NITCO uses special Imported Fiber to strengthen the block before taking it into processing. The block is covered with Imported Fiber from 3 sides and glued with the help of Epoxy Resin and dried for 24-48 hours. This ensures the edges of slabs do not chip-off during sawing and reduces wastage.
The fiber around the slabs provides safety to the slabs during transit from plant to site as well to labor’s hands during manual handling at site.
NITCO has the world’s best BM Gangsaws for sawing the blocks. The BM Gangsaws offer accurate sawing of slabs with least vibrations.
The variation in thickness in BM Gangsaws is restricted to +/- 0.77 mm compared to usual market practice of +/- 2 to 3 mm variation. Thus the BM Gangsaws provide better flatness accuracy and uniform slab thickness.
NITCO's Marble Processing Plant is fully automated. All the slabs are handled by Robotic Hands with Vacuum Cups. This helps in reducing the chances of breakages due to manual handling of slabs.
The edges of the slabs also remain intact and inherent cracks in the slabs do not open during automatic handling.
NITCO is the only company in India which dries each Slab with high-pressure Hot Air and Pre-Heats the Slab before processing of the slabs. Each Slab passes through Hot Compressed Air Jet in a closed chamber to dry the slab from excess moisture and remove foreign matter from the slabs surface and makes the slabs bone dry.
Thereafter, each slab is pre-heated in a Kiln for about 2 hours. During pre-heating, the slab leaves all its moisture and the pores open up to help proper filling with Epoxy Resin. Also, any bacteria or fungus within the stone is dried to ensure no future problems.
Conventionally, as soon as the block is cut, it is filled manually with Polyester Resin on both sides and Fiber Glass Sheet is applied on one side as reinforcement. The block is still wet during this time and the cutting waste fills up in the cracks.
The Polyester Resin has no life and starts to weaken within a month or two and gets pushed out by the moisture which was originally trapped inside the marble with the conventional filling. In any case the filling was only superficial and did not percolate into the marble. Thus, while fixing at site, the Fiber Glass Sheet had to be removed as it becomes loose.
NITCO uses special Imported Fiber Net for reinforcement at the bottom of slabs with Italian Tenax Epoxy Resin to get proper bonding. After heating in the first Kiln, the slabs are laid horizontal and then instead of Fiber Glass Sheet, a Fiber Glass Net is applied exactly as they do it in Italy and then strengthen it with Epoxy Resin on an Automated Computer Programmed Application. The Epoxy Resin percolates into every crack and pore of the slab. It is not possible to apply Epoxy Resin manually in vertical position unlike the Polyester Resin as Epoxy Resin is very thin and flows off.
After it comes out of the first Kiln if it is noticed that some of cracks and pores have been exposed due to heating then they are filled manually and sealed with a Marble Paste along with Epoxy Resin to ensure fool-proof strengthening of Marble and Color Matching. Once the slab is fixed with Imported Fiber Glass Net and filled with Epoxy Resin, it goes in the second Kiln for curing. The Epoxy Resin requires to be dried artificially as it is of very low viscosity and would have taken almost 48-72 hours to cure naturally. It is cured for 2 hours in the second Kiln thereby strengthening the fiber which then forms part of the body of the slab. Now the Imported Fiber need not and cannot be removed from the Slab at the time of laying. The Fiber Glass Net provides continued strength to the marble during the lifetime of the floor and Epoxy Resin at the bottom ensures no seepage of moisture from the floor-bed to top of the marble. Therefore, the patches of moisture do not form over a time with this process.
NITCO’s entire plant is fully automated. Once the bottom-side of slab is processed with Imported Fiber and Epoxy Resin, the Slabs are turned up-side down with an automatic turnaround machine on the same line without any manual labor.
After it comes out of the second Kiln if it is noticed that some of the cracks and pores are exposed due to the heating then it is filled with specially made Epoxy Resin Paste to seal it. Thereafter, the top-side is sprayed with Epoxy Resin automatically with a high-pressure jet machine ensuring the resin is filled in smallest pores of the slabs. Here again, the Epoxy Resin is sprayed to the exact quantity required and uniformly due to the computer controlled application.
NITCO does Vacuum treatment of each of its slab once the Epoxy Resin is filled on top-side of the slab. During the Vacuum Process, the entire slab goes into the Vacuum Chamber and air is sucked out. Therefore, the Epoxy Resin is able to get into the thinnest of the cracks and crannies of the slab.
This process ensures that there is NO air trapped in the pores of the slabs which may open up later and accumulate dust & moisture. The Vacuum Process seals the slabs permanently.
NITCO’s process of Fiber Filled Unpolished Slabs is complete with final curing of top- side Epoxy Resin filled slabs in the third Kiln. The Epoxy Resin is cured for 2 hours in the Kiln thereby strengthening the top-side.
This gives the slabs with Epoxy Resin treatment a life-long durability. With this kind of filling, the entire slab is well saturated with Epoxy Resin from both sides and the brittle marble becomes rock-hard.
NITCO has a fully automated Polishing Line with a unique Pre-Grinding process for each slab before polishing. The Pre-Grinding is done with an 11-header computerized and synchronized machine which removes all undulation within the slab to give a perfect surface with no variation.
During the Pre-Grinding process, all 11 heads of the machine work at various pressures and adjust automatically to ensure the entire slab surface is even.
NITCO is the only plant in India to have the facility of UV Resin Polish which gives a Super High Gloss (above 100 on Gloss Meter for White Marble).
After the grinding on 11-head Pre-Grinding Machine, there may be some pores which are again exposed or open up. Then the slabs are again dried and at this stage the only resin which can be used – as the material is semi wet – is UV Resin which is a very expensive Resin, to fill these pores.
The UV Resin is applied with a mechanized machine evenly on the slab. The slab is then heated and UV Resin is dried in the UV Chamber with UV Lamps to dry the UV Resin. The shine after UV Resin Polish is much brighter than the Epoxy Resin Polish.
NITCO has an 18-header computerized and synchronized polishing machine for the final polish. This helps in giving the highest quality of shine and gloss to the slabs. We use only imported stones to polish the slabs. The gloss on the marble after this entire process is 30% more than conventional polishing.
NITCO uses a Protective Wax Glue on the polished side of the slab. After final polishing, each slab passes through a final buffing process to remove excess water from the slab and give it the natural shine.
Thereafter, a wax glue line is put in a zig-zag pattern on the slabs to ensure that the slabs have a minimum 1 mm gap when they are stacked together. This ensures that the slabs do not scratch each other on the polished side.
