GB2230771A

GB2230771A - Reinforced plaster product

Info

Publication number: GB2230771A
Application number: GB8905419A
Authority: GB
Inventors: William Herbert Pell
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1989-03-09
Filing date: 1989-03-09
Publication date: 1990-10-31
Also published as: GB8905419D0

Abstract

A plaster product (e.g. a tile) comprises synthetic plastics flexible fibres incorporated in a matrix of plaster. The plaster product may be made thinner than is normal and is flexible so as to resist cracking. The fibres are preferably elongate strips cut from a plastics sheet e.g. from a sheet of a plastics/metal/plastics laminate.

Description

REINFORCED PLASTER PRODUCT This invention relates to a reinforced plaster product, such as a reinforced tile suitable for cladding a wall or ceiling.

It is known to reinforce plaster with glass fibres to produce, for example, a decorative plaster ceiling boss. This makes the resultant product very strong, to the extent that it is barely flexible and, if a crack should form, the material on either side of the crack crumbles away. This prevents the product from being glued back together again in such a way that only a hairline, barely visible crack is left.

According to the present invention, a plaster product is reinforced with flexible fibres of synthetic plastics or plastics containing laminate.

If the product is formed as a tile, the reinforcement enables the tile to be made thinner, thereby leading to a weight-saving. A reduction in weight is particularly beneficial when the tiles are to be attached to a wall or ceiling that would require strengthening if other than low weight tiles were to be used. The reduction in weight realised by reducing the thickness of the tile makes the tile more flexible and the reinforcement also enables the inherently brittle plaster to flex without breaking. When installing a tile, it is quite often the case that the adhesive securing the tile to the underlying surface does not cover the entire rear surface of the tile. Thus, the installer may inadvertently press on a part of the tile that is unsupported by underlying adhesive.If this were to be done with a tile reinforced in the known manner with glass fibres, the tile would shatter and the crumbling of the plaster would prevent a satisfactory repair from being made. However, the tile of the present invention is able to accommodate the flexing as the installer presses on the tile face during installation and, should a crack accidentally occur due to excessive pressure being applied by the installer, the crack that forms is a clean crack without any crumbling of the plaster on either side of the crack.

The two portions of the tile may be glued back in the correct position with the crack barely visible.

Preferably, the fibres comprise approximately 25% to 50% (preferably 33%) by volume or by weight of the overall plaster product.

Because the plastics of the fibres has a lower density than the plaster, this gives a further contribution to the reduction in weight of the plaster product compared with the known, glass fibre reinforced product.

Preferably, the fibres are elongate strips (e.g. 2 to 6cm in length) cut from a thin plastics sheet (e.g. 0.2 or 0.lmm thickness or less). The resultant filaments are very flexible and are particularly easy to mix into the plaster during preparation of the mix that will be used to form the plaster product. This contrasts with the known glass fibre reinforcement, where difficulty can be experienced in mixing the glass fibres into the plaster.

The fibres may be elongate strips (e.g. 2 to 6cm in length) cut from a sheet of thin laminate (e.g. 0.2 or 0.imam or less in thickness), the laminate comprising a metallic layer (e.g. aluminium) sandwiched between two layers of plastics. The plastics layers serve to protect the metal from corrosion in the naturally moist environment present in the plaster product soon after it has been made and the metallic layer will not melt in any fire that the product may be subjected to and also serves to conduct away heat generated by the fire. Thus, the metailic/pIastics laminate reinforcement produces a product having beneficial fireresistant properties.

Whilst it is primarily envisaged that the plaster product will be formed as tiles, it is possible that the scale of the product could be increased to the size of sheeting of the type used to clad walls from floor to ceiling.

The present invention is particularly suited for producing tiles having a decorative surface. A mould may be given a skim layer of plaster without reinforcement and then, on top of the skim layer, a mix of plaster and reinforcement fibres may be added to form the body of the tile. The skim layer of plaster serves to ensure that none of the fibres protrude through the decorative surface of the tile. Should any fibres protrude, they can, after the tile has been removed from the mould, be hidden by a patch of plaster. A plurality of decorative tiles produced in this manner may then be attached to a ceiling or wall to cover the ceiling or wall with a decorative facing. Experiments have shown that the boundaries between individual tiles are barely visible and that the resultant effect of the entire covered ceiling or wall is particularly pleasing as a result. If known systems were to be used to apply a decorative facing to a ceiling or wall, the individual tiles would have to be considerably thicker than tiles made in accordance with the present invention and hence it would, under most circumstances, be necessary to strengthen the underlying ceiling or wall. This is not necessary with tiles made in accordance with the present invention because the plastic fibres are of low weight themselves and they serve to provide reinforcement which permits a reduction in tile thickness (e.g. to 4mm), which leads to a further reduction in weight.

Thus, the present invention provides a plaster product (e.g. tile) comprising a synthetic plastics flexible fibre (e.g. a laminate) incorporated in a matrix of plaster.

Claims

1. A plaster product reinforced with flexible fibres of synthetic plastics or plastics containing laminate.

2. A plaster product according to claim 1, wherein the fibres comprise approximately 25% to 50% by volume or by weight of the overall plaster product.

3. A plaster product according to claim 2, wherein the fibres comprise approximately 33% by volume or by weight of the overall plaster product.

4. A plaster product according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the fibres are elongate strips cut from a thin plastics sheet.

5. A plaster product according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the fibres are elongate strips cut from a sheet of thin laminate, the laminate comprising a metallic layer sandwiched between two layers of plastics.

6. A plaster product according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the plaster product is a tile.

7. A plaster product substantially as herein described.

8. All novel features and combinations thereof.