printed layer, the look depends heavily on the printer, the inks and the glaze recipe. Two plants printing the same design file can produce noticeably different colour depth, sharpness and gloss.
What to check before you order
Treat the printed image as one quality point among several. Ask the factory for these things:
- Physical samples from current production, not a printed catalogue page or a photograph.
- The number of faces for each design, and a photo or mock-up of several tiles laid together.
- The body type (red or white), work size, thickness and finish, stated in writing.
- A test report to ISO 10545 showing water absorption and crazing resistance from an accredited laboratory.
- The grade definition, including which print defects such as lines or missing colour are allowed in each grade.
Print defects are a common reason for downgrading wall tiles. A blocked printer nozzle can leave a fine line along a whole run. Good plants catch this at sorting; weaker ones pack it into the box. Sizes and formats are covered in what sizes of wall tiles are made in Morbi.
Next step
We compare samples from several plants side by side, check the test reports and supervise sorting and loading so the boxes match the sample. To start with your design list, book a free sourcing review.