Mechanical resistance defines the maximum effort made by a material before the breaking point.

Resistance values depend on several aspects such as the quality of the material, the storage and the climatic conditions.

In Ceramics, the mechanical resistance of raw ceramic tiles is normally regulated by the UNI EN ISO 10545/4 and it is measured by a device called chrometer, a specific precision tool that is able to define the breaking load and the flexural strength of the ceramic support by applying a force that gradually increases in the middle of the sample under examination, until it breaks.

Since today big ceramic slabs undergo to the stress of their own weight, it should be better to talk about MAXIMUM ANGLE OF DEFORMATION (before the breaking point). The increasingly tiles' large sizes of the tiles, together with the different thicknesses impose, in fact, a different approach that must take into consideration different values.

It should also be taken into account that the new digital decoration system that has replaced the old technologies (such as screen rolls) does not involve any contact, and therefore any pressure, on the tile's surface.