EP1023189B1 - Prefabricated roofing element - Google Patents

Abstract

A prefabricated roofing element in the form of a laminate consisting from its inner surface towards its outer surface exposed to poor weather conditions, of at least a first continuous layer constituting an element core based on a thermosetting binder and reinforcing materials, of a second continuous protective coating layer, consisting of a mixture of at least a synthetic resin, a constituent staining in its volume the resin and a catalyst. The roof cover element is characterized in that it further comprises at least a third discontinuous layer of paint unevenly distributed on the surface of the second layer and consisting of materials immiscible with the second layer constituents to form spots at the second layer surface.

Description

The present invention relates to a cover element for prefabricated roof in the form of a laminate.

It relates more particularly to an element of roof covering composed of its internal face towards its external face exposed to the weather from at least one first continuous layer constituting the core of said element and formed from a mixture of at least one binder and reinforcement, of a second continuous layer of a product of ultraviolet and weather protection called gelcoat, consisting of a mixture of at least one synthetic resin, preferably thermosetting, such as a resin polyester, of a tinting component in the bulk said resin and a catalyst.

Interlocking tiles have been widely used according to multiple methods for covering homes. These tiles generally made of baked clay allow to obtain very waterproof and resistant covers but heavy and very exposed to breakage, particularly hail. So we saw appear on the market, for roofing, sheets of material synthetic to which the shape of the tiles has been printed interlocking. These light plates, resistant to weather conditions, however, were not successful commercial discounted mainly for two reasons. On the one hand, the use of asbestos-based materials, such as fiber cement (registered trademark), has risks to the health of users. On the other hand, these plates offer poor imitation of the natural look traditional products, such as tiles and slates, this bad imitation is also accompanied by a rapid degradation over time of this aspect.

Solutions concerning the first problem exposed above have been found and are exhibited in particular in French patents FR-A-2,451,429 and FR-A-2,522,348. The roof elements described in these patents are obtained by using risk-free reinforced resins for the health of the occupants of a dwelling. However, the composition of such roofing elements and methods of selected manufacturing does not give satisfaction in term appearance of the product and in terms of resistance over time of this product.

Patent FR-A-2,522,348 recommends, to imitate the appearance traditional products, the use of aggregates which pose problems of homogenization of the mixture and distribution of aggregates on the surface of the finished product.

The patent FR-A-2,451,429 advocates, for its part, the use of a tinted gelcoat with an rough likely to cause a number disadvantages such as dust retention and the development of foam at the roughness level.

The patent FR-A-2,360,395 essentially concerns the manufacture of a standard mold in polyester or other thermosetting from a plastered core plastic or hydraulic. This patent describes as accessory a mass production process of parts at using such a mold. This process includes a step of coating a mold wall with a tinted gel coat and then a step of coating this mold with a resin + mixture fibers. The gel coat may be in the form of a continuous layer or in the form of "speckles" of colors different.

An object of the present invention is to overcome the disadvantages mentioned above by proposing an element of prefabricated roofing with a very similar appearance traditional products, such as tiles and slates, which ages well over time and in water and which is can be manufactured using an industrial process.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a roofing element prefab roof easy to install and allowing obtaining the finished product quickly.

To this end, the subject of the invention is an element of prefabricated roofing in the form a laminate composed of its internal face towards its face external exposed to weather, at least a first continuous layer constituting the core of said element and formed of a mixture of at least one thermosetting binder and reinforcement materials, a second continuous layer of UV and UV protective coating bad weather called gelcoat consisting of the mixture of at least one synthetic resin, preferably thermosetting, such than a polyester resin, a dye component in the mass said resin and a catalyst, this element being characterized in that it further comprises, at least one third discontinuous layer of a distributed paint of irregularly on the surface of the second layer and composed of materials immiscible with the constituents of the second layer to form on the surface of the second layer of spots conferring in cooperation with the second layer of said element an aspect imitating the appearance traditional materials such as slates or roof tiles.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the third layer of the cover element is made up a paint based mainly on a resin thermoplastic chosen from the group of resins polyurethane, acrylic, or two-component resins acrylic-urethane, a catalyst capable of promoting the polymerization of said resin and pigments.

Another subject of the invention is a manufacturing process a prefabricated roofing element characterized in that it is deposited by projection in the form of irregular droplets on the surface of the cavity molding of a mold of shape corresponding to the shape of a portion of cover to be reproduced, a painting for form the so-called upper layer of a covering element laminate roof, in that it covers, after hardening, this layer of a second layer continues a protective coating to weather and ultraviolet called gel coat consisting of a mixture based a synthetic resin, preferably thermosetting tinted immiscible with the coating paint and in what is applied after hardening of this second layer, a layer capable of forming the core of said element, this layer consisting of at least one reinforcing material and a thermosetting binder.

The invention will be more particularly described below in starting from an embodiment of the invention.

The roof covering element, object of the invention, is in the form of a part whose conformation is depending on the traditional material to imitate. This conformation is generally obtained by molding. So, in the case of a roof element imitating the tile, the shaped part imitates by imprints several rows successive elements such as tiles, the edges of this part being shaped to allow assembly by overlapping said edges when positioning side by side next to two identical pieces on a roof frame.

This roof covering element is in the form a laminate composed of at least three layers. The first layer also called core of said element and constituting the internal face of said element is formed of a mixture of at least one thermosetting binder and reinforcement materials. As a thermosetting binder, mention may be made of polyester, phenolic resins, furanic, epoxy or other. However, in a mode of favorite realization of this soul, it is made up of a mixture of at least one thermosetting resin mass dyed, such as polyester resin tinted, and glass fibers, the glass fibers being present in said mixture in a proportion included in the range [20-30%] by weight. For example, for this first layer, we can use a resin unsaturated polyester diluted with styrene and methacrylate methyl. This resin is accelerated by means of a accelerator, such as a 6-cobalt octoate solution %, then cured using a catalyst, such as a peroxide either methyl ethyl ketone or acetyl acetone (2-4-pentanedione). Such resin is available commercially and sold by Reichhold Co. under the Dion reference FR 7722.00. Other polyester resins unsaturated pre-accelerated such as Viapal VUP 4754 resin BEMT manufactured by Vianova Resins can be used.

The second layer of this element is a continuous layer a protective coating, called gelcoat, consisting of mixture of at least one synthetic resin, preferably thermosetting, such as polyester resin, of a constituent tinting in the mass said resin, and a catalyst. The thickness of this second layer is generally in the range [0.3-0.5 mm]. In addition, the constituents of the first and second layers used for dyeing said layers are chosen from so that the shade of the first coat is identical to that of the second layer. As constituent tinting in the mass said resin, it is possible cite rutile titanium treated with chlorine. In a more general, the colors of the core and the second layer are obtained from bases of white, blue, or black for a roofing element imitating slate and from of yellow, red, orange bases for a cover element imitating the tile. In other words, the final shades of the core and the second layer can be for a roofing element imitating slate type RAL 7015, 7016 or 7021 and for a cover element imitating the RAL type roof tile 2001 to 2010.

This laminate still has at least a third layer constituting the external face exposed to the bad weather of said element. This third layer is a discontinuous layer unevenly distributed paint on the surface of the second layer. This third layer is composed of materials immiscible with the constituents of the second layer to form on the surface of the second layer of spots conferring said element, in cooperation with the second layer, an aspect imitating that of traditional materials such as slates or roof tiles. This third layer is preferably made up a paint, essentially based on a chosen resin in the group of polyurethane, acrylic resins, acrylic-urethane, a catalyst capable of promoting the polymerization of said resin and of color pigments black.

This painting constituting the third layer covers not more than 15% of the surface of the second layer. This third layer is applied to the surface of the second layer in the form of droplets by projection. The detail of this projection will be described below. Generally, the resin of this third layer consists of a base preferably belonging to the family of compounds hydroxylated acrylics and / or urethane-based compounds and a diluent consisting of an organic solvent, such as 2-butoxyethyl acetate, ethyl acetate or similar. The catalyst generally belongs to the family of polyisocyanates. So as a basis, we can use a Deltron HS base except 914 manufactured by PPG industries SA and consisting mainly of prepolymers isocyanates (N = C = O free) and organic solvents. AT as a diluent, diluent D807 S0741 from PPG Industries SA and as a hardener D802 STP of this same company. The color of the paint varies depending on the aspect of aging desired.

Thus, in light of what has just been explained above, a typical composition of a roofing element can be defined as follows:

Soul of the element:

Résine : M1-Dion FR 7722.00 (Reichhold) = 75-85 % en poids
   M4-Viapam VUP 4754 Bemt (Vianova Resins) = 65,75 % en poids

Catalyseur : péroxyde type méthyl éthyl cétone : 10-35 % du poids total de la résine

Fibres de verre = 15-35 % en poids

pigments : titane rutile traité au chlore

Accelerator: 6% cobalt octoate: 0.5% total weight of the resin

Resin: M1-Dion FR 7722.00 (Reichhold) = 75-85% by weight
M4-Viapam VUP 4754 Bemt (Vianova Resins) = 65.75% by weight

Catalyst: methyl ethyl ketone peroxide: 10-35% of the total weight of the resin

Glass fibers = 15-35% by weight

pigments: rutile titanium treated with chlorine

Gelcoat

Pigments = rutile titanium treated with chlorine

Accelerator = 6% cobalt octoate = 0.5% by weight total resin

Catalyst = peroxide type methyl ethyl ketone = 10-35% of total resin weight

Resin = Medogel M series (medoc paints) or gelcoat

NI 11 (Reichhold): 300 g - 600 g / m ²

3rd layer

Paint: base deltron HS except 914 (PPG industries SA): 2 volumes

Thinner: D870 S0741 (PPG industries SA): 2 volumes

Catalyst: D802 hardener STD (PPG industries SA): 1 volume

To obtain such a roof covering element, we generally proceeds as follows. First of all, we make a mold, usually made of synthetic material to allow obtaining shapes conforming to those part of a traditional cover. On the surface of this mold corresponding to the bottom of the molding cavity, we spraying, in the form of droplets irregular, polyurethane or acrylic paint or two-component acrylic-urethane to form the so-called layer top of the laminate roofing element. This projection is carried out by means of gravity guns pneumatic. We choose a large flow of paint and low air pressure to get when falling by gravity of the paint from irregular projections.

• cire liquide ou en pâte type cire FK fabriquée par peintures du médoc SA,
• agent semi-permanent type moulex 2000 fabriqué par peinture du médoc. Ce ou ces agents de démoulage sont généralement également appliqués au pistolet à gravité pneumatique. Le catalyseur, apte à favoriser le séchage de la peinture est projeté simultanément à la peinture, le mélange catalyseur/peinture ayant été réalisé au préalable. Cette opération de projection est réalisée à l'intérieur d'un tunnel chauffé de manière à activer la polymérisation. L'air chaud est projeté à travers des buses dans le tunnel. Ces entrées d'air chaud participent à l'obtention de projections irrégulières de la peinture.

Generally, before this paint deposition step, at least one mold release agent is applied to the surface of the molding cavity. At least one of the release agents is constituted by polyvinyl alcohol to give a matt appearance to the covering element once it has been produced. In addition to polyvinyl alcohol, it is possible to use a release agent chosen from the following compounds:

• liquid or paste wax type FK made by paints from Médoc SA,
• semi-permanent agent type moulex 2000 made by painting the Médoc. This release agent (s) are generally also applied with a pneumatic gravity gun. The catalyst capable of promoting the drying of the paint is sprayed simultaneously with the paint, the catalyst / paint mixture having been produced beforehand. This spraying operation is carried out inside a heated tunnel so as to activate the polymerization. Hot air is blown through nozzles in the tunnel. These hot air inlets participate in obtaining irregular projections of the paint.

Once this paint removal operation has been carried out, the mold is brought to the gelcoat application station. This application is carried out again with a spray gun. The mold continues to move inside the heated tunnel to receive a layer intended to constitute the core therein of said cover element. This layer consists of glass fibers and a polymerizable resin tinted in the mass. This is also applied by spray gun. The presence of glass fibers requires bubble removal of this layer. This debubbling can be done at for example by means of a load of steel balls arranged at inside a polyethylene envelope, the assembly being applied to the surface to be deburred.

Once the bubble removal operation is complete, the part is extracted from the production facility and can be stored for mounting on a frame. During its manufacture, it is preferable that this piece be exposed to a temperature of the order of 30 ° C-60 ° C for accelerate all polymerizations.

In the case of slate manufacturing, the mold is at during the first stage of projection of a painting kept tilted to impart stains obtained from of the projection of paint a casting appearance, imitating better the slate.

Claims (9)

1. A prefabricated roofing element in the form of a laminate made up, from its inner face to its outer face exposed to the weather, of at least a first continuous layer constituting the core of the said element and formed from a mixture of at least a thermosetting binder and reinforcing materials, a second continuous layer of a coating providing protection against the weather and ultraviolet radiation, termed the gel coat, consisting of a mixture of at least a synthetic, preferably thermosetting, resin, such as a polyester resin, a constituent bulk-colouring the said resin and a catalyst,
   characterised in that the roofing element also comprises at least a third, discontinuous layer of a paint distributed irregularly on the surface of the second layer and composed of materials immiscible with the constituents of the second layer in order to form mottling on the surface of the second layer imparting, in conjunction with the second layer of the said element, an appearance imitating that of traditional materials, such as slates or tiles.
2. A prefabricated roofing element according to Claim 1,
   characterised in that the core of the said element consists of a mixture of at least a bulk-coloured thermosetting resin, such as a coloured polyester resin, and glass fibres, the glass fibres being present in the said mixture in a proportion within the range 20 % by weight to 30 % by weight.
3. Roofing element according to one of Claims 1 and 2,
   characterised in that the thickness of the second layer is within the range 0.3 mm to 0.5 mm.
4. A prefabricated roofing element according to one of Claims 1 to 3,
   characterised in that the constituents of the first layer and of the second layer serving to colour the said layers are chosen such that the shade of the first layer is identical to that of the second layer.
5. An element according to one of Claims 1 to 4,
   characterised in that the third layer consists of a paint essentially based on a resin chosen from the group of polyurethane, acrylic and acrylic-urethane resins, a catalyst suitable for promoting the polymerisation of the said resin and pigments.
6. An element according to one of Claims 1 to 5,
   characterised in that the paint making up the third layer covers at most 15 % of the surface of the second layer.
7. An element according to one of Claims 1 to 6,
   characterised in that the third layer is applied to the surface of the second layer in the form of droplets by spraying.
8. A method for the manufacture of a prefabricated roofing element according to one of Claims 1 to 7,
   characterised in that a paint to form the layer termed the top layer of a laminated roofing element is deposited by spraying in the form of irregular droplets on the surface of the mould cavity of a mould having a shape corresponding to the shape of a roofing portion to be reproduced, in that this layer is covered, after hardening, with a second continuous layer of a coating providing protection against the weather and ultraviolet radiation, termed the gel coat, consisting of a mixture based on a coloured synthetic, preferably thermosetting, resin immiscible with the paint of the top layer and in that, after hardening of this second layer, a layer suitable for forming the core of the said element is applied, this layer consisting of at least a reinforcing material and a thermosetting binder.
9. A method according to Claim 8,
   characterised in that before the paint making up the upper layer is deposited inside the mould the mould cavity is coated with at least a mould-release agent consisting of polyvinyl alcohol in order to impart a matt appearance to the roofing element.