Materials | Ceramilux

With the famous “soft-touch” effect similar to polished stone.

Cristalplant®

Cristalplant® is known for its beauty similar to natural stone with a soft touch effect. It is a material consisting mostly of mineral fillers of high purity aluminium trihydrates, bound by Biobased® resins of vegetable origin (corn). Resistant and printable even with important variations in thickness and undercuts, it can be easily processed on site using standard tools.

Cristalplant® was created in our laboratories and, thanks to the new 2020 formulation available on request, it has acquired virucidal, antifungal and self-cleaning properties. For over twenty years it has been used in the production of shower trays, tubs and washbasins by the most important international designers for high-end bathroom furnishings.

Aluminium trihydroxide

Biobased® plant resin

Technical features

The qualities of Cristalplant®

for designers

Natural beauty similar to stone

Made using cast or vacuum moulding

Maximum precision thanks to minimum tolerances

Seamless organic design

Breakages and chipping repairable on site

for users

The purest white in the industry

Smooth or glossy surface pleasant to the touch

Acoustic reduction of water noise

Resistant to yellowing and thermal shock

Restorable stains

for the environment

Biobased® ecological formulations

Also composed of corn and recycled PET

Antibacterial because photocatalytic

Lighter products to reduce CO2 consumption

End-of-life recyclable

Not just pure white

Cristalplant® is painted externally according to the customer’s request – from the RAL scale or a sample – with finishes ranging from the rubbery soft-touch effect to the embossed, to the satin or special finishes such as corten.

photo courtesy of Falper

Green materials

Cristalplant® is eco-sustainable thanks to unique qualities

Biobased® formula

Cristalplant® is the only Biobased solid surface in the world: the origin of the resin is obtained from corn. Furthermore, the weight reduction of the Biobased bathtubs – 30% less than the competitors – also allows less CO2 generated by transport.

These values have enabled Cristalplant® to obtain the Green Guard Green Certificate by LEED® (The US system for classifying energy efficiency and the ecological footprint): we are the only ones in our sector.

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100% recyclable material

At the end of its life cycle, Cristalplant® is reused as a construction basis, but in the future, as soon as European legislation and logistics allow it, it will be recycled 100% and reborn in new products in compliance with the C2C logic (Cradle to Cradle).

The ratio between produced waste and raw materials introduced in our production departments is 12% and today already 30% of this waste is recycled. The goal is to recycle 60% by 2022.

Virucidal and anti COVID-19 (tested with SARS-CoV-2)

From September 2020 we can make Cristalplant bactericidal and virucidal: the virus elimination mechanism of our materials is given by their catalytic action: irrefutable laboratory tests highlight the breaks in the membrane and cell walls of bacteria and viruses, Coronavirus included, when they come into contact with the surface.

On August 28, 2020, the test report released by UOCMV confirms that “from the culture examination, the surfaces of Nicos International materials demonstrated virucidal activity against SARS-CoV-2 after a contact time of 30 min and 60 min”.

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Target

The positioning of Cristalplant® in the market

Handbook for designers

Producer of Cristalplant®, Nicos International is a company that operates in the B2B sector and is recognized in the furnishings world for its excellent quality and the management of all development stages, supporting its partners in all stages of product development.

Strengthened by decades of know-how in the sector, founding prerogatives are research, technology and environmental sustainability, which are complemented in everyday life with reliability, compliance with deadlines and logistics and after-sales management.

Cristalplant® production technology is based on cast moulding, low pressure moulding;

After the definition of a three-dimensional drawing, a full-scale prototype is made which in turn is used for the construction of a mould. The latter, in composite, can be made with the classic method (positive and negative) or with movable inserts through the use of hydraulic pistons;

Cristalplant® moulding can be compared to an injection process: a point is defined from which the material enters the mould and fills the cavity, at this point the material catalyses and solidifies;

It is necessary for the masses of material not to be too large, because that would constitute a risk of bad catalysis of the area in question: the maximum sections must never exceed 45-50 mm. With this one precaution, uncontrolled thickness variations can be avoided;

If necessary, internal ribs are recommended, which do not show evident shrinkage;

It is possible to have limited undercuts in the piece, providing for the construction of the mould inclined; clearly each case must be analysed in a timely manner to verify the possibility of extracting the piece from the mould correctly;

Being a solid surface, Cristalplant® can be cut and glued, making different customizations, such as cuts to size, possible. There are no size and shape limits in the design;

It is possible to think of the printed product also in two or more parts, to be subsequently glued together, as if they were a single piece. It is good to consider that the more pieces, the higher the cost due to the gluing operations;

For bathroom products, the basin - that is the area that will contain the water - must be made in a single piece. Any cuts or welds must be external;

The welding is always carried out in the post-moulding phase with the same material, allowing the creation of a single piece with no visible breaks;

The soft-touch effect, similar to natural stone, is the Cristalplant® characteristic and is achieved thanks to the use of special sandpaper and Scotch-brite® scouring pads, used in the final phase of product processing;

Cristalplant® can be painted on surfaces not in contact with water, with soft-touch paints available in more than 700 colours;

All Cristalplant® materials are checked at every stage of processing, from design to prototype construction down to final production; with attention to every detail, before being offered on the market, the finished products are subjected to stringent tests that certify their quality;

The result is always a unique piece, elegantly finished, resistant and destined to last over time.

Certifications

Our company, Cristalplant® and all our products are constantly subjected to checks by the most important certification bodies, to guarantee you the best quality all over the world.