A method for manufacturing a bullnose tile and a bullnose tile

Abstract

A method for manufacturing a bullnose tile comprising the steps of: providing a ceramic tile that comprises a base body made of a ceramic material, wherein the base body has a main surface and a bullnose edge; providing a decorative layer on top of said bullnose edge, by inkjet printing a curable ink to form a dcor; curing said curable ink; wherein said curable ink, after printing, is in direct contact with the ceramic material of the base body.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 - 36 . (canceled) 
     
     
         37 . A method for manufacturing a bullnose tile comprising the steps of:
 providing a ceramic tile that comprises a base body made of a ceramic material, wherein the base body has a main surface and a bullnose edge;   printing a decorative layer on top of said bullnose edge comprising inkjet printing a radiation curable ink to form a décor;   curing the radiation curable ink;   
       wherein the radiation curable ink, after printing, is in direct contact with the ceramic material of the base body. 
     
     
         38 . The method according to  claim 37 , wherein the curable ink is a white ink or a yellow ink. 
     
     
         39 . The method according to  claim 37 , wherein the step of printing a decorative layer comprises printing a set of curable inks, preferably a cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK) set of colors. 
     
     
         40 . The method according to  claim 37 , wherein the step of printing a decorative layer comprises printing with a CMYK set of inks and a set of at least one extra ink. 
     
     
         41 . The method according to  claim 37 , wherein the step of printing a decorative layer comprises a step of printing a background color and a step of printing a décor. 
     
     
         42 . The method of  claim 41 , wherein curing the background color and curing the décor are performed in the same step. 
     
     
         43 . The method of  claim 41 , wherein the step of printing the background color and the step of printing the décor are performed with the same printer. 
     
     
         44 . The method according to  claim 37 , wherein the décor provided on the bullnose edge matches a décor provided on the main surface of the tile. 
     
     
         45 . The method according to  claim 37 , wherein the printing step is a single pass printing operation. 
     
     
         46 . The method according to  claim 37  further comprising a step of providing a protective coat on top of the décor. 
     
     
         47 . The method of  claim 46 , wherein the protective coat is a curable protective coat. 
     
     
         48 . The method of  claim 47  further comprising a step of curing the protective coating. 
     
     
         49 . The method according to  claim 37 , wherein the curing step comprises ultraviolet (UV) or UV light emitting diode (LED) curing. 
     
     
         50 . The method of  claim 49 , wherein the step of curing involves using a gallium or mercury lamp. 
     
     
         51 . The method according to  claim 37 , wherein the curable ink is an acrylate-based ink. 
     
     
         52 . The method according to  claim 37 , wherein during the printing step the tile advances along an advancing direction, and wherein the printer comprises a plurality of printing units aligned along the advancing direction, wherein each printing unit is configured to print one color, and wherein the first printing unit the tile meets along the advancing direction is configured to print a white ink. 
     
     
         53 . The method of  claim 46 , wherein the step of providing the protective coat comprises a roller coating step. 
     
     
         54 . The method according to  claim 37 , wherein the main surface of the base body is covered with a glaze, and wherein the bullnose edge is substantially free from the glaze. 
     
     
         55 . The method according to  claim 37  further comprising a step of drying at least the bullnose edge before the printing. 
     
     
         56 . A bullnose tile comprising a ceramic body and a bullnose edge, wherein the bullnose edge comprises a cured digitally printed décor in direct contact with the ceramic body.