GB843783A - Improvements in and relating to surface coatings on panel, slab or like material - Google Patents

Abstract

843,783. Laminates. SPUY, M. VAN DER. Sept. 26, 1956 [Oct. 10, 1955; Oct. 12, 1955], No. 29446/56. Class 140. A decorative rigid laminate is made by applying a flexible sheet coated on one or both sides with a resin hardenable at atmospheric pressure to a flat mould surface of a plane template made of plate-glass so as to form a layer of the resin between the flexible sheet and the glass, securing a rigid backing-sheet to the other side of the flexible sheet by means of resin, hardening the resin, and removing the product from the mould surface. The flexible sheet, which may be paper, thin fabric of natural, synthetic, or glass fibre, plastic foil, or metal foil, may be coloured, or provided with a design or legend, the resin being transparent or translucent so that the design shows through. Alternatively a plain, undecorated sheet may be used with an opaque coloured resin. Polyester or melamine-aldehyde resins may be used. The plate-glass may be of highly-polished mirror glass quality. The rigid backing may be a wood fibre or chip-board, plywood, asbestos cement, a cellulose-asbestos board, sheet iron which may be tinned or galvanized, or aluminium sheet. The plate-glass moulding surface may be given a release coating of wax, e.g. carnauba, which may be applied as an emulsion, a wax polish, a silicone oil or solution, or an aqueous solution of polyvinyl alcohol. Polymerization of the resin may be accelerated by radiation from infra-red and other lamps placed below the glass mould. After the resin has gelled, the article may be stripped from the glass template for completion of the cure. The products are suitable for furniture, wall panels, or table tops, name, number, or public notice plates. Both surfaces of a panel may be furnished with a design. As shown, patterned paper is led from a roll 5 through a drier and heater 6, around rollers 9-11 immersed in liquid resin or resin solution in a tank 8 and is applied by roller 13 to a series of plate-glass templates mounted on frames la, 1b, 1c which are mounted on rails and move at constant speed to the right of the diagram. The resin is pregelled, e.g. by heat, and a stiff backing 15, resin-coated on its underside, is passed with its front end under roller 18 which presses it on to the paper. The rear end of the backing 15 is supported elastically by means 17a depending from roller 17. Roller 18 may be supported at a controlled distance from the glass surface. The assembly then passes through a heated curing chamber.