Construction and Building Materials 37 (2012) 335348

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Long-term study on failure mechanisms of exterior applied tilings

A. Wetzel a,, R. Zurbriggen b, M. Herwegh a, A. Greminger a, J. Kaufmann c
a

Institute of Geological Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

AkzoNobel Functional Chemicals Elotex AG, Sempach Station, Switzerland
c
Empa, Laboratory for Concrete and Construction Chemistry, Duebendorf, Switzerland
b

h i g h l i g h t s
" For the rst time a long-term failure study revealed main failure progresses in tilings under real conditions.
" Initial shrinkage combined with weathering cycles is responsible for initial cracking.
" Interfaces are the critical sites of stress concentrations locating material failure.
" Material failure progresses by water ingress and temperature cycles.
" Temperature and humidity variations enhance the failure evolution in summer time.

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 26 January 2012
Received in revised form 6 July 2012
Accepted 22 July 2012
Available online 5 September 2012
Keywords:
Large-sized
Ceramic tiles
Glass tiles
Thermal expansion
Shrinkage
Microstructure

a b s t r a c t
A durable outdoor tile installation requires good materials, a professional application and ideal climatic
conditions. To unravel the mechanisms affecting an initial failure and its propagation under outdoor conditions, a long-term eld experiment on oor and wall tilings was carried out. To provoke failures, recommendations were purposefully disregarded in pre-designated areas. Besides ceramic tiles, glass tiles
were intercalated in the tilings to show accelerated failure evolution at the glassmortar interface due
to the smooth surface of glass and reduced associated adhesion. The tilemortar or glassmortar interfaces were found to be the mechanically weakest structures, where cracks due to shrinkage and thermal
expansion occurred rst. Through such newly formed pathways, water enters the system leading to local
expansion owing to hygric swelling of the mortar or frost swelling of water in cracks. Cyclic loads weaken
the system continuously; cracks propagate and widen. Initial failure occurred rst on the glass tile system. With a delay of 1 year, the porcelain tile system also failed indicating that a similar failure evolution
takes place in both systems. Thermal expansion and contraction as well as water percolation after each
rainfall were found as major weakening processes of the system tilemortarsubstrate.
2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
An increased number of damages have been observed on building sites in recent years. Especially on outdoor applied tilings (for
instance facades), a broad variety of damage can occur [13]. The
disregard of tiling recommendations because of time and pricing
pressure as well as, market trends towards larger tile sizes enhance
the risk of damages [4,5]. Porcelain tiles are preferentially used in
outdoor applications because of their non-porous character, which
impede discolorations and frost damages [6,7]. Unfortunately, the
lack of porosity not only prevents water-uptake on the forefront
of the tile, but also hampers adherence of the mortar to the tiles
rear side. Indeed, in previous studies, the tilemortar interface
Corresponding author. Tel.: +41 561 804 2603; fax: +41 561 804 2662.
E-mail address: alexander.wetzel@uni-kassel.de (A. Wetzel).
0950-0618/$ - see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2012.07.072

was found to be the weakest structure in the system tilemortarsubstrate [810].

Damage in general is a macroscopically visible failure, which
can either be dened as damage in an aesthetical or technical manner. Initially, such damages develop from failures on the micron to
submicron scale. These initial failures are supposed to occur during
the rst weeks to months after application of the tiles. The time
interval between the initial small-scale failure and nal macroscopic damage observed on the building site can be rather long
(up to years). Upon nal failure, the microstructures representing
the early evolution of the damage may no longer exist. Of major
interest is (i) the time when these failures initiate and (ii) under
which circumstances and time periods these initial failures evolve
further.
So far, investigations on the effect of outdoor weathering were
carried out on either small sample bodies consisting of small-sized

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A. Wetzel et al. / Construction and Building Materials 37 (2012) 335348

tiles [3,11,12] or entire tilings. These studies focused on the type

and number of nal damages rather than on the microstructure
and evolution of failures [1,2].
In laboratory experiments with single applied large-sized tiles
(30 cm  30 cm), the evolution of spatially resolved adhesion properties [13] as well as the microstructural evolution under varying
storage conditions has been investigated [8]. It was found that
the edge positions, especially along the tilemortar interface, represent zones of mechanical weakness where cracks occur rst.
Material transport due to water ow mainly takes place along such
cracks, while capillary water transport can be neglected [8].
To connect these experimental ndings obtained under laboratory conditions with real damages under outdoor conditions, a
long-term eld experiment was carried out over the time period
of 3 years. Within this eld experiment, tilings were monitored
macroscopically (mappings, shrinkage measurements, thermal
expansion measurements) and sampled at different time intervals
for microstructural investigations in order to unravel the evolution
from initial failures towards a nal damage.
In contrast to the above mentioned experiments, where curing
of the mortar occurred under stable laboratory conditions, we particularly focused on the impact of hygrical (humidity changes) and
thermal loads (temperature changes) as given in the outdoor regime. Special attention was paid to link the observed failure development to seasonal and daily variations (frost in winter, heat in
summer).

2. Experimental approaches
2.1. Setup of eld experiment
In order to investigate the impact of weathering on the failure evolution of tilings, four faces on a prefabricated standard concrete garage (450 kg/m3 CEM I 42.5
R; w/c  0.47; 47.5 N/mm2 28d compressive strength) were tiled to compare indoor
with outdoor applications (Fig. 1a). Each of the tiled faces covered an area of about
10 m2, the wall thickness measured about 9 cm. The garage was delivered 6 weeks
after production and placed on base pillars to avoid direct contact with the ground.
In this way, any potential inuence of ground frost was prevented. In order to keep
all substrates used for oor tilings comparable, the roof and indoor oor of the garage were smoothed during manufacturing by a power-trowel. The outermost layer
of the concrete might have been contaminated by oils or other coatings, which are
used to prevent adhesion of the concrete to the concrete formwork during the production. Therefore, prior to tiling, the wall faces were ground with an angle grinder
to remove the uppermost smooth layer.
Wall faces outdoor (Wo) and indoor (Wi) as well as oor faces outdoor (Fo) and
indoor (Fi) were separated into three sectors each (Fig. 1a). Between the rst and
second sectors of wall and oor faces the mortar formulation was varied. Commercially available tile adhesive were used on the rst sectors while a unique formulation with known composition was chosen for the second sectors. Installation
practices were varied between sectors 2 and 3 of wall applications. On the second
sectors the mortar was applied with the oating technique, while on the third sectors the oating/buttering technique was applied. In case of the oor applications,
the technical design (sectors 2: exible waterproong vs. sectors 3: non-prepared
substrate) was varied. Within this paper, microstructural results are shown from
the third sectors only, on which initial failures occurred rst. Such failures appeared
rst on the third sectors because of the intended non-compliance of recommendations for tilings faced to outdoor weathering. As mentioned above, the recommendations of oating/butting in case of the wall application and the installation of a
exible waterproong on the oor were disregarded on the third sectors. All mortars used within this eld-experiment correspond to a C2-quality according to EN
12004; the groutmortar corresponds to a CG2-quality according to EN 13888. Fully
vitried ceramic tiles (porcelain tiles, type B-Ia according to EN 14411) with the
dimensions 30 cm  30 cm  0.8 cm and glass tiles (oat-glass) of the same dimensions were used. For a detailed experimental setup see Greminger [14].
The fresh mortar was prepared by adding water to the dry mortar while mixing
it with a thread mixer for 30 s. Subsequently, the mortar on the sidewalls of the
plastic bin was scraped, followed by another period of mixing for 60 s. After
5 min of maturing time the fresh mortar was mixed again for 15 s and was then applied directly. During the entire application, the inlaying time was always kept below 5 min. Not more than 15 kg of tile adhesive mortar (weight of dry mix) was
prepared for application at once. This kept the application time low and guaranteed
a good workability of the mortar. All installations were carried out state-of-the-art
by a professional tiler (master craftsman).

Special tiling setups were designed, to carry out continuous macroscopic and
microscopic investigations. On each sector, glass tiles were applied in lieu of porcelain tiles at three locations. The transparent glass tiles provide the possibility to
investigate the interface between the tile and the mortar by macroscopic observation in situ [13]. Owing to the smooth and even surface of glass, the adhesion between glass and mortar is weaker than between porcelain and mortar. The glass
tiles therefore can be regarded as an accelerated experiment.
Plugs for distance measurements [15] were applied on tile surfaces and on the
concretes rear sides (with regard to the tiled faces) prior to tiling. The changes in
measured distances provide information about expansion and shrinkage. In this
way, the expansion and shrinkage of the forefront (tiling) and rear side (concrete
substrate) can be measured in the scope of daily and seasonal variations. To measure possible temperature gradients across the system tilemortarconcrete, thermocouples were xed (A) on the top of the tile, (B) in the interior of the tile, (C) in
the centre of the grout, (D) in the centre of the underlying mortar and (E) in the concrete substrate at a location 2 cm underneath the surface (Fig. 1e). The accuracy of
measurements of the thermocouples is 0.1 C.

2.2. Timetable
During the experimental runtime of 3 years, non-invasive and invasive investigations (sampling) were carried out at the garage (Fig. 2). Detailed mappings of the
tiling, in which the development of macroscopic observations were monitored,
were performed at intervals within the framework of a master thesis [14]. Depending on the macroscopic observations, sampling campaigns for microstructural
investigations were carried out.

2.3. Sampling and preparation

Locations for invasive sampling were determined based on the periodic macroscopic mapping of failures. In total, four sampling campaigns for microstructural
investigations were carried out. In this manuscript, however, we will focus on the
rst three sampling campaigns only. The faces inside the garage were rst sampled
at about 1 year after application in order to dene the non-weathered state of the
cured system (MS1, Fig. 2). For sampling, notches were cut around the structures
of interest into the tilemortarsubstrate system. Then cubes, containing tile, mortar and substrate, were broken out using a chisel. The tip of the chisel was placed on
the concrete substrate, such that the crack was forced to propagate through the
concrete and not through the mortar or the tile. Samples gained by this procedure
had an approximate size of 2 cm  3 cm  8 cm.
During the second sampling campaign (MS2, Fig. 2), mortarsubstrate cubes located under glass tiles were sampled at positions where (i) detached and un-detached areas adjoined each other or (ii) at locations where mineral precipitates
were observed. Initial failures already have occurred at the glassmortar interface
at these locations making sampling of an intact damage zone impossible. For this
reason, the glass tile was carefully removed rst, paying attention that the precipitates at the interface were not destroyed. Afterwards, the cubes containing mortar
and concrete were collected as described above.
During the third sampling campaign (MS3, Fig. 2) porcelain tiles, which showed
detached areas, were collected. To preserve the interface structures of each sample,
the area of interest was xed in the following manner. A small cut was made rst,
through which coloured resin was allowed to inltrate into the permeable fracture
and the framework. To enhance the inltration of the resin, vacuum was applied on
a second cut made a few centimetres behind the rst one. After the resin hardened,
sampling was carried out as described above.

2.4. Microstructural and thermogravimetric analyses

At locations where the glass tiles were removed, structures at the glassmortar
interface were analysed from the top using scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
Afterwards, the cube was taken for thin-section preparation. The cross-sections
were studied in detail by optical and scanning electron microscopy. For thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), mortar powder was sampled at intervals along the cube
by a saw. Notches were sawed into the mortar and the powder gained by sawing at
each position was used for TGA. This way a lateral prole was obtained of each sample [8], where the proles were located at the rims of the entire sectors underneath
the tile. In this way, failure processes at sector boundaries (tiles Fo_3_19, Wo_3_1)
were studied as well. For vertical proles the mortar was sampled from the top
down using a spatula to scratch off the mortar to dened thicknesses [13,16].
The mortar formulation contains CaMg(CO3)2 (dolomite) as ne ller but also
CaCO3 in the cement [8]. It is not clear how much of the carbonate in the hardened
mortar was related to magnesium carbonate and how much to calcium carbonate.
The content of carbonates measured by TGA therefore is shown by the weight loss
owed to decarbonation of all carbonates during a heating interval of 600800 C.
The degree of hydration is estimated by the content of portlandite [8], which is given by the weight loss induced by dehydroxilation during the heating interval of
430480 C. Zurbriggen [17] developed a method to gain concentration proles of
minerals and organic additives by thermogravimetric analyses on mortar samples.

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A. Wetzel et al. / Construction and Building Materials 37 (2012) 335348

(b)

(a)
5.7

Fo_3

10

11

12

20

29

21

39

48

49

13

31

glass
40
tile

23

32

6
15

42

51

25

34
43

52

16

24

33

41

50

glass
14
tile

22

30

17

19

27

28

glass
37
tile

36

35

53

18

26

44

45

46

54

38

47

55

56

57

2.4 m

Fi_3
Fig. 5

Fig. 6

(c)
1

(d)

3.1 m

3
9

10

11

14

(e)

15

16

A
B

C
D

grout
E

glass
21
tile

20

tile
mortar
concrete

22

17
23

13

12

glass
19
tile

18

25

24

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33
40

34

35
41

glass
37
tile

36
42

43

38
44

39
45

Fig. 1. (a) Tilings were applied on walls and oors (both inside and outside) of a concrete garage in an identical manner. (b) Each oor sector contains 54 porcelain tiles and
three glass tiles. In the third sectors Fi_3 and Fo_3 no exible waterproong was applied. (c) Each wall sector contains 42 porcelain and three glass tiles. In the third sectors
(Wi_3 and Wo_3) no buttering was practiced. (d) Plug gauges are xed at the top of tiles for shrinkage measurements over grouts (13, 23) and within tiles (56, 38). (e)
Positions of temperature sensors (locations marked by T in Fig. 1a).

For the purpose of quantication, calibration curves from systematic concentration

series yield correlation coefcients R2 > 0.99 for quartz sand and cellulose ether,
which prove an excellent analytical reproducibility of the TGA method.

3. Results
3.1. Macroscopic observations
Macroscopic observations revealed that many relevant indications for failure developed in the very rst days to months after tiling. The further failure propagation was monitored. Wetting of the
mortar represents the rst evidence for potential initial failure and
was observed quite early through the glass tiles. The wetting
mainly appeared along the rims and edges (Fig. 3a). Water migration rates of up to 1 mm/min were estimated based on waterfronts
seen through glass tiles. Drying of the moistened mortar, on the
contrary, took several days depending on the environmental temperature and humidity conditions after moistening. Eforescence
(secondary formed minerals) on grouts mainly occurred along
areas where the mortar had been moistened (Fig. 3b).
Cracks at the interface were discriminated in the following as (i)
delaminations and (ii) detachments with respect to the crack
width. Cracks at the interface, which only opened up to a few
lm are denoted as delaminations (i). The width of these delaminations can be estimated from Newton Rings, using the resulting
colour interference pattern visible at the base of the glass tiles
(Fig. 3c) [18]. Because these delaminations are only noticeable
visually, potential delaminations under ceramic tiles cannot be

observed directly. Gradually, the crack width further increased to

the point that cracks were locatable acoustically by knocking on
the surface with an iron ball (Fig. 3f). Such acoustically locatable
cracks are denoted as detachments (ii).
About 6 weeks after application, the above dened delaminations (locatable visually in the case of glass tiles) mainly occurred
along the rims and the edges. With time, they propagated towards
the centre of the tile. At the tip of the crack, interference colours
from rst to third order red were visible (Fig. 3c). Such an interference colour range corresponds to crack widths of a few lm. Behind
the crack tip, the width of these cracks increased further, so that no
interferences were observed anymore (detachments). In the case of
glass tiles, detachments occurred only during the rst winter. After
the second winter, such detachments also appeared under some
ceramic tiles (Fig. 2), even though smaller in size.
A small number of cracks were observed in the grouts within a
few days of application. The width of these cracks increased with
time Fig. 3d. Some additional cracks formed weeks up to several
months after application. When the whole tile was delaminated,
vertical cracks (perpendicular to the tile) evolved within the
mortar. This formation of vertical cracks during nal failure can
be observed through the glass tiles only (Fig. 3e). These cracks
occurred over the entire area of the glass tiles and generated
honeycomb structures with a diameter of about 5 cm of a single
honeycomb [14].
The progress of delaminations and detachments, the moistening
of the mortar and the precipitation of secondary minerals were
mapped (Fig. 4). The relative error in estimating the delaminated

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A. Wetzel et al. / Construction and Building Materials 37 (2012) 335348

Wo

sampling

applications

2. summer

2. winter

3. summer

reparation works
Wi

macroscopic
observations
(first appearance)

non-invasive

1. winter

3. winter

tiling works

daily to weekly
campaigns

invasive

1. summer

reparation works

Fi
Fo

adhesion testings (A1, A2)

A1
A2

microstructural studies (MS1...MS4)

MS1
MS2

S1
detail mapping (M1...M9)
M1
M2

MS3

MS4

shrinkage measurements (S1...S3)

S2

M3

M4a M4b

M5

S3

M6

M7a M7b

M8

temperature monitoring (T1, T2)

T1

DL glass Wi

VC glass Fi DT glass Wo

M9

T2

DT glass Fi

DT porcelain Wo
DT porcelain (Fi, Wi)

C rim-isolation-mortar
DC glass Fo

June 08

June 09

June 10

June 11

A - adhesion testing

M - detailed mapping

DL - delaminations

C - cracks

MS - sampling for microstructural studies

S - shrinkage measurement

DT - detatchments

VC - vertical cracks

T - temperature monitoring

DC - discolorations

Fig. 2. Over the time period of 3 years invasive and non-invasive investigations were carried out on the garage. The rst appearances of major macroscopic failure structures
are listed.

Fig. 3. Macroscopic observations (all pictures viewed from top): (a) wetting of mortar under glass plate and cracks in grouts, (b) eforescence on grouts, (c) delaminations
between glass tile and mortar portrayed by Newton Rings, (d) cracks in grout (mainly along the interface to the tile) (e) vertical cracks in the mortar (September 2009, seen
through glass tile) and (f) detachments, which can be localised acoustically.

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A. Wetzel et al. / Construction and Building Materials 37 (2012) 335348

1. summer

June 08

1. winter

(d)

(e)

(f)

(a)

08.09.09

(b+g)

(h)

17.03.10

(b)

3. summer
(i)
glass

(c)
porcelain

23.08.10

(c)

wall glass tile

inside (Wi_3_37)

(a)

2. winter

2. summer

delamination

detachment

15 m
16.09.08

wall glass tile

outside (Wo_3_19)

(d)

17.10.08

(e)

carbonation
front

26 m

21 m

22.01.09

(f)
condensed water

wet

detachment
dry & bound
P1

delamination

precipitated minerals

3m
10.11.09

floor porcelain tile

outside (Fo_3_20)

(g)

7m

4m
17.03.10

(h)

17.05.10

(i)

detachment

15 m

19 m

21 m

Fig. 4. Mapping through glass tiles after certain time intervals given in month (m) show the propagation of delaminations and detachments as well as the ingress of water
and mineral precipitation on (ac) inside wall (Wo_3_37) and (df) outside wall (Wo_3_19). Position P1 (f) was sampled for microstructural investigations (Fig. 6). (gi) Maps
of detachment evolution on a ceramic tile on the outside oor (Fo_3_20). For localisation of the tiles see Fig. 1.

and detached area is about 5%. Maps are presented for (ac) one
glass tile applied on the wall inside, (df) one glass tile applied
on the wall outside and (gi) one ceramic tile applied on the oor
outside. These maps show snapshots, which represent a time series
with which to summarise the evolution of delaminations and
detachments. The delaminations mainly started at the rims and
migrated towards the tiles centre. As the cracks widened, delaminations evolved to detachments. Note that these observations
were made for both inside applied glass tiles (Fig. 4ac) as well
as outside applied ones (Fig. 4df).
It was observed that water preferentially entered the mortar
along the delaminations and detachments. In some parts, the water
inltrated further than the delamination front and in some parts
only some cavities of the delaminations were lled with water.
The latter might be caused by residual air in the delaminations,

which hinders further inltration of water. In the case of the wall

tile Wo_3_19 (Fig. 4df) the processes appear to be accelerated because this tile was positioned at the rim of a sector and was only
covered by a thin layer of additional mortar (Fig. 1c, tile No. 19).
At this tile, strong water percolation was macroscopically observed
and conrmed by the presence of precipitates at the glassmortar
interface.
With the existing experimental setup, delaminations cannot be
localised on ceramic tiles, but detachments were acoustically
locatable. At about 1 year after application, the rst detachments
on ceramic tiles were identied. These detachments mainly occurred at the borders of sectors and at the rims of the tiles. Similar
to those observed on glass tiles, the size of detachments under porcelain tiles increased as the detachments migrated towards the
centre of the tile. The total detachment area was however much

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A. Wetzel et al. / Construction and Building Materials 37 (2012) 335348

smaller for the porcelain tiles compared to glass tiles. Section 4.3
contains a detailed discussion of the differences between glass
and porcelain tiles.
3.2. Microstructural changes related to weathering impact
3.2.1. Glass tile samples
Microstructures observed on samples from the second sampling
campaign (MS2, Fig. 2) are shown in Figs. 5 and 6 (Fo_3_37,
Wo_3_19). The cross-sections provide proles through the mortar
bed of a oor and a wall tiling.
By optical microscopy a darker horizon in the upper part at
about 1/5 from the top of the mortar bed was observed (1 mm in
Fig. 5a; 300 lm in Fig. 6a). Both proles contain cracks, which proceed perpendicular to the surface of the tile. The darker horizons
fade along these cracks. By thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) it
was found that the upper region is enriched in carbonates (Figs.
5c and 6g). The degree of hydration was estimated by the content
of portlandite [19]. The hydration slightly decreases in the oor
sample (Fig. 5b), while the concentrations of hydrates on the wall
sample are depleted in the upper part (Fig. 6f). Mineral precipitation, although small in size, occurred on the oor sample. These
precipitates formed radiating structures on the top of the mortar,
which were observed by SEM (Fig. 5d). Due to observations on
cross-sections, these precipitates are supposed to be carbonates.
In the wall sample, hydrates (ettringite and calcium hydroxides)
are precipitated in pores near the top of the mortar (Fig. 6b) and
have sizes of about 40 lm. As already observed in macroscopic
mappings, precipitates at the interface were found on the wall
sample. These precipitates consist of calcite and ll the former
cracks. The size of the precipitated carbonates gives the minimum
crack width, which is signicantly larger in the case of the wall tile
(Fig. 6c) than those found on the oor sample. The rear sides of the
removed glass tiles also showed a high amount of mineral precipitates. Contrary to the oor sample, these carbonate precipitates
occur more frequently at the top of the mortar. Fig. 6d shows a detail of Fig. 6c in backscattered electron mode where several overgrowth-layers can be differentiated. These overgrowths differ in

chemical composition suggesting that the carbonates evolved over

different growth periods resulting in several layers (Fig. 6e).
Although the concrete of the walls and the oors is of the same
composition, the surfaces vary due to the manufacturing procedure. The concrete oor has a surface topography with height differences up to 0.5 mm. The uppermost 3 mm of the oor concrete
differs from the rest. This upper layer has a denser matrix but a relatively high porosity (15%). On top of that layer, and thus on the
top of the concrete substrate, a carbonated skin exists. The dense
domain in the upper layer (3 mm) is attributed to a higher degree
of carbonation as well.
The abraded surface of the wall concrete shows no surface relief
and has only a low content of pores. In contrast to the oor concrete, cracks are present in the wall concrete substrate. In parts,
these substrate-internal cracks can be connected to cracks in the
overlying mortar (Fig. 6h). In the vicinity of these cracks, a darker
mortar matrix was observed. These dark mortar domains are interpreted to reect increased carbonation. Additionally, an increased
amount of hydrates within the pores is present in the vicinity of
the cracks compared to the rest of the mortar.
3.2.2. Porcelain-tile samples
Two years after their application, sampling of porcelain tiles
was carried out on locations where detachments were observed
(third sampling campaign, MS3, Fig. 2). Whenever possible, the
crack-tips were sampled.
Fig. 7 shows light microscopy images from wall- and oor-tile
samples. Microstructures indicating water inltration were already
dened in Section 3.2.1. Similar microstructures were observed on
the porcelain tile samples from the third sampling campaign.
Hydrates are formed in cracks and in pores (Fig. 7a) and a darker
matrix in the vicinity of cracks is present (Fig. 7b). This darker horizon correlates with secondary carbonation. In some cases secondary hydrates in pores or cracks are observed. Along hollows such
darker horizons were found in the mortar of a sample from a wall
tile (Fig. 7d). These hollows result form an incomplete wetting between tile and mortar during application. Cracks run either
through the mortar perpendicular to the tile or along the interface

Fig. 5. Cross-sections through mortar bed under detached glass tile on the oor (Fo_3_37, for localisation see Fig. 1): (a) Micrograph (transmitted light) of mortar bed in
contact to concrete substrate. (b and c) TGA-proles across the mortar bed show variations in the portlandite and carbonate content. (d) Top view of the detachment with
secondary minerals (SEM-picture, backscattered electron mode). (e) Carbonate skin on the top of the concrete substrate (optical micrograph of cross-section).

A. Wetzel et al. / Construction and Building Materials 37 (2012) 335348

341

Fig. 6. (a) Cross-sections through mortar bed under detached glass tile on the wall (Wo_3_19, for localisation see Fig. 1b) near the top of the mortar hydrates precipitated in
pores (optical micrograph; crossed polarizers). (c) Detail of carbonates at the top of the mortar (optical micrograph; crossed polarizers). (d) Compositional zoning of several
overgrowth stages of the carbonate precipitate (SEM-picture, backscattered electron mode). (e) Schematic overgrowth progression. (f and g) TGA-proles across the mortar
bed indicate variable contents of portlandite and carbonates. (h) Contact between mortar and concrete showing crack proceeding into the concrete.

of tile and mortar (Fig. 7b and e). Some cracks and pores are lled
with a darker blue resin. These areas were impregnated (resin A)
prior to sawing and mark the open porosity in which the resin inltrated and preserved cracks (Section 2.3). The cracks therefore
must have existed prior to sample preparation. In one sample from
a rim position of the oor tiling outside (Fig. 7a), very high
amounts of large-sized (up to 200 lm) secondary formed calcium
hydroxides (portlandite) were observed.
3.3. Chemical alteration
In the case of outdoor tilings, lateral proles of mortar below
both porcelain and glass tiles were investigated by thermogravimetric analyses. Higher carbonate contents and lower degrees of
hydration were observed for the mortar at the outermost centimetre with respect to the rim of the tile (Fig. 8). At positions with a
distance of more than one centimetre from the rim of the tile,
the values are comparable to those measured on reference samples
from the inside tilings. Compared to the oor tilings the mortar of
the wall tilings is depleted in carbonates and in portlandite (Fig. 8).
3.4. Thermal impact related to outdoor weathering
Temperature proles were gained by thermocouples placed in
the tilemortarsubstrategrout system (Fig. 1e). These temperature proles provide (i) the long-term development of the temperature and (ii) the temperature differences between single parts of
the tilemortarsubstrate system.

Fig. 9 shows the daily maximum temperature differences between tile and mortar (Ttile  Tmortar). Positive values indicate a
warmer tile compared to the mortar and negative ones vice versa
(positions B and D in Fig. 1e). The maximum differences (positive
and negative) are up to 1.5 C in summer. In winter the maximum
temperature differences are about three times lower than in
summer.
The length differences and ambient temperatures (air inside
and outside) as measured during one day in summer
(29.09.2009) are presented in Fig. 10. All faces expanded as a function of temperature. Generally, the inside tilings expand less compared to the outside tilings because direct sunlight provokes higher
maximum temperature on the outside. A correlation between
expansion of tilings and corresponding substrate was observed
for all faces.
Fig. 11a shows a temperature prole through tilemortarsubstrate and grout during one dry day in summer (22.06.2009). The
top of the tile is responding quite fast during heating by direct
sun radiation. The other temperature sensors show a retarded
heating given by the heat capacity of the material. For the interface
between tile and mortar a maximum temperature difference of
1.5 C was found as already mentioned (Fig. 9).
Additional thermocouples (accuracy of measurements of
0.01 C) were placed on surfaces inside and outside of the garage
during a second experiment. A warm day in spring (11.05.10) with
a hail in the afternoon shows a maximum temperature differences
within a 1-day cycle (Fig. 11b and c). Furthermore it is shown that
the substrate is cooling from about 20 C only to 18 C (DT = 2 C)

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A. Wetzel et al. / Construction and Building Materials 37 (2012) 335348

Fig. 7. Optical micrographs cut perpendicular to interface and trowelling direction: (a) Carbonated skin of mortar in hollow (tile incomplete wetted by mortar) and calcium
hydroxides in air pores (oor tile; crossed polarizers). (b) Carbonation horizon (darker matrix) along a vertical crack which is connected to an adhesion crack along the
interface (oor tile). (c) Hydrates along adhesive and cohesive cracks and in pores (wall tile). The darker resin A was impregnated at the building site prior to cutting, while
the lighter blue resin B is related to laboratory thin-section preparation. (d) Carbonation horizon (darker matrix) at the rim of the mortar-rib (wall tile). (e) The carbonation
horizon (darker matrix) follows the interface crack (wall tile).

directly after the hail, while the oor tiling (Fo) is dramatically
cooled down from about 30 C to 5 C (DT = 25 C).
4. Discussions
Failure evolution can be separated into processes related to (i)
curing (drying and hydration shrinkage) of cementitious materials
(substrate, mortar, grout), (ii) thermal expansion and (iii) ingress of
water. Issues (i and ii) can be discussed on the basis of the indoor
applied tilings, while outdoor tilings additionally allow investigations on the effect of water (iii).
4.1. Initial cracking under dry conditions
4.1.1. Shrinkage related to curing of substrate and mortar
The measurements of shrinkage during curing of the mortar and
the substrate are simultaneously affected by temperature variations. In order to estimate the curing-induced shrinkage, a correction for the thermal expansion shrinkage is necessary. Material
length changes were measured in addition to temperature. Thus,
an expansion coefcient can be gained by the incorporation of all
length difference and temperature measurements as already
shown for the daily measurement campaign in Section 3.4
(Fig. 10). With this expansion coefcient and the knowledge of
the ambient temperatures, the fraction of thermal expansion can
be subtracted from the measured length difference (Eq. (1)), in
the following manner:

ecor em T n  T m  a

ecor is the temperature corrected expansion (mm/m); em the measured expansion (mm/m); Tn the norm temperature (20 C) (C);
Tm the measured temperature (C); a is the expansion coefcient
of corresponding surface.
By this correction, we gain the pure curing induced shrinkage
shown in Fig. 12a. Over 2 years, the inside tilings show shrinkage
but only in a small range. The substrate shrinks about 0.1 mm/m
more than the tilings. The higher shrinkage of the substrate is related to the ongoing hydration of the substrate. This differential
shrinkage indicates that stresses must build up between tiling
and substrate.
Most of shrinkage and expansion needs to be accommodated by
the grouts due to the stiffness of tiles, especially porcelain tiles. The
length differences on the tilings were measured between (i) two
plugs positioned at the rim of a single tile and (ii) between two
plugs on adjoining tiles incorporating the grout in between
(Fig. 1d). The relative shrinkage/expansion of the grout, lying inbetween the tiles (measuring about 5 mm), can therefore be calculated as follows:

Dg

Dgt  Dt
0:005 m

Dg is the length difference of grout only (mm/m); Dgt the length

difference of grout and tile (mm) (corresponding to distances 13,
23, Fig. 1d); Dt is the length difference measurement tile (mm)
(corresponding to distances 56, 38, Fig. 1d).

A. Wetzel et al. / Construction and Building Materials 37 (2012) 335348

weight loss due
to decarbonation

Reference wall inside

Reference floor inside

14

12

Wo glass

10

Fo ceramic

weight loss [%]

Wo ceramic

carbonates
6

weight loss due

to dehydroxylation

1.5

Fo ceramic
1.0

Wo ceramic

343

The thermal load is most pronounced for the outside wall tiling exposed to south-east. Here the highest thermal expansion was
found, followed by the outside oor. The outside tilings warm
due to direct solar radiation. The angle to the sun causes the difference between oor and wall temperatures. The difference of the
cumulative length changes between wall and oor on the inside
tiling is not as high as on the outside tilings.
As mentioned above, the maps show how certain failure indicators evolve. These features can be compared for glass and ceramic
tiles with respect to the cumulative thermal length changes
(Fig. 13). The rst delaminations on glass tiles occur at comparable
times and similar cumulative length changes for all tilings. Shrinkage owing to curing of the mortar probably causes these rst
delaminations.
A full detachment of a glass tile was observed rst on the wall
tiling outside. On the wall tiling inside a full detachment of a glass
tile was observed about half a year later. Interestingly, the amount
of cumulative thermal length change required for a full detachment of a glass tile is similar whether applied outside or inside
(see G in Fig. 13).

0.5

4.2. The effect of weathering (outdoor)

Wo glass

portlandite
0.0
0

distance to tile's rim [cm]

Fig. 8. The contents of portlandite and carbonates of mortar are represented in
respect to the distance to the grout (rim of tile). Mortars sampled under porcelain
and glass tiles from wall and oor tilings were measured.

D temperature Ttile-Tmortar [C]

1.6

winter

summer

1.2
0.8
0.4
0
-0.4
-0.8
-1.2
-1.6
Nov-08

Jan-09

Mar 09

May-09

Jul 09

Sep 09

Nov 09

date
Fig. 9. The daily maximum temperature differences (positive and negative)
between the tile (B in Fig. 1e) and the mortar (position D in Fig. 1e).

The calculated shrinkage of the grouts for the inside tilings is

shown in Fig. 12b. Shortening of the grout width of about
1.5 mm/m, yielding in an absolute shortening of 7.5 lm of a single
grout (5 mm), is observed during the 2 years. The calculation indicates that the shrinkage of the substrate within 2 years is accommodated mainly by a compression of the grouts in the order of
1.5 mm/m.
4.1.2. Thermal expansion
Fig. 10 shows the thermal expansion of tilings and substrates
during one day in summer. From the maximum temperature differences obtained for each single day and the expansion coefcient
gained by the daily campaign, the total sum of thermally caused
length variations can be calculated. These calculated cumulative
length changes for the period of 1.5 years are given in Fig. 13.

It was shown that, independent of weathering conditions (inside and outside tilings), the tilemortarsubstrate system is
stressed by a combination of shrinkage of the mortar and substrate
and thermally induced length changes. In this way, cracks are generated at the tilemortar and the tilegrout interfaces (Fig. 14a). In
the case of outdoor tilings, rainwater can enter the system along
these cracks. This local water inltration was macroscopically observed through glass tiles (Fig. 4) and can indirectly be conrmed
by occurrence of secondary mineral formation along cracks in the
microstructure (Figs. 57). Thermogravimetric analyses (Figs. 5, 6
and 8) indicate secondary carbonation and hydration in these regions. The local inltration of water induces swelling of the mortar,
which may result in a local expansion and lead to additional stresses on the tilemortar interface. Beddoe and Lippok [20] found that
capillary suction transports water to the gel pores generating stresses. These observations were done on samples, which were made
of hardened cement pastes (referred to as hcp); while here the
swelling expansion of a tile adhesive mortar is discussed. The
hcp differ from a tile adhesive in (i) the absence of air pores (preparation under vacuum) and (ii) the composition and therefore the
microstructure (only cement vs. cement, llers and polymers).
However, the investigations on hcp showed that cylinders, if they
are restrained only expand to one fth compared to those cylinders
which are expanding free during to water inltration.
Free expansion due to water inltration of prisms with the mortar used in the eld experiment reached values up to 0.5 mm/m.
Assuming that a restrained system only allows the mortar to expand to one fth of its free expansion, a local swelling of about
0.1 mm/m may occur.
The stresses generated by expansion of the hcp cylinders were
determined by Beddoe and Lippok [20] to about 5 N/mm2 for a
w/c ratio of 0.7. With increasing porosity the stresses decrease.
The hcp were prepared under vacuum assuming that no air pores
were present. In the tile adhesive mortar used here, an air pore
content of about 30% was estimated. Thus a signicantly lower
water uptake induced stress can be assumed in our case. Additionally, the expansion related to water uptake may vary in a system
with llers and polymers and should be considered in future investigations. However, when such stresses reach the magnitude of the
crack propagation strength (tensile mode I), which is assumed to
be relatively low for glass, the interface fails (Fig. 14b). This behaviour was directly observed for the interface of glass and mortar and
indirectly for the interface between porcelain tile and mortar.

344

A. Wetzel et al. / Construction and Building Materials 37 (2012) 335348

29. Sept. 09

(a)
temperature [C]

25

inside (air)
outside (air)

20

15

10
10:00

14:00

12:00

16:00

18:00

time [h]

(b)

0.20

expansion [mm/m]

0.15

Wo
Wo_substrate
Fo_substrate
Fo
Wi_substrate
Wi
Fi

( - 15.9 10 -6 K-1)
( - 13.9 10 -6 K-1)
( - 11.6 10-6 K-1)
( - 11.3 10-6 K-1)
( - 5.9 10 -6 K-1)
( - 5.8 10 -6 K-1)
( - 4.4 10 -6 K-1)

Wo
Wo_s
Fo_s

0.10

Fo
Wi_s
Wi
Fi

0.05

error
0.00
10:00

12:00

14:00

16:00

18:00

time [h]
Fig. 10. (a) Temperature and (b) expansion of faces were measured at intervals of 30 min during one day (29.09.2009). Thermal expansion coefcient (a) for all faces was
obtained from these data by tting a linear trend of expansion/temperature.

Therefore, interface failure for glass occurs already in the sixth

week after application and may propagate within a few months
to result in a complete detachment. In contrast, the micro-roughness of porcelain and the prole on its rear side requires higher
shear stresses and much more crack propagation energy. Therefore, the rst detachments under porcelain tiles, which spread over
an area of a few cm2 only, occurred 12 month after application at
the earliest. Once formed, the propagation of an existing crack at
the interface probably needs much lower forces promoting the failure evolution of the system. These considerations were not investigated in this research and need be proofed in future.
During re-drying of the mortar, the volume decreases again. The
crack re-opens and secondary mineralization may take place in the
crack at the interface (Fig. 14c). Owing to the newly formed minerals, the crack cannot be closed again and therefore the permeability
is further enhanced, unless the crack is entirely closed by the newly formed minerals. Within every wetting cycle this process is repeated and the crack propagates and widens further (Fig. 14d).
Carbonates at the interface of mortar and glass tile consist of several overgrowth layers indicating multiple steps of mineralization
and opening events (Fig. 6d). During winter time, water in hollows
and detachments freezes (this could be observed through glass
tiles) and causes high crystallization pressures of the ice crystals
onto the mortar. In contrast, in the micropores signicantly lower
temperatures would be required for freezing [21], which was not
the case. Additionally the freezing point of the water might be decreased due to solved ions.
4.3. Delaminations and detachments on ceramic and glass tiles
For the delaminations and detachments it must be differentiated clearly whether they occur on glass or ceramic tiles. Both
materials differ in (i) roughness of the surface, (ii) geometry on

the rear side (ridges on rear side of tiles), (iii) different behaviour
under thermal expansion and even though small, (iv) the uptake
of water, which is slightly higher for porcelain tiles. The observed
number of detachments is much higher for the glass tiles (Fig. 15a).
However, delaminations of peripheral parts of the glass tiles
were observed as early as 6 weeks after application. The even
and smooth surface of the glass tile reduces adhesion strength in
comparison to ceramic tiles. The fact that the initial delaminations
occurred simultaneously on inside and outside tilings suggests that
these early failures are related to drying shrinkage of the mortar
and not to surface weathering.
During the rst winter, the rst detachments on glass tiles were
observed (Fig. 15a). The extreme acceleration in failure of the glass
is related to its surface smoothness as described above. Wet swelling creates critical stresses, which cause crack propagation that
may lead to detachments. Therefore, the wet adhesion to glass is
extremely low. In standard tests with glass tiles (5 cm  5 cm)
adhesion strength values of about 0.1 N/mm2 or even less were
measured. The ceramic tile is rougher and higher stresses are required to allow crack propagation. Such variation in stress concentration is also indicated by the microstructures, where cracks
underneath ceramic tiles propagate into the mortar (Fig. 7c). On
glass tile samples, they always follow the tilemortar interface.
Vertical cracks, which probably are related to ongoing drying
shrinkage, propagate mutually with the delamination in the case
of the glass tiles.
The earliest detachments of ceramic tiles occurred after 1 year,
in contrast to detachments on glass tiles, which occurred during
the rst winter (Fig. 4). Those detachments under ceramic tiles
mainly appear at the periphery of the tile (same as on glass tiles).
Although being fewer in number and smaller in size compared to
glass tiles, almost all detachments are restricted to the periphery
of entire sectors in the case of ceramic tiles (Fig. 15b). Thus, the

345

A. Wetzel et al. / Construction and Building Materials 37 (2012) 335348

(a) 20

(a)

16

Tiling floor inside

all substrates

0.05

14

12

average of entire faces

0.00
-0.05

tilings

-0.10
-0.15

substrate

-0.20

22th of June 09

~0.1 mm/m

temperature [C]

18

Tiling wall inside

0.10

difference between tile and mortar

expansion [mm/m]

tile on top (A)

grout (C)
tile internal (B)
mortar (D)
concrete (E)

error

10
09:00

12:00

15:00

-0.25
Jun-08

18:00

(b)
(c)
(b) 35
temperature [C]

Wo_substrate

Wo

hail
starts

Fo
Wo

Wo_s

20

Mar-09

winter

Tiling wall inside

Jun-09

date

Sep-09

Dec-09

summer

Mar-10

winter

Tiling floor inside

Fo

expansion [mm/m]

garage cross section

25

Dec-08

summer

time [h]

30

Sep-08

grouts only

-1
error

15

-2
Jun-08

10

Sep-08

Dec-08

Mar-09

Jun-09

Sep-09

Dec-09

Mar-10

date

11th of May 10
0
6:00

9:00

12:00

15:00

18:00

21:00

time [h]
Fig. 11. (a) Temperature proles over one day show the difference between tile
(top and internal), mortar, grout and substrate (for positions AE see Fig. 1e). (b and
c) Temperatures measured on the surfaces of oor outside (Fo), wall outside (Wo)
and the concrete substrate of the wall (Wo_substrate), which is measured inside the
garage.

detachments observed on ceramic tiles in the eld experiment are

more controlled by the geometry and size of the entire tiling (sector) than by the size of the tile, as is the case for the glass tiles. The
fact that positions at the periphery of a sector are preferred for failures is also related to the more intense exposure of edges to weathering (including heating, cooling, wetting and drying). This
tendency is conrmed by the occurrence of large hydrates in the
rim regions of a sector (Fig. 7a). The large size and the high amount
of hydrates indicate that these positions are wet for longer periods.
Fig. 15 shows clearly that the progress of detachments is faster on
the outside oor, where these water dependent processes take
place.
4.4. Inuence of applications (wall and oor)
The surfaces of the substrates of wall and oor differ. While the
walls have an open porosity due to grinding prior to application
(Fig. 6h), the oor concrete has a thin carbonate layer upon an uneven surface (Fig. 5e). The carbonation on the surface of the oor
substrate might be related to the preparation with a power trowel
as a nal step of manufacturing. This carbonate layer hinders the
mortar to grip into the substrate leading to a reduced adhesion.
There is a major difference between wall and oor tilings in
terms of water residential time and percolation rate. Due to ndings in thermogravimetric analysis and observations in thin-sections, a relative enrichment of secondary formed minerals is
observed for the oor applications compared to wall applications.
The latter show a relative depletion of carbonates and hydrates

Fig. 12. (a) The length differences of the inside tilings and the substrates over the
time period of almost 2 years. The graphs are corrected due to temperature
dependent expansion/shrinkage (see Eq. (1)). (b) Length variations of the grouts
only (see Eq. (2)) a continuous relative shrinkage of the grouts is observed over the
period of 2 years.

(Fig. 8). This depletion probably results from leaching. Along the
application-induced hollows in the wall systems, water can percolate easily. In contrast, hollows are only locally present in the oor
system reducing the effect of water percolation. After 2 years, the
detachments under the glass tiles proceeded faster on the oor
applications and reached almost 100% (Fig. 15a), while the glass
mortar interfaces on the wall system only reached about 50% of detached area.
5. Conclusions
In a long-term eld study the failure evolution of tilings with
large-sized tiles was studied, paying special attention to the role
of the application technique and the inuence of environmental
conditions. After 2 years, initial failures and propagation of cracks
were observed. Based on macroscopic and microscopic observations combined with physical measurements (shrinkage and
expansion), three general steps can be discriminated during failure
evolution: (i) initial cracking, (ii) crack propagation and (iii) crack
widening.
(i) Initial cracking occurs in the rst days to weeks after application and is mainly related to curing-induced shrinkage of
the mortar (Fig. 14). This initial cracking is further promoted
by thermal expansion/shrinkage owing to daily temperature
variations. All these processes take place on both outside
and inside tilings. Additionally, cracks are localised in the
grouts and especially at the contact between grout and tile.
(ii) During rainfall on the outside tilings, water inltrates the
system mainly along the previously formed cracks. Capillary
forces induced by micron-size ssures may support rapid

A. Wetzel et al. / Construction and Building Materials 37 (2012) 335348

cumulative length change [mm/m]

346
summer

winter

summer

summer

winter

150

wall outside

Delamination glass (first)

Detachment glass (full)
Detachment ceramic (first)

difference wall
inside and outside

100

floor outside
difference floor
inside and outside
50

G
wall inside

0
Aug-08

floor inside
Nov-08

Feb-09

May-09

Aug-09

Nov-09

Feb-10

May-10

Aug-10

Nov-10

date
Fig. 13. Cumulative length changes due to the thermal expansion/shrinkage during each day are given in mm/m. The timings of macroscopic failures (delaminations,
detachments) are added for each face of the inside and outside of sector 3 (corresponding structures on the inside and outside are connected by lines). G: glass tiles, C:
ceramic tiles.

(a)

(b)
drying/hydration

wet swelling

shrinkage crack
tile

tensile
stress
compressions

mortar

grout

(c)

(d)

secondary drying

wet swelling

secondary
minerals in crack
Fig. 14. Inltration of water along cracks in grout and mortar leads to swelling of
the mortar. Along the wetted crack, mineralization of hydrates and carbonates can
occur. The cracks widen this way during each wetting cycle. For a detail description
of phases (a)(d) see text.

water uptake. The mortar swells as a consequence of water

inltration, inducing pressure perpendicular to the tile. Such
swelling typically occurs locally on peripheral parts. The
swelling pressure rises above the propagation strength of
the existing cracks at the tile interface resulting in a propagation of these cracks.
(iii) The observed crack widening also correlates with water
ingress (Fig. 14). Periodical wetdry cycles induce alternating opening and closure of cracks. Simultaneous precipitation of secondary minerals in the crack prevents complete
closure of the crack leading to (a) additional stresses during
swelling and (b) to an enhanced water percolation along the
crack at the tilemortar interface. Both processes mechanically weaken the system further.

Peripheral parts underneath a tile are very susceptible to drying

(and early cracking) and wet swelling. This is because the grouts
are the locations along which initial cracking rst occurs and
where the adhesive mortar can interact with the surrounding environment. Shear stresses are also generally highest near the edges of
the tile because differential stresses at the interface accumulate
from the centre towards the rim of the tile. Besides representing
sites of water ingress and high shear stresses, the grouts are zones
of mechanical weakness, which accommodate most of the dimensional changes (shrinkage and expansion) of the tiling.
Since weathering strongly affects crack propagation, seasonal
variations in weathering will directly affect its efciency. In this
way the weakening of the system due to cumulative extensions
and shrinkage is highest during summer seasons because of enhanced daily temperature differences (Fig. 13). Also a higher precipitation rate during summer enhances the weakening of the
system by swelling of the mortar and crack-propagation.
Frost-thaw cycles may widen existing cracks signicantly, further promoting failures. In order to prevent such failure evolution
on the construction site the following critical parameters need to
be controlled: (i) material choice (ii) technical design (iii) workmanship [22]. The choice of large tiles, for instance, enhances shear
stress at the interface. Choosing a more exible tile adhesive mortar (i.e. mortar with higher polymer content) can counteract this
effect. Because of the precaution of skinning and the fact that a relative fresh mortar gains a better connectivity, a higher adhesion
between tile and mortar can be reached by keeping the inlaying
time low. Similarly, complete wetting of mortar on the tile enhances the adhesion strength and can be gained by following the
recommendations (oating/buttering for outdoor tiling, especially
for wall applications, exible waterproong for oor applications).
Last but not least, tile adhesive mortars with a low drying-shrinkage would minimise stresses leading to initial cracking. A reduced
drying shrinkage can be achieved by a grain supported structure, a
reduced water demand, or usage of bres or water lled-lightweight, components [23].
Initial cracking does not unavoidably lead to further failure
propagation. Especially in case of ceramic tiles, cracking might unload a pre-stressed system, which then can be stabilized if adhesion strength is high enough by an optimised binder system
(mineral binder and redispersible polymer powder). In the case
of the glass tiles, which functioned as an accelerated experiment
in these investigations, the failure development progresses as
described above. In order to reduce water inltration, terraces
and balconies should have a slope of >2%. Additionally, a exible

347

A. Wetzel et al. / Construction and Building Materials 37 (2012) 335348

100

winter

Wo_glass
Wo_ceramic

summer

Fi_glass
Fi_ceramic

winter

Wi_glass
Wi_ceramic

summer

winter

80
60
40
20

2
1

Feb-09

May-09

Aug-09

Nov-09

Feb-10

May-10

Jul-10

Oct-10

Jan-11

0
Apr-11

date
Fo_centre
Fo_rim

detached area [%]

(average of ceramic tiles)

winter

Wo_centre
Wo_rim

summer

Fi_centre
Fi_rim

winter

detached area [%]

(average of all ceramic tiles)

detached area [%]

(average of all glass tiles)

Fo_glass
Fo_ceramic

Wi_centre
Wi_rim

summer

winter

4.5

3.5

2.5

1.5

0.5

-0.5
Feb-09

May-09

Aug-09

Nov-09

Feb-10

May-10

Jul-10

Oct-10

Jan-11

Apr-11

date
Fig. 15. (a) The area percentage of detached area of glass and ceramic tiles increase with time (note that ceramic tiles are plotted against the secondary axis). (b) The area
percentage of detached area of ceramic tiles at the rim and in the centre of each sector.

waterproong or drainage would avoid water inltration from the

substrate.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Karsten Pass (Elotex) for contributions as tile
layer carrying out professional application works. Frank Winnefeld
(Empa) and Hanspeter Waser (Elotex) are acknowledged for beneting setup developments, assistance for experimental works and
for helpful discussions. Financial support by the Swiss Commission
for Technology and Innovation (CTI) is gratefully acknowledged
(CTI Project No. 8605.1 EPRP-IW).
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