How Difficult Is The Construction Of Terrazzo Board in Curved Surface Design? What Is The Cost Of The Mold?

The construction difficulty of terrazzo board in curved surface design is relatively high, mainly due to the complexity of surface forming accuracy control, material ratio adjustment, and multiple manual polishing processes; The cost of molds varies due to design complexity, material selection, and production scale. The cost of a customized mold can reach thousands to tens of thousands of yuan per piece, and large-scale production can reduce the cost of a single piece by reusing molds. The following is a specific analysis:

Difficulty in surface design and construction
Precision control of surface forming: The surface design of terrazzo board needs to be achieved through mold casting, and the complexity of surface shape directly affects the accuracy requirements of mold production. For example, the distribution uniformity of large particle aggregates (such as agate and crystal stones with a diameter exceeding 3 centimeters) in curved molds is difficult to guarantee, which can easily lead to insufficient local strength or appearance defects. In addition, during the pouring process of curved surfaces, the flowability of cement-based materials needs to be precisely controlled to avoid voids or bubbles caused by insufficient leveling.

Material ratio adjustment: Traditional terrazzo uses cement as a binder, but the curved design needs to enhance the flexibility of the material to reduce the risk of cracking. The introduction of organic binders such as epoxy resin can improve toughness, but it poses higher requirements for the interface bonding between aggregates and binders. For example, high-grade aggregates with poor water absorption, such as agate stone, need to be treated with special surfaces or additives to improve their adhesion to epoxy resin, otherwise delamination may occur.
Manual polishing process: The grinding and polishing of curved surfaces cannot rely entirely on machinery and require manual refinement treatment. The disc grinder is difficult to cover curved edges and uneven areas, and manual polishing is required to ensure consistent glossiness. This process is not only time-consuming (the polishing time of a single curved terrazzo is more than 50% longer than that of a flat surface), but also requires extremely high skills from workers, and even a slight carelessness can lead to color differences or scratches.

Mold cost analysis
Design complexity: The design of curved molds needs to balance structural strength and demolding convenience. For example, hyperbolic or irregular surface molds need to adopt segmented design and optimize the position of the parting surface through 3D modeling to reduce the difficulty of demolding. This type of design cost usually accounts for 20% -30% of the total mold cost, and the design cycle is extended by 1-2 weeks compared to flat molds.
Material selection: Mold materials should have high hardness, wear resistance, and thermal stability. Although silicone molds have good flexibility, they lack high temperature resistance and are only suitable for low-temperature curing materials; Although steel molds are durable, the cost is high (a single set of molds can cost tens of thousands of yuan), and the processing cycle is long. In small and medium-sized production, aluminum alloy molds have become the mainstream choice due to their cost-effectiveness advantage, with a cost of about 60% -70% of steel molds.

Scale effect of production: Mold costs can be shared through large-scale production. For example, the cost of a single customized curved terrazzo mold may reach thousands of yuan, but when mass produced (such as 100 or more pieces), the cost of a single mold can be reduced to several hundred yuan. In addition, modular mold design can achieve rapid switching between different surface shapes, further reducing unit costs.