CA1234464A - Process for the preparation of a composite mat - Google Patents
Process for the preparation of a composite matInfo
- Publication number
- CA1234464A CA1234464A CA000459661A CA459661A CA1234464A CA 1234464 A CA1234464 A CA 1234464A CA 000459661 A CA000459661 A CA 000459661A CA 459661 A CA459661 A CA 459661A CA 1234464 A CA1234464 A CA 1234464A
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- mat
- resinous polymeric
- polymeric composition
- fibrous mat
- fibrous
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired
Links
Classifications
-
- D—TEXTILES; PAPER
- D06—TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- D06N—WALL, FLOOR, OR LIKE COVERING MATERIALS, e.g. LINOLEUM, OILCLOTH, ARTIFICIAL LEATHER, ROOFING FELT, CONSISTING OF A FIBROUS WEB COATED WITH A LAYER OF MACROMOLECULAR MATERIAL; FLEXIBLE SHEET MATERIAL NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- D06N7/00—Flexible sheet materials not otherwise provided for, e.g. textile threads, filaments, yarns or tow, glued on macromolecular material
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
- B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
- B29C44/00—Shaping by internal pressure generated in the material, e.g. swelling or foaming ; Producing porous or cellular expanded plastics articles
- B29C44/20—Shaping by internal pressure generated in the material, e.g. swelling or foaming ; Producing porous or cellular expanded plastics articles for articles of indefinite length
- B29C44/32—Incorporating or moulding on preformed parts, e.g. linings, inserts or reinforcements
- B29C44/321—Incorporating or moulding on preformed parts, e.g. linings, inserts or reinforcements the preformed part being a lining, e.g. a film or a support lining
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
- B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
- B29C70/00—Shaping composites, i.e. plastics material comprising reinforcements, fillers or preformed parts, e.g. inserts
- B29C70/04—Shaping composites, i.e. plastics material comprising reinforcements, fillers or preformed parts, e.g. inserts comprising reinforcements only, e.g. self-reinforcing plastics
- B29C70/28—Shaping operations therefor
- B29C70/40—Shaping or impregnating by compression not applied
- B29C70/50—Shaping or impregnating by compression not applied for producing articles of indefinite length, e.g. prepregs, sheet moulding compounds [SMC] or cross moulding compounds [XMC]
- B29C70/504—Shaping or impregnating by compression not applied for producing articles of indefinite length, e.g. prepregs, sheet moulding compounds [SMC] or cross moulding compounds [XMC] using rollers or pressure bands
- B29C70/506—Shaping or impregnating by compression not applied for producing articles of indefinite length, e.g. prepregs, sheet moulding compounds [SMC] or cross moulding compounds [XMC] using rollers or pressure bands and impregnating by melting a solid material, e.g. sheet, powder, fibres
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
- B29K—INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCLASSES B29B, B29C OR B29D, RELATING TO MOULDING MATERIALS OR TO MATERIALS FOR MOULDS, REINFORCEMENTS, FILLERS OR PREFORMED PARTS, e.g. INSERTS
- B29K2105/00—Condition, form or state of moulded material or of the material to be shaped
- B29K2105/04—Condition, form or state of moulded material or of the material to be shaped cellular or porous
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
- B29L—INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCLASS B29C, RELATING TO PARTICULAR ARTICLES
- B29L2031/00—Other particular articles
- B29L2031/732—Floor coverings
Abstract
PROCESS FOR THE PREPARATION
OF A COMPOSITE MAT
Abstract of the Invention A process is disclosed for the preparation of a composite mat having smooth upper and lower faces which composite mat comprises a mat of fibrous material encapsulated within a resinous polymeric gel.
OF A COMPOSITE MAT
Abstract of the Invention A process is disclosed for the preparation of a composite mat having smooth upper and lower faces which composite mat comprises a mat of fibrous material encapsulated within a resinous polymeric gel.
Description
I
yield of the Invention The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of a composite mat having smooth upper and lower faces comprising a mat of fibrous material encapsulated within a resinous polymeric gel.
Backgro no of reinvention The process of the present invention is intended for use in the preparation of vinyl sheet goods as surface coverings and the like, particularly floor coverings. By virtue of the superior properties of a product prepared by the present process however, the process has application in a number of other areas.
Traditionally, vinyl sheet goods for use as floor coverings and the like have been prepared by coating a backing web or substrate with a liquid resinous polymeric ccm~osition which is processed into the flooring material.
A useful description of the process appears in United States Patent 3,293,094 to Cairn, Harking, Ehrenfeld and Tallow. Same kind of substrate is neon swerve during the processing of the liquid resinous composition, and may be integrated into the final product or stripped away. If the substrate is included in the final product it will add strength an dimensional stability.
For some years the material most commonly employed for this substrate was a petrochemical impregnated asbestos fiber mat. However, asbestos has recently been linked to various health hazards and its continued availability as a raw material for the asbestos felts useful for -this purpose is estionable .
Research into various alternative materials which can be employed for this purpose has been carried out, but most of the materials tested have been functionally unsuitable. Others, showing marginal technical Seiko so, would have required extensive and costly changes to process equiF~ent in order to implement their use.
For reasons of economy, one of the avenues explored was the creation of a composite mat by impregnating a fibrous mat with the printable resinous polymeric material itself. While the initial testing on convention machinery was successful in producing a composite mat with a printable surface, irregular variations in the thickness of the golfed polymer were encountered. Where formable plastisol was used, these irregular variations were magnified in further processing of the material, particularly where such further processing resulted in incomplete foaming of the plastisol where such irregularities were located. Further, the opposite surface was often uneven with errant, non-encapsulated fibers, which would obstruct roper adhesion in flooring uses. An additional problem encountered was incc~plete interstical filling of the mat.
United States Patent 4,138,521 to Brawn shows a substrate for vinyl floor coverings which comprises a smooth, non-woven tissue of glass fibers bonded within a synthetic binder. At least one surface of the substrate contains a continuous layer of resin at least partially impregnating into the surface. This reference does not contemplate the us of a formable plastisol and the process described would not seem to be usable for this purpose. Since the depth to which the resin impregnates the tissue is not controlled, wide variations in thickness would be expected when the material ore foamed. Further, no attempt is made to encapsulate the glass tissue as in the process of the present invention. Rather, the second surface would be separately coated with a layer of resin in a repetition of the demonstrated process. Without some additional teaching with respect to how all voids in the tissue could be filled, a teaching unnecessary to the use of non-foamed resins with which the reference is concerned, the process could not be made applicable to formable plastisols.
I
Summary of the Present Invention cording to the present invention there is provided a process for the preparation of a formable composite mat having a smooth and printable first surface and a smooth and adorably opposite surface which formable composite mat may be foamed to a uniform expanded thickness and which composite mat comprises a fibrous mat encapsulated within a formable, printable resinous polymeric gel which process comprises providing a supply of suitable fibrous mat material; combining a controlled amount of a formable, liquid resinous polymeric composition with the fibrous mat material in such a manner that the formable liquid permeates into and through the interstices of the fibrous material and coats both surfaces of the fibrous mat, wherein the formable liquid resinous polymeric composition is capable of forming a printable resinous polymeric gel at a suitable temperature, thereby providing a formable liquid resinous polymeric composition saturated fibrous mat having a uniform thickness; providing a suitable environment for the gellation of the formable liquid resinous polymeric composition, the suitable environment for the gellation of the formable liquid resinous polymer composition consisting of a heated, rotary drum at least partially enclosed with a seamless belt;
and maintaining the Embowel liquid saturated fibrous mat within the suitable environment for a sufficient period of time to golf the formable liquid resinous polymer composition to produce a fibrous mat encapsulated within a formable and printable resinous polymeric gel.
. .
I
Brief Description of the Drawings _~____ The Figure represents, in diagramic form, the process of the present invention.
Detailed Description of the Present I've lion .
It has now been fount that a composite mat having a smooth and printable first surface and a smooth and adorably opposite surface , which composite mat is suitable for use in vinyl sheet goods such as flooring and the like, can be prepared employing essentially standard process machinery.
In structure, the composite mat prepared by the process of the present invention is not substantially different in appearance from the substrate previously employed. In the structure of that substrate, fibers of asbestos or another fibrous material normally in the form of a non-woven mat, are impregnated with a petrochemical. Such a non-w~ven asbestos fiber mat old be structurally suitable for use in the present invention and might be preferable but for the present focus of health inquiries. Various other woven and non-woven fibrous materials may be employed and these might include fiberglass, polyester, polypropylene, armed, rayon or ox Lyle. In fact, any natural or man-made organic or inorganic woven or non-woven continuous porous mat compatible with the plasticizer or other solvent system Gould be employed in the practice of the present invention. This list would be narrowed somewhat by process considerations, such as the temperatures to which the composite material would be subjected in later processing. At present, however, the preferred material for this purpose would be non oven fiberglass mat because of its availability, temperature characteristics and cost.
It should be apparent that the fibrous mat material need not be formed into a mat prior to being combined with a liquid resinous polymeric composition, as a sufficient quantity of stable fibers to form a mat in situ could first be mixed into a suitable liquid resinous polymeric composition.
I
Then, the resulting mixture Gould be metered onto a storable substrate or backing web. This procedure has not yet been implemented commercially because it would require greater modification of processing emanate, but is intended to be included within the process as presently descried and defined in the claims.
The confute of utilizing a preformed mat lies in the fact that it can be introduced into the process from a supply roll and will simulate the function of a backing web or substrate. This fibrous mat can be introduce d into the present process in much the same fashion as the substrate material had keen introduce d in the process of the prior art. The thickness of the pro-formed mat of fibrous material will defend to a large extent upon the particular product to be made and the Particular subsequent use for which it is intended. Normally such thicknesses are in the range of about seven miss to about twenty mill, but other thicknesses, especially those creator than twenty-five miss, may be used in particular circumstance s.
In the figure, the process of the present invention is illustrated diagrammatically as two). A preformed mat of fibrous material (12) is drawn from a su~plv, such as a roll of such material (14) illustrated, and conveyed, as by drive rollers (16), into the process (10). Tension on the supply roll, and other processing parameters can be used to determine the ratio of the thicknesses of the plastisol coating on each foe of the mat.
A resinous polymeric composition, of the kind which will form a printable polymeric gel is then combined with the fibrous material. There is substantial literature with respect to the formulation of a printable polymeric gel, and the reader is referred to such literature for the teaching no ox scary to the formulation of a suitable polymeric composition for any specific purpose. Such resinous polymeric compositions may be made by well-known standard and conventional methods and may contain one or more polymer or oopolv~er of vinyl chloride or other resin.
Other constituents of such resinous polymeric compositions include: a blowing or foaming agent, such as azodicarbonamide, if a blink or foaming agent is desired; various aloe lerator/stabilizers or catalysts such as dibasic lead phthalate, zinc octet, zinc oxide, lead octet, dibasic lead phosphate, etc., various light and/or heat stabile us and metallic soaps; plasticizers as ductile phthalate, bottle bouncily phthalate, dibutyl subacute, etc.; coloring agents and pigments, such as titanium dioxide; solvents and delineates, such as methyl ethyl kiter, mineral spirits, etc.; fillers, such as clay and limestone; and many other conventional and well-known additives and improvement agents.
Although a polymer or copolymer of vinyl chloride in the form of a plastisol is the referred and typical synthetic resin to be incorporated into the resinous polymer ocmFosition, many other resins are equally applicable, not only in plastiso~ form but also in organosol, latex or solvent form. The specific resin and its particular form of use, do not relate to the essence of the inventive cone pi and many other suitable resins are set forth in the prior art.
The resinous polymeric composition is also preferably a dispersion of a synthetic resin in a liquid medium, since the viscosity of the resin system must be few enough to permit the resin to be prosody into and through the fibrous material. Suitable viscosities for the resin system would be from about five hundred cycles per second (500 cups) to about twenty-five thousand cycles per second (25,000 cups), with viscosities in the range of fifteen hundred cycles For second (1500 cups) to five thousand cycles per second (5000 cups) being preferred. The dispersion medium can be a plasticizer in the case of a plastisol, or water in the case of an aqueous latex, or it can be an organic solvent in the case of an organosol. Excellent results are obtained I
with a dispersion of a synthetic resin in a plastic or as a plastisol and such form is the Preferred and typical form for the application of the present invention.
A few preferred and typical plastic us useful in forming such plastisols are dibutvl socket, dioctvl subacute, ductile adipate, didecyl adipate, ductile a late, dibutyl phthalate, dip privily phthalate, ductile phthalate, diabetics ethyl phthalate, tricresyl phosphate, ~ctyl diphenyl phosphate, dipropylene glvcol dikenzoate, bottle bouncily subacute, dikenzyl subacute, dibenzyl phthalate and bottle bouncily phthalate.
It is also to be appreciated that, although plastisols will be used to further describe the invention and in the Example which follows, such is not intended to exclude the use of organosols or aqueous latexes which are also utilizable.
Also, azodicarbonamide is indicated herein as the preferred and typical blowing or foaming agent to he included in the resinous polymeric composition when blowing or foaming is desired or required, and is employed in the Example which follows. however, many other similar blowing or foaming agents are also applicable and within the principle of the present invention.
The specific blowing or foaming agent which is employed will be determined by such considerations as cost, availability and physical properties of the desired finished product. A number of aloe twill blowing or foaming agents are well-known to the prior art. All that is required in the practice of the present invention is that the blowing or foaming agent remain unrequited during the process of golfing the resinous polymeric composition. For most resin systems, gellation will occur at an elevated temperature, and the blowing or foaming agent must have a deoomFosition temperature which is sufficiently high that it will not be activated or decomposed prematurely during the golfing process. It might also be noted that the blowing or foaming agent must also I
remain unrequited during any other preliminary steps, such as heating or mechanical embossing, or the like.
In a similar way, Mooney other aloe aerators, initiators, catalysts, viscosity improvers, light and heat stabilizers, dyes, pigments, plasticizers, antioxidant, fillers, bacteriostats and bacterioci~es, and many other additives may be included in the resinous polymeric composition. The specific nature and the particular physical and chemical properties and characteristics of the various constituents of the resinous polymeric composition should not be seen as limiting the nature of the present invention, and further elaboration of such additives is believed Anne ox scary. The use of these various classes of additives as well as specific compounds for specific purposes, is well known to the art.
In the illustrated embodiment, a resinous polymeric composition (18) contained in reservoir (20) is introduced across the width of the moving pro-formed mat (12). This material may be deposited by gravity flaw, if the reservoir is properly located, or by some kind of pumping action. as necessary.
A suitable amount of this deposited resinous polymeric composition (22) is allowed to accumulate uniformly across the width of the preformed mat (12), and this deposited resinous composition (22) is then metered by some means, such as by drawing the preformed mat (12) between the combination of a doctoring blade (24) and pressure roller (26), as illustrated. This operation results in a uniform layer of the viscous liquid resinous polymeric composition (28) being deposited on the fibrous mat (12).
One the liquid resinous polymeric composition (28) and fibrous mat (12) have teen prepared in such a manner, they are conveyed into a thermal environment suitable for golfing the liquid polymeric composition. One apparatus suitable for the creation of such an environment is shown as (30) in Fig. 1, and comprises a rotating heated drum (32), at least one pressure roller I
(34), a surrounding belt (36), and several tensioning rollers (38).
In the precut ox of the present invention, the Lydia resinous polyp metric composition (28) and fibrous mat (17~ are brought into intimate contact with the outer surf ox of the notating heated drum (32). Preferably, this is done at a point where a pressure roller (34) and the drum (32) create a nip ~40) into which the fibrous mat (28) is drawn by the rotation of the drum, as indicated by the arrow (42). The effect of this nip (40) prevents the unwanted inclusion of air pockets which may result in voids and thus damage the finished product. The drum is preferably crated with a suitable release agent and maintained at a temperature suitable for golfing the liquid Plastisol.
Throughout the reside ox period, lye., that period of time during which the liquid resinous polymeric composition (28) and fibrous mat (12) remain in thermal contact with the outer surface of the rotating heated drum (32), a sufficient quantity of heat is transferred to transform the resinous camFosition from a liquid to a gel.
It should be noted that this period of temperature transfer is critical for several reasons. First, the temperature of the rotating drum cannot be too great or the liquid resinous composition will edge molten and adhere to the drum. Yet the temperature must not be too GUY or the residence time required for the thermal transfer no ox scary to effect gellation will not be achieved at necessary operating speeds. Uniformity of thermal transfer and isolation of the thermal environment is greatly assisted by the presence of the surrounding belt I Belts of a similar apron ox have been employed with processing equipment of this kind previously, but the purpose for such use was to maintain a suitable tension during lamination of dissimilar materials.
In the present invention, the use of such a belt may serve as a molding functionality as well. Applicants are not aware of the employment of such a belt in contact with a liquid resinous polymeric composition, nor are they I
aware of the previous use of a belt wide enough for use in the preparation of vinyl sheet goods such as floor coverings. While it was useful to keep the belt employed in the process herein described in tension, it also assisted in creating a uniform thermal environment suitable for the efficient heat transfer neon scary to eel the liquid resinous polymeric composition by en~elGping the saturated mat during the residence period in thermal contact with the heated drum.
Allure pressure rollers (44) may be employed to assist in maintaining the no ox scary contact between the fibrous mat I and the heated drum (32). In addition, such rollers, if utiliæd, assist in maintaining a uniform thickness and help to insure consolidation of errant fibers within the polymeric gel.
After the resinous polymeric composition gels to produce a printable gel, which no encapsulates the fibrous mat, the fibrous mat encapsulated within the printable polymeric gel (46) is drawn off the heated drum (32) and it is useful to pass the encapsulated mat (46) over one or more chill rollers (48) to reduce the temperature of the product.
The cooled, encapsulated mat may be further processed immediately after preparation, as by rotogravure printing and heating to chemically emboss the polymeric gel in a manner well known to the art. However, in general and in the diagrammatic process illustrated here, the cooled, encapsulated mat is taken up in a storage roll (50) for later use.
It should ye apparent to those skilled in the art that a suitable thermal environment can be created in other ways, and various alternatives acme to mind. In this regard, a fibrous mat can be conveyed through a reservoir of suitable resinous polymeric composition and then squeezed by suitable nip rollers to provide a suitable saturated mat. To provide an environment for gellation of the resinous polymeric composition this saturated mat could then I
be drawn through a thermal environment, such as an oven, preferably a vertical oven where the effects of gravity ma be avoided. Pairs of pressure rollers could be provided on each side of the saturated fibrous mat during its trawl as no ox scary to assist in consolidating and collaborating the celled product.
An elaborate embodiment of such an alternative would include the use of two endless belts of the kind described above which would be used to encase the saturated mat, one covering each foe , during the period of thermal transfer.
The present invention is shown more clearly in the following illustrative example.
Example A non-woven g]ass-fiber mat was obtained oammercially and processed according to the steps of the present invention. The mat employed weighed approximately fifty grams For square meter (50 g/m2) of which approximately twenty Perle nut (20~) represented the weight of urea-formaldehyde which impregnated the fiber mat as a binder. The individual glass fibers varied from approximately eight microns to approximately thirteen microns in thickness and from about one and two-tenths ox ntimeters (1.2 cam.) to abut two and five-tenths ox ntimeters (2.5 cam.) in length. The mat itself was a wet laid fiberglass tissue available commercially from the Johns-Manville Corporation and marketed under the trademark "Duraglass."
From a supply roll holding approximately eight thousand square yards of the fibrous material, a one hundred and forty-seven inch wide web was taken into the prove so at a rate of twenty inches For second (on inset This fibrous material was coated with a formable and printable resinous polymeric composition in the form of a plastisol, the composition of which is set out in Table I below. This Plastisol was fed by gravity from a reservoir and dispensed across the width of the fibrous mat. The mat was then drawn through a slit-llke opening of t~enty-five thousandths of an inch (0.025") I
Jo hod by the combination of a doctor blade and a pressure roller. This combination is effective both in metering the amount of plastisol added and in promoting saturation of the fibrous mat by Helen to forte the plastisol into and through the interstices of the fibrous mat.
TABnr~
parts per hundred parts of resin _ Vinyl Chloride Dispersion Resin (coon 123 - BY Goodrich Chemical Group) 66 Vinyl Chloride Extender Resin (Gccdvear M 70L*- Goodyear Chemical Kiwi 34 Primary Plasticizer (Plasticizer Sly -Monsanto Polymer Products Company, Inc.) 44 Secondary Plasticizer (Plasticizer S452 -Monsanto polymer Products Company, Ionic if Calcium Carbonate Filler (Passaic White B - RYE. Carroll Co.) 80 Blowing Agent (Azodicarbonamide & Zinc Oxide) 5 Cell S illusory ~-103 - Air Products & Chemicals, Inc.) Viscosity Depressant (Hanukkah POW - Diamond-Shamrock Chemical Company) 1.5 Delineate *
(Aromatic 150 - Sun Chemical Co.) 2 The thus-saturated fibrous material mat was then conveyed into contact on the foe of an oil-filled, heated, rotary drum supplied by the Olbrich Company and commonly employed in the manufacture of vinyl sheet goods.
or this kind of use such a drum is preferably coated with a release agent, and the drum employed here was coated with a silicone release agent available ocmm~rcially from the Moray Chemical Company under the trademark "Bavsilone."
*trade mark , . -:
I, For the purpose of the present process this equipment had been fitted with a thirteen foot-wide endless belt similar in design to the narrow pressure belts commonly employed in pre~arinq laminates with this equipment. The belt employed in this instance, however, was specially manufactured by the Globe Albany Division of Albany International, Northern America, located in sulfa New York and had its entire working foe , i.e., that face which would be in contact with liquid plastisol saturated fibrous mat, with a layer of silicone rubber having a thickness of one hundred and twenty miss. to prevent adhesion of the plastisol.
This endless belt passed over a pressure roller set in contact with the surface of the heated drum and the liquid plastisol-saturated fibrous mat was conveyed into the nip formed between the knelt and the drum. Tension on the endless belt thereafter kept the plastisol saturated mat in intimate contact with the drum during its rotation.
The oil-filled drum employed was maintained at a constant temperature of 140C. throughout the process of the present invention in a manner well known to the art. In addition, the drum was rotated at a speed of four and eighty-five one hundredths revolutions per minute (4.R5 rev/min)O During the residence period, lye., that period during which the plastisol saturated mat is in thermal contact with the drum, the temperature of the plastisol was brought to a level where gellation of this plastisol c~nposition would occur, somewhere from approximately 110C. to 140C., and was maintained at that level.
Residence time within this enviror~nent was approximately nine seconds and was sufficient to gel this plastisol material.
The gel-encapsulated fibrous mat thus formed was taken off the drum and passed through a series of three chill rollers maintained at a temperature of 25 & . before king taken up by a storage roll.
On inspection, thy gel-encapsulated fibrous mat was of generally I
uniform thickness and had a smooth and printable first surface and a smooth and adorably opposite Syria . In addition, the product showed little or no evidence of voids and no errant fibers were detectable.
Other features, advantages and specific embodiments of this invention will become readily apparent to those exercising ordinary skill in the art after reading the foregoing disclosures. These specific embodiments are within the scope of the claimed subject matter unless otherwise expressly indicated to the contrary. Moreover, while specific embodiments of this invention have been described in considerable detail, variations and modifications of these embodiments can be effected without departing from the spirit and score of this invention as disclosed and claimed.
yield of the Invention The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of a composite mat having smooth upper and lower faces comprising a mat of fibrous material encapsulated within a resinous polymeric gel.
Backgro no of reinvention The process of the present invention is intended for use in the preparation of vinyl sheet goods as surface coverings and the like, particularly floor coverings. By virtue of the superior properties of a product prepared by the present process however, the process has application in a number of other areas.
Traditionally, vinyl sheet goods for use as floor coverings and the like have been prepared by coating a backing web or substrate with a liquid resinous polymeric ccm~osition which is processed into the flooring material.
A useful description of the process appears in United States Patent 3,293,094 to Cairn, Harking, Ehrenfeld and Tallow. Same kind of substrate is neon swerve during the processing of the liquid resinous composition, and may be integrated into the final product or stripped away. If the substrate is included in the final product it will add strength an dimensional stability.
For some years the material most commonly employed for this substrate was a petrochemical impregnated asbestos fiber mat. However, asbestos has recently been linked to various health hazards and its continued availability as a raw material for the asbestos felts useful for -this purpose is estionable .
Research into various alternative materials which can be employed for this purpose has been carried out, but most of the materials tested have been functionally unsuitable. Others, showing marginal technical Seiko so, would have required extensive and costly changes to process equiF~ent in order to implement their use.
For reasons of economy, one of the avenues explored was the creation of a composite mat by impregnating a fibrous mat with the printable resinous polymeric material itself. While the initial testing on convention machinery was successful in producing a composite mat with a printable surface, irregular variations in the thickness of the golfed polymer were encountered. Where formable plastisol was used, these irregular variations were magnified in further processing of the material, particularly where such further processing resulted in incomplete foaming of the plastisol where such irregularities were located. Further, the opposite surface was often uneven with errant, non-encapsulated fibers, which would obstruct roper adhesion in flooring uses. An additional problem encountered was incc~plete interstical filling of the mat.
United States Patent 4,138,521 to Brawn shows a substrate for vinyl floor coverings which comprises a smooth, non-woven tissue of glass fibers bonded within a synthetic binder. At least one surface of the substrate contains a continuous layer of resin at least partially impregnating into the surface. This reference does not contemplate the us of a formable plastisol and the process described would not seem to be usable for this purpose. Since the depth to which the resin impregnates the tissue is not controlled, wide variations in thickness would be expected when the material ore foamed. Further, no attempt is made to encapsulate the glass tissue as in the process of the present invention. Rather, the second surface would be separately coated with a layer of resin in a repetition of the demonstrated process. Without some additional teaching with respect to how all voids in the tissue could be filled, a teaching unnecessary to the use of non-foamed resins with which the reference is concerned, the process could not be made applicable to formable plastisols.
I
Summary of the Present Invention cording to the present invention there is provided a process for the preparation of a formable composite mat having a smooth and printable first surface and a smooth and adorably opposite surface which formable composite mat may be foamed to a uniform expanded thickness and which composite mat comprises a fibrous mat encapsulated within a formable, printable resinous polymeric gel which process comprises providing a supply of suitable fibrous mat material; combining a controlled amount of a formable, liquid resinous polymeric composition with the fibrous mat material in such a manner that the formable liquid permeates into and through the interstices of the fibrous material and coats both surfaces of the fibrous mat, wherein the formable liquid resinous polymeric composition is capable of forming a printable resinous polymeric gel at a suitable temperature, thereby providing a formable liquid resinous polymeric composition saturated fibrous mat having a uniform thickness; providing a suitable environment for the gellation of the formable liquid resinous polymeric composition, the suitable environment for the gellation of the formable liquid resinous polymer composition consisting of a heated, rotary drum at least partially enclosed with a seamless belt;
and maintaining the Embowel liquid saturated fibrous mat within the suitable environment for a sufficient period of time to golf the formable liquid resinous polymer composition to produce a fibrous mat encapsulated within a formable and printable resinous polymeric gel.
. .
I
Brief Description of the Drawings _~____ The Figure represents, in diagramic form, the process of the present invention.
Detailed Description of the Present I've lion .
It has now been fount that a composite mat having a smooth and printable first surface and a smooth and adorably opposite surface , which composite mat is suitable for use in vinyl sheet goods such as flooring and the like, can be prepared employing essentially standard process machinery.
In structure, the composite mat prepared by the process of the present invention is not substantially different in appearance from the substrate previously employed. In the structure of that substrate, fibers of asbestos or another fibrous material normally in the form of a non-woven mat, are impregnated with a petrochemical. Such a non-w~ven asbestos fiber mat old be structurally suitable for use in the present invention and might be preferable but for the present focus of health inquiries. Various other woven and non-woven fibrous materials may be employed and these might include fiberglass, polyester, polypropylene, armed, rayon or ox Lyle. In fact, any natural or man-made organic or inorganic woven or non-woven continuous porous mat compatible with the plasticizer or other solvent system Gould be employed in the practice of the present invention. This list would be narrowed somewhat by process considerations, such as the temperatures to which the composite material would be subjected in later processing. At present, however, the preferred material for this purpose would be non oven fiberglass mat because of its availability, temperature characteristics and cost.
It should be apparent that the fibrous mat material need not be formed into a mat prior to being combined with a liquid resinous polymeric composition, as a sufficient quantity of stable fibers to form a mat in situ could first be mixed into a suitable liquid resinous polymeric composition.
I
Then, the resulting mixture Gould be metered onto a storable substrate or backing web. This procedure has not yet been implemented commercially because it would require greater modification of processing emanate, but is intended to be included within the process as presently descried and defined in the claims.
The confute of utilizing a preformed mat lies in the fact that it can be introduced into the process from a supply roll and will simulate the function of a backing web or substrate. This fibrous mat can be introduce d into the present process in much the same fashion as the substrate material had keen introduce d in the process of the prior art. The thickness of the pro-formed mat of fibrous material will defend to a large extent upon the particular product to be made and the Particular subsequent use for which it is intended. Normally such thicknesses are in the range of about seven miss to about twenty mill, but other thicknesses, especially those creator than twenty-five miss, may be used in particular circumstance s.
In the figure, the process of the present invention is illustrated diagrammatically as two). A preformed mat of fibrous material (12) is drawn from a su~plv, such as a roll of such material (14) illustrated, and conveyed, as by drive rollers (16), into the process (10). Tension on the supply roll, and other processing parameters can be used to determine the ratio of the thicknesses of the plastisol coating on each foe of the mat.
A resinous polymeric composition, of the kind which will form a printable polymeric gel is then combined with the fibrous material. There is substantial literature with respect to the formulation of a printable polymeric gel, and the reader is referred to such literature for the teaching no ox scary to the formulation of a suitable polymeric composition for any specific purpose. Such resinous polymeric compositions may be made by well-known standard and conventional methods and may contain one or more polymer or oopolv~er of vinyl chloride or other resin.
Other constituents of such resinous polymeric compositions include: a blowing or foaming agent, such as azodicarbonamide, if a blink or foaming agent is desired; various aloe lerator/stabilizers or catalysts such as dibasic lead phthalate, zinc octet, zinc oxide, lead octet, dibasic lead phosphate, etc., various light and/or heat stabile us and metallic soaps; plasticizers as ductile phthalate, bottle bouncily phthalate, dibutyl subacute, etc.; coloring agents and pigments, such as titanium dioxide; solvents and delineates, such as methyl ethyl kiter, mineral spirits, etc.; fillers, such as clay and limestone; and many other conventional and well-known additives and improvement agents.
Although a polymer or copolymer of vinyl chloride in the form of a plastisol is the referred and typical synthetic resin to be incorporated into the resinous polymer ocmFosition, many other resins are equally applicable, not only in plastiso~ form but also in organosol, latex or solvent form. The specific resin and its particular form of use, do not relate to the essence of the inventive cone pi and many other suitable resins are set forth in the prior art.
The resinous polymeric composition is also preferably a dispersion of a synthetic resin in a liquid medium, since the viscosity of the resin system must be few enough to permit the resin to be prosody into and through the fibrous material. Suitable viscosities for the resin system would be from about five hundred cycles per second (500 cups) to about twenty-five thousand cycles per second (25,000 cups), with viscosities in the range of fifteen hundred cycles For second (1500 cups) to five thousand cycles per second (5000 cups) being preferred. The dispersion medium can be a plasticizer in the case of a plastisol, or water in the case of an aqueous latex, or it can be an organic solvent in the case of an organosol. Excellent results are obtained I
with a dispersion of a synthetic resin in a plastic or as a plastisol and such form is the Preferred and typical form for the application of the present invention.
A few preferred and typical plastic us useful in forming such plastisols are dibutvl socket, dioctvl subacute, ductile adipate, didecyl adipate, ductile a late, dibutyl phthalate, dip privily phthalate, ductile phthalate, diabetics ethyl phthalate, tricresyl phosphate, ~ctyl diphenyl phosphate, dipropylene glvcol dikenzoate, bottle bouncily subacute, dikenzyl subacute, dibenzyl phthalate and bottle bouncily phthalate.
It is also to be appreciated that, although plastisols will be used to further describe the invention and in the Example which follows, such is not intended to exclude the use of organosols or aqueous latexes which are also utilizable.
Also, azodicarbonamide is indicated herein as the preferred and typical blowing or foaming agent to he included in the resinous polymeric composition when blowing or foaming is desired or required, and is employed in the Example which follows. however, many other similar blowing or foaming agents are also applicable and within the principle of the present invention.
The specific blowing or foaming agent which is employed will be determined by such considerations as cost, availability and physical properties of the desired finished product. A number of aloe twill blowing or foaming agents are well-known to the prior art. All that is required in the practice of the present invention is that the blowing or foaming agent remain unrequited during the process of golfing the resinous polymeric composition. For most resin systems, gellation will occur at an elevated temperature, and the blowing or foaming agent must have a deoomFosition temperature which is sufficiently high that it will not be activated or decomposed prematurely during the golfing process. It might also be noted that the blowing or foaming agent must also I
remain unrequited during any other preliminary steps, such as heating or mechanical embossing, or the like.
In a similar way, Mooney other aloe aerators, initiators, catalysts, viscosity improvers, light and heat stabilizers, dyes, pigments, plasticizers, antioxidant, fillers, bacteriostats and bacterioci~es, and many other additives may be included in the resinous polymeric composition. The specific nature and the particular physical and chemical properties and characteristics of the various constituents of the resinous polymeric composition should not be seen as limiting the nature of the present invention, and further elaboration of such additives is believed Anne ox scary. The use of these various classes of additives as well as specific compounds for specific purposes, is well known to the art.
In the illustrated embodiment, a resinous polymeric composition (18) contained in reservoir (20) is introduced across the width of the moving pro-formed mat (12). This material may be deposited by gravity flaw, if the reservoir is properly located, or by some kind of pumping action. as necessary.
A suitable amount of this deposited resinous polymeric composition (22) is allowed to accumulate uniformly across the width of the preformed mat (12), and this deposited resinous composition (22) is then metered by some means, such as by drawing the preformed mat (12) between the combination of a doctoring blade (24) and pressure roller (26), as illustrated. This operation results in a uniform layer of the viscous liquid resinous polymeric composition (28) being deposited on the fibrous mat (12).
One the liquid resinous polymeric composition (28) and fibrous mat (12) have teen prepared in such a manner, they are conveyed into a thermal environment suitable for golfing the liquid polymeric composition. One apparatus suitable for the creation of such an environment is shown as (30) in Fig. 1, and comprises a rotating heated drum (32), at least one pressure roller I
(34), a surrounding belt (36), and several tensioning rollers (38).
In the precut ox of the present invention, the Lydia resinous polyp metric composition (28) and fibrous mat (17~ are brought into intimate contact with the outer surf ox of the notating heated drum (32). Preferably, this is done at a point where a pressure roller (34) and the drum (32) create a nip ~40) into which the fibrous mat (28) is drawn by the rotation of the drum, as indicated by the arrow (42). The effect of this nip (40) prevents the unwanted inclusion of air pockets which may result in voids and thus damage the finished product. The drum is preferably crated with a suitable release agent and maintained at a temperature suitable for golfing the liquid Plastisol.
Throughout the reside ox period, lye., that period of time during which the liquid resinous polymeric composition (28) and fibrous mat (12) remain in thermal contact with the outer surface of the rotating heated drum (32), a sufficient quantity of heat is transferred to transform the resinous camFosition from a liquid to a gel.
It should be noted that this period of temperature transfer is critical for several reasons. First, the temperature of the rotating drum cannot be too great or the liquid resinous composition will edge molten and adhere to the drum. Yet the temperature must not be too GUY or the residence time required for the thermal transfer no ox scary to effect gellation will not be achieved at necessary operating speeds. Uniformity of thermal transfer and isolation of the thermal environment is greatly assisted by the presence of the surrounding belt I Belts of a similar apron ox have been employed with processing equipment of this kind previously, but the purpose for such use was to maintain a suitable tension during lamination of dissimilar materials.
In the present invention, the use of such a belt may serve as a molding functionality as well. Applicants are not aware of the employment of such a belt in contact with a liquid resinous polymeric composition, nor are they I
aware of the previous use of a belt wide enough for use in the preparation of vinyl sheet goods such as floor coverings. While it was useful to keep the belt employed in the process herein described in tension, it also assisted in creating a uniform thermal environment suitable for the efficient heat transfer neon scary to eel the liquid resinous polymeric composition by en~elGping the saturated mat during the residence period in thermal contact with the heated drum.
Allure pressure rollers (44) may be employed to assist in maintaining the no ox scary contact between the fibrous mat I and the heated drum (32). In addition, such rollers, if utiliæd, assist in maintaining a uniform thickness and help to insure consolidation of errant fibers within the polymeric gel.
After the resinous polymeric composition gels to produce a printable gel, which no encapsulates the fibrous mat, the fibrous mat encapsulated within the printable polymeric gel (46) is drawn off the heated drum (32) and it is useful to pass the encapsulated mat (46) over one or more chill rollers (48) to reduce the temperature of the product.
The cooled, encapsulated mat may be further processed immediately after preparation, as by rotogravure printing and heating to chemically emboss the polymeric gel in a manner well known to the art. However, in general and in the diagrammatic process illustrated here, the cooled, encapsulated mat is taken up in a storage roll (50) for later use.
It should ye apparent to those skilled in the art that a suitable thermal environment can be created in other ways, and various alternatives acme to mind. In this regard, a fibrous mat can be conveyed through a reservoir of suitable resinous polymeric composition and then squeezed by suitable nip rollers to provide a suitable saturated mat. To provide an environment for gellation of the resinous polymeric composition this saturated mat could then I
be drawn through a thermal environment, such as an oven, preferably a vertical oven where the effects of gravity ma be avoided. Pairs of pressure rollers could be provided on each side of the saturated fibrous mat during its trawl as no ox scary to assist in consolidating and collaborating the celled product.
An elaborate embodiment of such an alternative would include the use of two endless belts of the kind described above which would be used to encase the saturated mat, one covering each foe , during the period of thermal transfer.
The present invention is shown more clearly in the following illustrative example.
Example A non-woven g]ass-fiber mat was obtained oammercially and processed according to the steps of the present invention. The mat employed weighed approximately fifty grams For square meter (50 g/m2) of which approximately twenty Perle nut (20~) represented the weight of urea-formaldehyde which impregnated the fiber mat as a binder. The individual glass fibers varied from approximately eight microns to approximately thirteen microns in thickness and from about one and two-tenths ox ntimeters (1.2 cam.) to abut two and five-tenths ox ntimeters (2.5 cam.) in length. The mat itself was a wet laid fiberglass tissue available commercially from the Johns-Manville Corporation and marketed under the trademark "Duraglass."
From a supply roll holding approximately eight thousand square yards of the fibrous material, a one hundred and forty-seven inch wide web was taken into the prove so at a rate of twenty inches For second (on inset This fibrous material was coated with a formable and printable resinous polymeric composition in the form of a plastisol, the composition of which is set out in Table I below. This Plastisol was fed by gravity from a reservoir and dispensed across the width of the fibrous mat. The mat was then drawn through a slit-llke opening of t~enty-five thousandths of an inch (0.025") I
Jo hod by the combination of a doctor blade and a pressure roller. This combination is effective both in metering the amount of plastisol added and in promoting saturation of the fibrous mat by Helen to forte the plastisol into and through the interstices of the fibrous mat.
TABnr~
parts per hundred parts of resin _ Vinyl Chloride Dispersion Resin (coon 123 - BY Goodrich Chemical Group) 66 Vinyl Chloride Extender Resin (Gccdvear M 70L*- Goodyear Chemical Kiwi 34 Primary Plasticizer (Plasticizer Sly -Monsanto Polymer Products Company, Inc.) 44 Secondary Plasticizer (Plasticizer S452 -Monsanto polymer Products Company, Ionic if Calcium Carbonate Filler (Passaic White B - RYE. Carroll Co.) 80 Blowing Agent (Azodicarbonamide & Zinc Oxide) 5 Cell S illusory ~-103 - Air Products & Chemicals, Inc.) Viscosity Depressant (Hanukkah POW - Diamond-Shamrock Chemical Company) 1.5 Delineate *
(Aromatic 150 - Sun Chemical Co.) 2 The thus-saturated fibrous material mat was then conveyed into contact on the foe of an oil-filled, heated, rotary drum supplied by the Olbrich Company and commonly employed in the manufacture of vinyl sheet goods.
or this kind of use such a drum is preferably coated with a release agent, and the drum employed here was coated with a silicone release agent available ocmm~rcially from the Moray Chemical Company under the trademark "Bavsilone."
*trade mark , . -:
I, For the purpose of the present process this equipment had been fitted with a thirteen foot-wide endless belt similar in design to the narrow pressure belts commonly employed in pre~arinq laminates with this equipment. The belt employed in this instance, however, was specially manufactured by the Globe Albany Division of Albany International, Northern America, located in sulfa New York and had its entire working foe , i.e., that face which would be in contact with liquid plastisol saturated fibrous mat, with a layer of silicone rubber having a thickness of one hundred and twenty miss. to prevent adhesion of the plastisol.
This endless belt passed over a pressure roller set in contact with the surface of the heated drum and the liquid plastisol-saturated fibrous mat was conveyed into the nip formed between the knelt and the drum. Tension on the endless belt thereafter kept the plastisol saturated mat in intimate contact with the drum during its rotation.
The oil-filled drum employed was maintained at a constant temperature of 140C. throughout the process of the present invention in a manner well known to the art. In addition, the drum was rotated at a speed of four and eighty-five one hundredths revolutions per minute (4.R5 rev/min)O During the residence period, lye., that period during which the plastisol saturated mat is in thermal contact with the drum, the temperature of the plastisol was brought to a level where gellation of this plastisol c~nposition would occur, somewhere from approximately 110C. to 140C., and was maintained at that level.
Residence time within this enviror~nent was approximately nine seconds and was sufficient to gel this plastisol material.
The gel-encapsulated fibrous mat thus formed was taken off the drum and passed through a series of three chill rollers maintained at a temperature of 25 & . before king taken up by a storage roll.
On inspection, thy gel-encapsulated fibrous mat was of generally I
uniform thickness and had a smooth and printable first surface and a smooth and adorably opposite Syria . In addition, the product showed little or no evidence of voids and no errant fibers were detectable.
Other features, advantages and specific embodiments of this invention will become readily apparent to those exercising ordinary skill in the art after reading the foregoing disclosures. These specific embodiments are within the scope of the claimed subject matter unless otherwise expressly indicated to the contrary. Moreover, while specific embodiments of this invention have been described in considerable detail, variations and modifications of these embodiments can be effected without departing from the spirit and score of this invention as disclosed and claimed.
Claims (10)
OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. A process for the preparation of a formable composite mat having a smooth and printable first surface and smooth and adherable opposite surface which formable composite mat may be foamed to a uniform expanded thickness and which composite mat comprises a fibrous mat encapsulated within a formable, printable resinous polymeric gel which process comprises:
a) providing a supply of suitable fibrous mat material;
b) combining a controlled amount of a formable, liquid resinous polymeric composition with said fibrous mat material in such a manner that the foamable liquid per-meates into and through the interstices of the fibrous material and coats both surfaces of said fibrous mat, wherein the foamable liquid resinous polymeric com-position is capable of forming a printable resinous polymeric gel at a suitable temperature, thereby pro-viding a foamable liquid resinous polymeric composition saturated fibrous mat having a uniform thickness;
c) providing a suitable environment for the gellation of said foamable liquid resinous polymeric composition, said suitable environment for the gellation of said foamable liquid resinous polymeric composition con-sisting of a heated, rotary drum at least partially enclosed with a seamless belt; and d) maintaining the foamable liquid saturated fibous mat within said suitable environment for a sufficient period of time to gel the foamable liquid resinous polymeric composition to produce a fibrous mat encapsulated within a foamable and printable resinous polymeric gel.
a) providing a supply of suitable fibrous mat material;
b) combining a controlled amount of a formable, liquid resinous polymeric composition with said fibrous mat material in such a manner that the foamable liquid per-meates into and through the interstices of the fibrous material and coats both surfaces of said fibrous mat, wherein the foamable liquid resinous polymeric com-position is capable of forming a printable resinous polymeric gel at a suitable temperature, thereby pro-viding a foamable liquid resinous polymeric composition saturated fibrous mat having a uniform thickness;
c) providing a suitable environment for the gellation of said foamable liquid resinous polymeric composition, said suitable environment for the gellation of said foamable liquid resinous polymeric composition con-sisting of a heated, rotary drum at least partially enclosed with a seamless belt; and d) maintaining the foamable liquid saturated fibous mat within said suitable environment for a sufficient period of time to gel the foamable liquid resinous polymeric composition to produce a fibrous mat encapsulated within a foamable and printable resinous polymeric gel.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the resinous polymeric composition is a vinyl chloride polymer.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the fibrous mat material is a non-woven fiberglass mat.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the liquid resinous poly-meric composition is metered onto the fibrous mat with the use of a doctor blade.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein the liquid resinous poly-meric composition is metered onto the fibrous mat with the use of nip rollers.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein that portion of the sur-face of the seamless belt which comes into contact with the liquid resinous polymeric composition has been coated with a silicone rubber.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein the resinous polymeric composition is in the form of a plastisol.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein the resinous polymeric composition is in the form of an organosol.
16 The method of claim 1 wherein the resinous polymeric composition is in the form of an aqueous latex.
10. A fibrous mat encapsulated within a printable resinous polymeric gel, prepared according to the process of claim 1.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| US54994983A | 1983-11-09 | 1983-11-09 | |
| US549,949 | 1983-11-09 |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1234464A true CA1234464A (en) | 1988-03-29 |
Family
ID=24195060
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA000459661A Expired CA1234464A (en) | 1983-11-09 | 1984-07-25 | Process for the preparation of a composite mat |
Country Status (3)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| JP (1) | JPS62243882A (en) |
| AU (1) | AU567412B2 (en) |
| CA (1) | CA1234464A (en) |
Family Cites Families (2)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DE3033264C2 (en) * | 1980-09-04 | 1984-06-20 | Dynamit Nobel Ag, 5210 Troisdorf | Process for the production of porous textile carrier webs impregnated with thermoplastic plastic pastes |
| JPS57139572A (en) * | 1981-02-18 | 1982-08-28 | Tajima Oyo Kako Kk | Glass fiber non-woven fabric and method |
-
1984
- 1984-07-25 CA CA000459661A patent/CA1234464A/en not_active Expired
-
1986
- 1986-04-08 AU AU55741/86A patent/AU567412B2/en not_active Ceased
- 1986-04-17 JP JP61089170A patent/JPS62243882A/en active Pending
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| AU5574186A (en) | 1987-10-15 |
| AU567412B2 (en) | 1987-11-19 |
| JPS62243882A (en) | 1987-10-24 |
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