KS₂V₂

Architectural potential

A denser, stronger cast-sulphide than its lithium-silicate sibling, this 150 MPa zero-kiln body reaches into mass-tile and pressed-block territory while keeping the hotplate forming logic intact. The eighty-nine-per-cent CO₂ reduction against Portland cement is the project-level argument; the 130 °C pour is the workshop one. Natural placements are thick interior cladding panels in exhibition spaces, cast thresholds and sill-plates in retrofit carpentry, drop-cast floor tiles with embedded vanadium-oxide colour variegation, and slow-mass accent walls in gallery fit-out where the weight and register of fired ceramic are wanted without the kiln. The vanadium-heavy matrix edges the body toward a deeper, more geological read than the potassium-lithium variant, so this sits well as a monolithic stair-riser or bench-top in studio interiors. Because compression sits at 150 MPa rather than 350, load-bearing walls are still out of reach — it is a supplement to timber or steel framing, not a replacement. The caveat is double: €46.97 per 500 g batch puts this at signature-element cost rather than bulk-tile cost, and saw-cutting releases the usual polysulphide odour, so ventilation and cost both push specification toward the single detail rather than the repeated surface.

Material character

The face reads an acid yellow-orange with olive undertones pulled in by the vanadium content, duller and less citrus than the lithium-silicate variant. At 3.63 g/cm³ and 85×85×38 mm the slab has real ceramic heft in hand — a firm two-finger lift, a confident single-hand grip, closer to a fired tile than to a cast resin. Surface mould-matte with the meniscus sheen of a 130 °C pour; edges come as-cast and slightly glassy where sulphide-rich skin formed against the mould wall. The α→β sulphur bloom develops earlier than in the copper-sulphides, visible within hours as a fine pale veil across the face.