Study on the surface quality of marble tiles polished with Sol-Gel derived pads

Abstract

Sol–gel (SG) pads are used to polish different types of marble tiles and obtain high-gloss, low roughness, and scratch-free surfaces. The main features of such tools are semiconsolidated abrasives and flexible substrates. Through experiments with three types of polishing methods and two different types of tools used to polish marble tiles, the polishing mechanism of SG pads was confirmed. An abrasive yield phenomenon was observed for the semiconsolidated abrasive polishing tool with a flexible matrix, which resulted in a mirrored marble surface with high gloss, and the polishing steps were simplified. For SG polishing pads, a larger abrasive can be used to obtain high-gloss marble surfaces compared to the fine abrasives used in traditional resin polishing tools. Therefore, the agglomeration problem associated with fine particle size abrasives is avoided. In addition, after SG pad polishing, the surface of the marble tiles exhibited hydrophobic properties, and the oleophobic properties were simultaneously improved.