Patent ID: 8557083

Claim:
A process for forming a high-resistance tile effective for covering an internal or external floor or wall, comprising the following steps: (a) providing a ceramic tile and a sheet, the ceramic tile being a crystalline ceramic material, the sheet being made of a metal or a metal alloy, the ceramic tile having a thermal coefficient of expansion and having an in-view surface and a bottom surface which is opposite the in-view surface, the sheet having a top surface and having a thermal coefficient of expansion which is greater than the thermal coefficient of expansion of the ceramic tile; (b) gluing under heating the bottom surface of the ceramic tile onto the top surface of the sheet via a layer of adhesive provided between the bottom surface of the ceramic tile and the top surface of the sheet, step (b) including heating the ceramic tile and the sheet to or above a first temperature and thereafter permitting the ceramic tile on the sheet to cool down to a lower second temperature so that the ceramic tile is solidly glued to the sheet, step (b) including inducing a state of compression in the ceramic tile via the sheet thermal coefficient of expansion being greater than the ceramic tile thermal coefficient of expansion during the cooling from the first temperature, wherein the state of compression starts from the bottom surface of the ceramic tile where the bottom surface of the ceramic tile contacts the adhesive, and wherein the ceramic tile on the sheet yielded by the process is effective for covering an internal or external floor or wall with the in-view surface being in view.