Artificial marble, and system and method of producing artificial marble
Artificial marble, and system and method of producing artificial marble. A method of producing a stone slab comprises: placing into a frame a plurality of coated lumps of composite stone material; removing substantially all air among the plurality of lumps; pressing the content of said frame; and curing the content of said frame to form the stone slab. An artificial stone slab comprises: a plurality of coated lumps of composite stone material which are substantially in contact with one another.
1. A method of producing a stone slab, the method comprising:
placing into a frame a plurality of coated lumps of composite stone material;
removing substantially all air among the plurality of lumps;
pressing the content of said frame; and
curing the content of said frame to form the stone slab.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein placing comprises:
placing the plurality of coated lumps into the frame in accordance with a position in which the plurality of coated lumps are substantially in contact with one another.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
prior to placing the plurality of coated lumps, producing the plurality of coated lumps.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the producing comprises:
scooping a first inorganic particulate material and a polymer material to produce lumps of composite stone material; and
mixing a second inorganic particulate material with the lumps to produce coated lumps.
5. The method of claim 4 , comprising:
during the mixing, automatically selecting coated lumps that are greater than a threshold size.
6. The method of claim 5 , comprising:
during the mixing, automatically ejecting from a mixer the selected coated lumps that are greater than the threshold size.
7. The method of claim 6 , comprising:
substantially continuously feeding lump-forming materials into the mixer; and
substantially continuously ejecting from the mixer formed coated lumps that are greater than the threshold size.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plurality of coated lumps comprises a dusted lump.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plurality of coated lumps comprises an inner core and an outer layer, wherein a property of the inner core has a first value, and wherein the same property of the outer layer has a second, different, value.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the property comprises a property selected from the group consisting of: color, texture, density, chemical composition, hardness, opacity, transparency, and porousivity.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least 95 percent of the formed stone slab comprises coated lumps.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least 90 percent of the formed stone slab comprises dusted lumps.
13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
cutting the stone slab; and
polishing the stone slab.
14. The method of claim 4 , wherein the at least one of the first inorganic particulate material and the second inorganic particulate material comprises quartz.
15. The method of claim 4 , wherein the producing further comprises:
adding one or more colorants to at least one of the first inorganic particulate material and the second inorganic particulate material.
16. The method of claim 4 , wherein the producing further comprises:
mixing a third inorganic particulate material with the coated lumps to produce multi-layer coated lumps.
17. An artificial stone slab comprising:
a plurality of coated lumps of composite stone material which are substantially in contact with one another.
18. The artificial stone slab of claim 17 , wherein the plurality of coated lumps are substantially gap-free.
19. The artificial stone slab of claim 17 , wherein the stone slab comprises substantially exclusively said plurality of coated lumps.
20. The artificial stone slab of claim 17 , wherein at least 99 percent of the stone slab comprises said plurality of coated lumps.
21. The artificial stone slab of claim 17 , wherein at least 97 percent of the stone slab comprises said plurality of coated lumps.
22. The artificial stone slab of claim 17 , wherein at least 95 percent of the stone slab comprises said plurality of coated lumps.
23. The artificial stone slab of claim 17 , wherein substantially each of the plurality of coated lumps is in direct contact with at least one other coated lump of the plurality of coated lumps.
24. The artificial stone slab of claim 17 , wherein at least one of the coated lumps is greater than a threshold value.
25. The artificial stone slab of claim 17 , wherein at least one of the plurality of coated lumps comprises a dusted lump.
26. The artificial stone slab of claim 17 , wherein at least one of the plurality of coated lumps comprises an inner core and an outer layer, wherein a property of the inner core has a first value, and wherein the same property of the outer layer has a second, different, value.
27. The artificial stone slab of claim 26 , wherein the property comprises a property selected from the group consisting of: color, texture, density, chemical composition, hardness, opacity, transparency, and porousivity.
28. The artificial stone slab of claim 17 , wherein one or more of the plurality of coated lumps comprises:
a lump in which a first inorganic particulate material and a polymer material are scooped into a composite stone material which is mixed with a second inorganic particulate material.
29. The artificial stone slab of claim 28 , wherein the at least one of the first inorganic particulate material and the second inorganic particulate material comprises quartz.
30. The artificial stone slab of claim 28 , wherein at least one of the first inorganic particulate material and the second inorganic particulate material further comprises one or more colorants added thereto.
31. The artificial stone slab of claim 17 , wherein the stone slab comprises substantially uniformly distributed coated lumps.