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Engineered stone is a composite material made of crushed stone bound together by an adhesive, (most commonly polymer resin, with some newer versions using cement mix). The two common stones used in producing these products are marbles and quartz, the application of this product depends on the original stone used, for engineered marbles the most common application is indoor flooring and walls, while the quartz based product is used primarily for kitchen countertops. Related materials include geopolymers and cast stone. Unlike terrazzo, the material is factory made in either blocks or slabs, cut and polished by fabricators, and assembled at the worksite. Engineered stone products are gaining in popularity, many shopping malls and department stores around the world use engineered marble for floors. While research reported in Consumer Reports (2010) magazine reveals virtually no difference in performance between quartz based products and sealed granite.〔(Countertops: Our tests reveal the looks that last ) ''consumerreports.org'' Retrieved January 2, 2010.〕 Engineered stone (US name) is also commonly referred to as, agglomerate or agglomerated stone, the last term being that recognised by European Standards (EN 14618), although to add to the terminological confusion, this standard also includes materials manufactured with a cementitious binder. The Quartz version (which end consumers are much more likely to directly deal with) are commonly known as 'quartz surface' or just 'quartz'. ==Manufacturing equipment== Breton S.P.A., a privately held company of Treviso Italy, is the dominant supplier of equipment for making engineered stone. A mixture of approximately 93% stone aggregates and 7% polyester resin by weight (66% quartz and 34% resin by volume) is pressed into slabs (or larger blocks) using Breton's "vibrocompression vacuum process". 〔(http://www.sitesnsolutions.com/Articles/History%20ofnd to follow curves. Some colors made with recycled glass can be backlit. E-stone Corporation is part of the Trend Group. %20Breton%20Process.htm )〕 〔http://www.breton.it/engineeredstone/en/product/Plants_for_manufacturing_compound_stone/BRETONSTONE%C2%AE_SLABS〕 Although Breton was the original manufacturer of moulding equipment and still holds multiple international patents on the process, there are now several other companies producing similar machinery. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Engineered stone」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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