GB1049516A - Reflector finish utilizing glass beads - Google Patents

Abstract

A reflector comprises a substrate and several layers of materials applied thereto, and having a layer of transparent beads embedded therein, the surface of the beads e.g. glass beads, providing a multiplicity of contiguous lens elements, characterized in that a metallic-pigmented coating is applied to the substrate, and further characterized in that the layer of transparent beads is embedded in and covered by a coating composition based on a synthetic thermosetting acrylic resin, the resin coating being applied to the pigmented layer. The reflector may include a lightly pigmented flamboyant film adherent to the metallic-pigmented coating. The thermosetting acrylic resin may be an interpolymer of at least one unsaturated carboxylic acid amide and at least one other polymerizable monomeric compound, the interpolymer containing from 2 to 50% by weight of the amide in polymerized form based on the total weight of the interpolymer, and being characterized by having amido hydrogen atoms replaced by the structure ROR1 where R is hydrogen or organic radicals and R1 is hydrogen, alkyl or alkoxy alkyl radicals. Examples of interpolymer are given. The beads may have a size passing through a 50 to 250 mesh (U.S.A. Standard Screen) and have an index refraction between 1.5 and 1.9. A silicone and an ultraviolet absorber may be present as components of the thermosetting scrylic coating. The metallic-pigmented coating e.g. containing aluminium, silver, chrome, stainless steel and bright tin, may be 0.5 to 1.5 mils in thickness, the layer of beads being embedded in a first transparent film or the flamboyant film, if present, which is 0.3 to 0.7 mils in thickness, and then covered by a second transparent film which is 0.5 to 1.5 mils in thickness. The reflector may be produced by applying and adhering the metallic-pigmented coating to a substrate, applying a thin transparent coating of the composition based on a synthetic acrylic thermosetting resin to the metallic-pigmented coating, flash-drying the film to an essentially tackfree condition, applying a uniform excess of transparent beads to a selected portion of the flashdried film, baking the bead-coated substrate to set the acrylic resin, removing excess glass beads therefrom, thereby leaving a substantially uniform single layer of glass beads embedded in the resin and over the entire selected portion, the surface of the beads providing a multiplicity of contiguous convex lens elements, applying a thin transparent top coating of a transparent coating composition based on a synthetic thermosetting acrylic resin over the glass beads, and baking the coating to set the resin. The substrate may be rigid self-supporting materials e.g. metal, transit, asbestos board, glass, flexi glass, polyester sheets, reinforced fibre glass sheeting, wood, dense pressed boards, tin plate and flexible materials such as asbestos tape and polyester films.