The Journey of Terracotta Cladding: How is Argeton made?

The Journey of Terracotta Cladding: How is Argeton made?


Terracotta as a building product has been in use for a number of millennia. Despite being all around us and visible to us every day, little is known about the material and often is not noticed on buildings. Get more news about terracotta panel cladding,you can vist our website!

Terracotta has many uses – as a roofing product, flooring, wall cladding and even as decoration in landscaping.

In this article we’ll take you through the step-by-step process of transforming clay into a terracotta finished building product.

The making of terracotta cladding involves different stages from extracting the clay from the earth and transforming it into an aesthetic, durable, textured and warm cladding, which is visible on many buildings around the world.
The most critical part of the terracotta production process is in selecting high quality clay.

As terracotta is naturally made from weathered stone and organic material, it can contain impurities that can make it unsuited to producing cladding panels.

Typically, manufacturers invest significant time locating and securing large clay deposits that form part of their raw materials over a period of many years. During the extraction process of the clay, which can be white or red, care is taken so that the clay Is not contaminated with stones, dirt or any other material that may damage the quality of the clay.

Clay Refining and Mixing
In the Initial stage, the clay is refined by removing the dust particles such as stones, lumps and other impurities in the clay. In modern production facilities this process is automated in order to facilitate large scale production processes.
Preparation of the Paste
In preparing the clay for production, the clay is mixed in the desired proportion between the red and white clay depending on the final colour of the terracotta panel. The clay is then crushed, crumpled and water is added to create a consistency similar to plasticine.

The paste is left to rest for some time in order to gain better consistency prior to being moulded into various shapes and sizes. The resting process facilitates a more consistent and smooth texture in the clay which helps with ensuring a strong and consistent bond between the clay particles.