According to the present disclosure, methods and techniques for generating preferred concrete block products are provided. The methods and techniques involve providing addition of color to selected section within the blocks (1), as described herein, to generate enhancement effects. Typical applications involve spray applications for color pigment to visually distinct sections of the block (1) on one or more decorative surfaces.

A cement-based tile formed from a mixture comprising: a cement in the range of about 0.1 to 88% by wet weight percent; a secondary material in the range of about 0.1 to 50% by wet weight percent, the secondary material comprising limestone, sand, silica sand, gypsum, silica fume, fumed silica, Plaster of Paris, calcium carbonate, fly ash, slag, rock, or a combination thereof; a reinforcement fiber in the range of about 0.5 to 20% by wet weight percent, the reinforcement fiber comprising cellulose fiber, glass fiber, plastic fiber, polypropylene fiber, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fiber, homopolymer acrylic fiber, alkali-resistant fiber, or a combination thereof; a rheology modifying agent in the range of about 0.5 to 10% by wet weight percent; a water in the range of 10 to 60% of a total wet material weight; and wherein the mixture is extruded or molded to form the cement-based tile.

A method for producing a printed concrete element, in particular a printed concrete block, a printed concrete slab or a printed concrete step, is described, comprising at least the following steps: filling concrete into a mold to form a concrete element; printing at least one surface area of the concrete element with a printing composition comprising a binder A and a dye B, the binder A containing at least one siloxane and at least one silane; and curing the concrete element after printing.

A method and machine for the surface decoration of a basic article comprising ceramic material and having a surface and a printing assembly applies an adhesive material digitally and selectively onto a defined area of the surface. A treatment assembly deposits a powder material digitally and selectively in the defined area, and the powder material in excess arranged on the basic article is removed.

A method of applying a circumferential coating material on a circumferential surface of a ceramic honeycomb structure to form a circumferential coat layer. The method includes vertically aligning the longitudinal axis of the ceramic honeycomb structure, rotating the ceramic honeycomb structure around the vertically-aligned longitudinal axis, and applying the circumferential coating material on the circumferential surface of the rotating honeycomb structure at a discharge speed of 50 to 120 mm/s, calculated by
Discharge speed V [mm/s]=Supplied amount q [g/s] of circumferential coating material(Density [g/mm.sup.3] of circumferential coating materialArea S [mm.sup.2] of discharge opening).

Various embodiments for a median barrier finishing machine are described. A median barrier finishing machine may include a housing configured to encapsulate at least a portion of a median barrier, where the housing comprises a first vertical wall, a second vertical wall, and a horizontal wall. The median barrier finishing machine may include at least one adjustable member configured to couple the housing to the vehicle and retain the housing a predetermined distance relative to the vehicle while the vehicle is in motion. Further, the median barrier finishing machine may include at least one finishing device disposed within the housing, where the at least one finishing device is configured to contact a surface of a median barrier at least partially positioned within the housing and treat the surface as the vehicle moves the housing along a length of the median barrier.

A technique is described for the application of three-dimensional (3D) relief to a substrate such as a ceramic tile using digital inkjet technology. In an example embodiment, the introduced technique includes application of binder ink to a portion of the surface of a substrate using a digital inkjet process. This binder ink forms a barrier layer which protects the portion of the surface of the substrate. Next, a brushing process is applied to remove unprotected portions of the substrate, thereby forming the 3D relief in the substrate.

A lightweight thermal insulating cement-based material is formed from a mixture that includes cement, water and a foaming agent. The foaming agent can be an aluminum powder or a surfactant. The insulating material has a maximum use temperature of about 900 degrees Celsius or more.

A method for the surface treatment of an article (2) by means of a robotic device (3) comprising a robotic arm (5) and a spraying head (4) fitted on the robotic arm (5); the method comprises a learning step, during which the operator moves the spraying head (4) by means of a handling device (9) and the movements made by the spraying head (4) are stored by a storage unit (8); and a reproduction step, which is subsequent to the learning step and during which the robotic arm (5) is operated so that the spraying head (4) repeats the movements stored by the storage unit (8).

A method for digital printing in quantity, including the steps of providing a conveying unit adapted to convey printing substrates, setting a running velocity, providing a digital printer, providing a graphics file as input to the digital printer representing a motif to be reproduced on the printing substrates at a predefined resolution, calculating a decoration frequency for printing with decorative inks as a function of the predefined resolution and of the running velocity, calculating single material printing frequencies for each one of the material inks, calculating a synchronized printing frequency, calculating a scaling factor, calculating an actual printing frequency as a function of the scaling factors, calculating an actual printing resolution as a function of the actual frequency of material to be deposited and of the running velocity, and printing on the printing substrates at the actual printing resolution.