EP0413626B1 - Sound-absorbing prefabricated plate or tile, and its application as sound-absorbing underlayer for floor coverings - Google Patents

Abstract

Sound-absorbing panel or tile which is rigid and has a hard surface, comprising a support (2) made from a material having an elastic response, a layer (3) of bitumen bound to this support, this bitumen layer being reinforced by two thin layers of anchored glass fibres, one (4a) in the lower face and the other (4b) in the upper face of the said bitumen layer, and a surface layer (5) of a granulated mineral material bound to the bitumen. The support made from a material having an elastic response consists of a dense and flexible sheet of fibres which possesses a density ranging from 60 to 200 kg/m<3>. Application as a sound-absorbing underlayer for the laying, by adhesive bonding, of floor coverings such as tiling, carpets or the like. <IMAGE>

Description

The invention relates to a prefabricated sound-absorbing plate or slab and its application as a sound-absorbing underlay for floor coverings such as tiles, carpets, plastic or elastomer coverings.

According to the current regulations on soundproofing the floors of living rooms with impact noise, the intensity of the noise perceived in a room, measured on the A scale of sensitivity, must be less than 70 decibels, when a standardized shock machine operates on the upper floor. With regard to airborne sounds such as those caused by music broadcasts, radio or television receivers as well as by certain devices with electric motors, the intensity of such noise, measured on the A sensitivity scale, must be lower at 35 decibels, when the noise on the floor above is emitted at the intensity of 80 decibels per octave.

In an attempt to satisfy these requirements, numerous systems of sound-absorbing underlayments have been proposed for the installation of floor coverings, said systems being either prefabricated or even entirely produced on site. Thus and for information, reference can be made to DE-B-1.224.020. In this document, a soundproofing slab or plate is described in particular, using a light lower layer, surmounted by a surface layer formed of fibers. impregnated with hardened resin or bitumen. However, it can be seen that without other precautions, such a product achieves only poor insulation, the lower layer, directly bonded to the relatively rigid surface layer having only very low elasticity. In addition, this lower layer has no mechanical consistency and does not provide resistance to the stresses of which it is the seat when it is used to acoustically isolate a living room.

In patent FR-A-2,517,728, a prefabricated soundproofing plate or slab has been described in parallel, comprising a support made of a flexible cellular material having an elastic reaction, a layer of bitumen bonded to this support, this layer of bitumen being reinforced by two thin layers of anchored glass fibers, one in its lower face and the other in its upper face, and a surface layer of a mineral granule bonded to bitumen, this plate or slab being rigid and with a hard surface , said cellular material and the bitumen reinforced with glass fibers being two materials with complementary dynamic rigidities making it possible to absorb the shocks as they are generated in the standardized tests.

A system of the aforementioned type allows, on the one hand, the absorption of an accidental impact on the tiling laid on the underlay consisting of said system, avoiding any fracture of said tiling, and, on the other hand, compliance with the same acoustic standards extended to labels which define an improved level of acoustic comfort.

However, although it meets the standards in force, the soundproofing provided by the system described above, is not always to the extent that would be desired by the users who use the apartments whose floors are soundproofed by calling to this system.

We have now found that the quality of the soundproofing of the system formed by the soundproofing plate or panel described in patent FR-A-2,517,728 can be substantially improved. replacing the support in flexible cellular material of this plate or slab by a support consisting of a sheet of dense and flexible fibers having a high density, and furthermore having a particular structure giving it a relative solidity, facilitating its installation and its use.

Such a replacement of the support made of cellular material by a support made up of a dense and flexible sheet of fibers according to the invention makes it possible to lower the natural frequency of the oscillating system formed by the floor covering, for example tiling, associated with the soundproofing plate or slab with a layer of glue or thin-set mortar, towards lower values, for which the weighting made to take account of the sensitivity of the ear (A-weighting) is greater, the gain on the sensitivity of the ear enjoying comfort.

The soundproofing plate or slab according to the invention is a rigid plate or slab with a hard surface comprising a support made of a material having an elastic reaction a layer of bitumen bonded to this support this layer of bitumen being reinforced by two thin layers of fibers of glass anchored, one in the lower face and the other in the upper face of said layer of bitumen, and a surface layer of a mineral granule bonded to bitumen, said plate or slab being characterized in that the support in elastic reaction material consists of a dense and flexible sheet, of fibers supercharged by a set of stitching points such that the sheet reaches a density situated in the range of 60 to 200 kg / m³.

In a particular embodiment, the seams of the overpressed fiber ply are tight seams and substantially parallel, the spacing between two consecutive seams as well as the spacing between two consecutive stitches of the same seam being predetermined. Preferably, the spacing between two consecutive seams is between 2 and 10 mm and preferably between 3 and 7 mm, while the spacing between two consecutive stitches of the same seam ranges from 9 to 10 mm and preferably from 4 to 6 mm.

As a variant, the super-compressed fibers of the ply are subjected throughout the extent of the ply to needling, ensuring a bonding of the fibers through this ply by continuous back-and-forth stitching.

The fibers constituting the dense and flexible sheet of fibers defined above can be inorganic fibers such as glass fibers, natural organic fibers, or even synthetic organic fibers such as isotactic polypropylene fibers or aromatic polyamide fibers.

Advantageously, the face of the dense and flexible sheet of fibers, which is intended to come into contact with the reinforced bitumen layer, is coated with a veil or a fabric of inorganic fibers or of natural or synthetic organic fibers, in particular glass fibers, polypropylene fibers or even aromatic polyamide fibers, said veil or fabric being secured to said sheet by any suitable means and in particular by the seams which clamp the fibers together, or by needling with a continuous seam back and forth or zig-zag, realizing a real quilting of the tablecloth.

As indicated above, the bitumen layer bonded to the fibrous support is reinforced by two thin layers of anchored glass fibers, one in the lower face and the other in the upper face of said bitumen layer, said glass fiber reinforcements being intended to give the bitumen layer the required rigidity and mechanical strength.

The mineral granule constituting the surface layer of the soundproofing plate or slab can consist of slate flakes or even a conventional mineral granule such as quartzite or diorite, the latter being a colorable mineral.

Advantageously, the soundproofing plate or tile according to the invention has a total thickness of approximately 10 mm, the bitumen layer covered with granules having a thickness of approximately 5 to 6 mm. This plate or slab can have any suitable geometric shape and in particular a square or rectangular shape.

To manufacture the soundproofing plate or slab, we start with a sheet of bitumen of appropriate thickness, which is reinforced on both sides by means of glass fibers in the form of fiber wefts which are drowned on the surface in the hot bitumen. The industrial manufacture of such a bitumen sheet reinforced with glass fibers is well known and will therefore not be described in more detail. The bitumen sheet thus reinforced has a surface mass of approximately 10 kg / m2.

The bitumen sheet reinforced by its two layers of glass fibers is placed on a conveyor belt, the said sheet is heated to between 80 ° C and 130 ° C to soften it by passing under a heat source such as a gas train , then apply the sheet of dense and flexible fibers, which unwinds from a reel, on one of the faces of the softened bitumen sheet and finally deposits by projection the mineral granule on the other face of the bitumen sheet softened. After the laminate formed has cooled, the excess mineral granule which is not attached to the bitumen is removed by wiping, then the laminate is subjected to a cutting operation, carried out by any known method for this purpose, to form plates or tiles with the desired dimensions, for example 50 cm x 50 cm.

The soundproofing plate or slab according to the invention can be easily bonded to a concrete or wooden floor or to an earlier floor covering, for example plastic, elastomer or tile covering, provided that said covering has a flatness. sufficient, using an adhesive compatible, on the one hand, with the fibrous support of the plate or slab and, on the other hand, with the concrete or wooden floor or with the previous floor covering, said adhesive being for example an acrylic or vinyl collar. Furthermore, on the hard surface of said plate or slab, which is formed of the layer mineral granular surface, it is also very easy to paste a tile, using a thick mortar, or any other floor covering such as carpet, plastic or elastomer coating, using an acrylic adhesive or vinyl on the leveling plaster with which the granulated surface will have been treated.

The plate or slab according to the invention therefore finds use as a sound-absorbing underlayment for laying by gluing a floor covering such as tiles, carpet, plastic or elastomer floor covering, or the like.

This soundproofing plate or slab has, with regard to installation, all the advantages of the anterior soundproofing plate or slab described in patent FR-A-2,517,728 and, moreover, it proves to be more effective than said anterior plate for absorb shocks and avoid the transmission of impact noises as well as airborne noises, whether the floors are concrete or wooden.

• La Figure 1 est une vue en perspective d'une plaque avec des arrachements montrant ses divers constituants, et
• La Figure 2 est une vue en coupe de ladite plaque.

A particular embodiment of the slab or plate according to the invention is described below, by way of an indicative and nonlimiting example, with reference to the appended drawing in which:

• Figure 1 is a perspective view of a plate with cutaway showing its various constituents, and
• Figure 2 is a sectional view of said plate.

Referring to Figure 1, the soundproofing plate or slab generally designated by the reference numeral 1 is a square-shaped plate, for example 50 cm in side, which comprises a support layer 2 of fibrous material with elastic reaction, to which a layer of bitumen 3 has been bonded, by hot self-bonding, reinforced on its two faces by a layer, respectively 4a and 4b, of glass fibers embedded in the bitumen, and finally a layer surface 5 consisting of mineral granules, for example slate flake, said granules having been anchored in the surface of the bitumen layer, which has been softened for this purpose by heating. This same softening by heating allowed the self-bonding of the bitumen layer 3 on the support layer 2 of fibrous material applied against it. This support layer 2 consists of a sheet of glass fibers overcompressed by separate parallel seams, one of the following, by a distance of 5 to 6 and each formed by points distant by about 5 mm, said sheet having a density of approximately 120 kg / m3.

The total thickness of the plate 1 is approximately 10 mm, the bitumen layer covered with granules having a thickness of approximately 5 to 6 mm.

This plate 1 is intended to be fixed by gluing to the floor to be coated, for example by means of an acrylic or vinyl adhesive, and to receive on its upper layer 5 of granules a commercial leveling layer for laying the coating of selected floor, for example a layer of thin-set mortar for laying a tile or a layer of vinyl acrylic adhesive for laying a floor covering other than a tile and consisting in particular of a carpet or a plastic or elastometer flooring.

The natural frequency Fo of the oscillating system formed by a tiling associated, by a layer of thin-set mortar, with the soundproofing plate or slab with a support layer of polyethylene foam described in patent FR-A-2,517,728 is located in the vicinity of 270 Hz.

A comparable oscillating system in which the soundproofing plate or slab is the plate or slab according to the invention described above with reference to Figures 1 and 2, that is to say comprising a support layer consisting of the ply of Supercharged glass fibers mentioned above have a natural frequency of around 120 Hz.

The weighting which is made to take account of the sensitivity of the ear (A-weighting) is at the frequency 120 Hz higher (16dB) than that made at the frequency 270 Hz (8dB).

The replacement of the support layer in cellular material of the sound-absorbing plate by a support layer according to the invention results in a reduction, of more than twice, of the natural frequency Fo of the above-mentioned oscillating system, which makes it possible to achieve a gain on the sensitivity of the ear which benefits comfort.

Of course, the invention is not limited to the embodiment of the soundproofing plate or panel described and shown. In particular, one can simply replace the parallel seams more especially envisaged in the example described above by a needling performed with a single continuous seam and back and forth across the entire surface of the web of overpressed fibers. .

Claims (11)

1. Rigid sound-absorbing plate or tile having a hard surface, comprising a support (2) made from a material having an elastic reaction, a bitumen layer (3) bonded to the said support, said bitumen layer being reinforced by two thin layers of anchored glass fibres, one (4a) in the lower face the other (4b) in the upper face of said bitumen layer, and a surface layer (5) of a bitumen-bonded mineral granulate, said plate or tile being characterized in that the elastic reaction material support consists of a dense,flexible sheet of fibres supercompressed by a plurality of sewing or stitching points such that the sheet reaches a density in the range 60 to 200 kg/m³.

2. Sound-absorbing plate or tile according to claim 1, characterized in that the seams of the sheet of supercompressed fibres are substantially parallel, close seams, the spacing between two consecutive seams and the spacing between two consecutive points of the same seam being chosen so that the sheet of fibres has a density in the range 60 to 200 kg/m³.

3. Sound-absorbing plate or tile according to claim 2, characterized in that the spacing between two consecutive seams of the sheet of fibres is between 2 and 10mm and preferably between 3 and 7mm.

4. Sound-absorbing plate or tile according to claims 2 or 3, characterized in that the spacing between two consecutive points of a seam of the sheet of fibres is between 2 and 10mm and preferably between 4 and 6mm.

5. Plate or tile according to claim 1, characterized in that the supercompressed fibres of the sheet undergo needle felting throughout the area of the sheet, so as to ensure a connection of the fibres through said sheet by a continuous, backwards and forwards seam.

6. Sound-absorbing plate or tile according to any one of the claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the fibres constituting the sheet forming the support (2) of said plate or tile are inorganic fibres or natural or synthetic organic fibres.

7. Sound-absorbing plate or tile according to any one of the claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the fibres constituting the sheet forming the support (2) of said plate or tile are glass fibres, isotactic polypropylene fibres or aromatic polyamide fibres.

8. Sound-absorbing plate or tile according to any one of the claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the face of the sheet of fibres to come into contact with the reinforced bitumen layer is coated with a cloth or web of inorganic fibres, more particularly glass fibres, or natural or synthetic organic fibres, particularly isotactic polypropylene fibres or aromatic polyamide fibres, said cloth or web being joined to the said sheet.

9. Sound-absorbing plate or tile according to any one of the claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the mineral granulate forming the surface layer (5) of said plate or tile is constituted by flakes of slate, quartzite or even diorite.

10. Sound-absorbing plate or tile according to any one of the claims 1 to 9, characterized in that it has a thickness of approximately 10mm, the bitumen layer covered with mineral granulate having a thickness of approximately 5 to 6mm.

11. Application of the plates or tiles according to any one of the claims 1 to 10 to the formation of a sound-absorbing underlayer for the laying by adhesion of a floor covering, e.g. tiling, carpeting, covering the floor with a plastics material or an elastomer, said plates or tiles being bonded by means of an acrylic or vinyl adhesive to the floor to be sound-proofed, e.g. a concrete or wood floor or even a previous floor covering, in order to form a sound-absorbing underlayer and the floor covering to be laid being applied by adhesion to said underlayer using a cement paste for laying tiling or an acrylic or vinyl adhesive for the other type of floor covering.

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