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Terrazzo tile or porcelain tile?

Terrazzo is real stone chip set in cement and ground flat. Porcelain is a fired clay body with the chip pattern printed into the glaze. Turn the tile over: terrazzo shows the aggregate running through the body, porcelain shows uniform clay with the pattern only on the face. Porcelain needs no sealing and is cheaper; terrazzo can be re-ground when it dulls and porcelain cannot.
Six terrazzo processes, drawn to one scaleEach column shows the layers of one terrazzo process. Precast and cement-bound are thick; epoxy is thin; porcelain is a fired body. Dimensions are published ranges, not our measured figures.substratePrecast20 mmsubstrateCement-based12 mmsubstrateEpoxy5 mmsubstratePoured10 mmsubstrateLiquid3 mmsubstratePorcelain9 mmSections drawn to one scale from published ranges. Our measured figures are listed separately.
The six processes drawn to one scale. Layer thicknesses are published ranges.

The figures, and where each one comes from

Real terrazzo tile Terrazzo-effect porcelain
Body cement with real stone chip through it fired clay, uniform
Surface ground, can be re-ground a printed glaze, wears through
Sealing needed, and refreshed not needed
Water graded 8.0% down to 1.0% by class near zero
Repair replace the tile replace the tile
Standard EN 13748-1 covers cement-bound terrazzo tile covered as a ceramic tile

Why the processes are not interchangeable

The second test is the one that catches a printed tile in a showroom. Lay six or eight of them out on the floor: a printed surface has a limited number of faces, so the same cluster of chips comes round again. Real aggregate does not repeat. And the consequence that matters is maintenance rather than appearance — a terrazzo floor that has dulled after ten years of traffic can be ground back, because the aggregate is the surface. A printed tile at the same point has worn through its pattern and the only repair is replacement.

What these figures are, and what they are not

The difference in body and in repairability is what the two products are. ⛔ The absorption grades are JC/T 507-2022 table 7 for the Chinese classes; EN 13748-1 covers cement-bound terrazzo tile for internal use and its scope was read, but ⛔ we have not confirmed the standard's current status with CEN and are not reproducing its numeric limits. ⛔ No price comparison appears: we have not quoted one for either product.

Measured data sheets and test reports

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