This is a rather new material on the market, also known as Marmoglass or Nano-Crystal Stone. It is a man-made material mainly composed by 75% silicon dioxide (SiO2) and 25% natural minerals. Even though it’s also known as Marmoglass, there is a subtle difference between Marmoglass and Nanoglass, which involves the raw materials used and the ending process, but we will see that later.
To create this stone, raw materials are poured into molds to form tiles or slabs, and then heated at an approximate temperature of 1800 Celsius degrees for approximately 24-26 hours. This conditions simulate the natural process that occur for the formation of Granite, allowing the silica particles to align on a nanoscopic scale, forming that characteristic high gloss white look of this material.
As previously said though, there is a subtle difference on the making of Marmoglass and Nanoglass: first of all, the raw materials used are slightly different, although both have 75% silica, natural minerals included in the mixture are soda feldspar and calcium carbonate (mineral which, in fact, predominates in Marble) for Marmoglass and potassium carbonate and lithium feldspar (present in high percentage in Granite) for Nanoglass. The second difference is on the final step of the making: for Nanoglass, the mixture is simply poured, melted and left crystallize once, just like it is done for glass, whilst for Marmoglass this process is repeated twice. The out coming difference between the two is that Marmoglass has a slight pattern on the surface, while Nanoglass doesn’t have any, and it also is more porous than its calcium carbonate based counterpart.
Anyway, both of these stones have plenty of benefits: they are scratch resistant, scoring 6 to 7 on the Mohs hardness scale; heat resistant; very hard, so they won’t chip easily; non porous and also recyclable. As mentioned before, these stones are characterized by a pure white, high gloss colour, which is becoming a preferred choice over natural white Marble. Because of their silicate base, mixed with natural minerals, Nanoglass and Marmoglass can be used indoors as well as outdoors, either for kitchen worktop or for external stairs, since they can accept finishes like Sandblasted or Brushed.
The Stone Wiz 