profile

our company has an area of more than 10,000 square meters and is a producer of solid surface sheets and sinks. We employ 200 staff and our annual output of solid surface sheets is 20000 pieces. The solid surface materials that we produce are used as kitchen countertops, bathroom surrounds, office desks, display panels, bank counters, airport ticket counters, and window sills and may be found in a host of other applications.

From the establishment, our technology department has been constantly updating production technology and developing new products. To date there are more than one hundred types of solid surface sheets, and over sixty different sink designs in our range, all of which can be fabricated in different sizes and colors to meet the changing needs of our customers.

Advanced technology, outstanding product quality and efficient management have won our company various national honors and prizes within our industry.

We are dedicated to the development of innovative polymeric materials. As a result of the Group's commitment to product research and development, Thalia Stone offers a wide range of specialist polymeric products.

the solid surface Standard (High Chemical Resitant Grade) is available in Plain Colours, Galaxy, Granada and Stone Series, with gloss, sheen or matt finishes.

Being highly chemical and heat resistant, easily workable, aesthetically pleasing and most importantly durable, Thalia Stone products have wide ranging residential and commercial applications.

Cateloge of the production

What's In It?

Most solid surface materials combine two main ingredients: a natural mineral (the "filler") and a resin (the "binder") , along with various additives. These are combined and then cast in a curing process that results in a sheet or a shape.

ATH

The filler of choice in most solid surface has an unglamorous name: alumina tri-hydrate, or "ATH." ATH has great physical properties. It has excellent chemical and stain resistance; excellent water-resistance; nice translucency; hard enough to give superb impact-resistance but "soft" enough to be machinable; and one last almost magical property: not only will it not burn, but because it has "water in hydration," when attacked by heat ATH actually releases steam. This makes it a natural fire-retardant..

Other Fillers

Other materials have been used as fillers for solid surface. Calcium carbonate was used in the first Corian sheets (see box). Quartz is used to make some sinks, but yields a material too hard and brittle to be easily machinable. A brand uses glass fibers to add strength and impact-resistance to its product. Special fillers like glass beads have been tried and used to achieve specific effects.

Resins

Two main "families" of resins are used to make solid surface: acrylic and polyester. A purely acrylic-based resin yields a sheet that is thermoformable--that is, it can be heated, bent to a new shape, and cooled without any loss of its performance characteristics. The other chief difference between acrylic and polyester resins is that acrylics are unaffected by the ultraviolet rays present in natural light. Polyester resins (including those which are "acrylic-modified," that is, mixed with acrylic resins) are used in many high-strength demanding applications besides solid surfacing, including outdoor applications like boats and aircraft cowlings. Solid surface products made with these resins are generally not considered to be thermoformable, although some manufacturers as well as fabricators do in fact cite some thermoformability for their products. Both acrylic and polyester resins start life as petroleum, and thus their cost is tied at least indirectly to the price of oil. But other supply and demand factors enter in to make the chemical market extremely volatile (no pun intended) price-wise. At today's prices, acrylic is two to three times the cost of polyester.

Additives

Every solid surface product contains numerous additives. These include pigments, but also a host of additives that improve or enhance chemical and performance properties, or even affect such mundane things as the "pot life" of the resin in transit and storage : UV absorbers, cross-linking agents, stabilizers, the list goes on.. One important additive which all solid surfaces share is a catalyst. This is the chemical, usually a peroxide, which causes the mixture to harden, or cure.