Abstract: A process for the production of tiles made of ceramic material and having substantially planar front and back faces, comprising the steps of advancing a raw tile based on "clay material", with the term having the meaning as set forth in the description, dried and covered on one face with the glaze, which is also dried, in a heat treatment chamber with both faces at least substantially exposed to direct transmission of heat by convection, the tile in the heat treatment chamber going through a first fast heating phase until it reaches a temperature slightly lower than maximum firing temperature, and through a successive firing phase during which it is kept at a range of temperatures between the final heating temperature and the maximum firing temperature, the tile finally being cooled.

Abstract: The present invention regards an automatic plant to perform continuously and with high yields on an industrial scale, the drying and single-phase firing operations on ceramic tiles used for wall-lining and floor-lining, which comprises an assembly of the type commonly called "tunnel kiln", along the length of which the semifinished products to be treated travel, and is associated with suitable heat sources, so as to establish in the environment defined by the tunnel or gallery of the kiln, the thermal conditions necessary for the development and completion of firing of the tile body as well as of the surface layer of the glaze.