PT106468B - PROCESS OF PRODUCTION OF LAMINATED PANELS - Google Patents

Abstract

A process for producing laminated panels is disclosed, comprising the process: a) having a web (7) on a base layer (2); B) FULLY FILLING THE SPACE (9) DEFLATED BY EACH MELT (8) OF THE NETWORK (7) WITH A RESPECTIVE STRUCTURAL LAYER (1); C) there is provided a top layer (3) on the set formed in the previous step; D) SEPARATING THE NETWORKS (8) OF THE NETWORK (7) BY CUT OF THE COMMON MARGIN (11) BETWEEN ADJACENT KNITTINGS (8). THE KNITTING SEPARATION CUT (8) MAY BE PERFORMED BY GUILTINATION TO OBTAIN SO MANY PANELS AS MANY MATERIALS (8) OF THE NET (7) ONLY WITH A MOVEMENT OF CUTTING. THE PRESENT PANEL APPLIES, ESPECIALLY, TO FLOORS, WALLS AND CEILINGS.

Description

DESCRIPTION

LAMINATED PANEL AND LAMINATED PANEL PRODUCTION PROCESS

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing laminated panels, in particular impermeable panels.

The resulting panels apply in particular to the construction of floors, walls and suspended ceilings.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is well known to use cellulosic and cork materials in floors, walls and suspended ceilings. These materials provide high levels of comfort for their users, and their combination with other materials makes it possible to add greater versatility to these products, particularly as regards aesthetics and other aspects such as resistance to loads and wear.

In the particular case of pavements, the permeability of said materials to liquids, namely water, is known, so they have not found reliable application in places subject to high humidity and / or frequent contact with water and aqueous solutions, such as in kitchens , bathrooms, saunas, surrounding pool facilities and the like. Indeed, given the nature of the activities that take place in these places, apart from the intrinsically humid atmospheres, frequent washing actions are required, which are incompatible with the use of cork and / or wood materials, which as mentioned above do not exhibit adequate resistance to wet media.

The technique has developed cork wood products that have a combination of materials to overcome this problem, namely through sandwich products, in which the cork and / or wood layers are coated with impermeable material layers.

However, these solutions have not been sufficiently reliable, mainly due to the infiltration of liquids into the panel joining zones or the wall connection zones which constitute the weak points of the site point, due to the total waterproofing of a floor.

These deficiencies or difficulties in the total waterproofing of cork and / or wood-based floors provide, during the normal use of such wet spaces, more or less localized areas of pavement degradation, as well as the concentration of microorganisms, with their consequences. with detrimental impact on the healthiness of spaces and on aesthetic or even structural aspects.

For these reasons, even providing the bathrooms, floors and / or wood spaces for aesthetic, comfort and the present, it has not been possible for damp, particularly kitchens and cork-based materials to benefit from its advantages in thermal and acoustic insulation.

European patent EP 1634696 BI discloses a multilayer floor element comprising a core layer and a cover layer which is disposed above the core layer. The core layer contains a pressure resistant wood material and the cover layer contains heterogeneously structured vinyl polychloride comprising a foam core and is arranged between two or more sheets. Below the core layer is a cork layer having a thickness between 1.0 and 3.0 mm.

European patent EP 528194 BI relates to a process for the production of flooring from ethylene vinyl acetate copolymers and fillers with a transparent polyvinyl chloride (PVC) cover. The low density and / or very low density linear ethylene copolymer, containing up to 2% by weight of conventional processing aids, is melted and unwound onto a calender to obtain a sheet. This sheet is then duplicated or tripled with the PVC-free floor sheets based on the ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer and optionally provided with a base support of a cloth, woven or nonwoven or cork.

Japanese patent application JP

9151596 A discloses a laminate floor comprising a layer of vinyl chloride resin and wood dust, an adhesive, a cork layer and a transparent surface layer. The cork layer is formed of natural cork or compressed cork and has a thickness of 0.3-3 mm.

German patent application DE 102007008062 discloses a process for producing floor tiles with cork fingerprint. This application further claims the tile, manufactured by said process, comprising: an insulation layer, an HDF layer, high density cork (2 to 5 mm thickness), an acrylic base paint, a water-curing lacquer layer. UV and two to four layers of sealant.

The foregoing documents disclose floor elements comprising laminated combinations of cork, wood and thermoplastics material. However, these floors do not solve the problems related to the infiltration of liquids mentioned above and therefore cannot be reliably applied in damp spaces and / or subject to frequent washing operations.

In order to waterproof a laminated panel, it is possible to waterproof a panel having a structural layer of cork-based material disposed between two layers of liquid-impermeable (polymeric) material. For this purpose it is necessary to waterproof the transverse profile throughout the periphery of said panel in order to ensure reliable tightness throughout the panel structure.

However, there are two problems associated with the arrangement of a sealing coating layer in the transverse profile across the periphery of the panel:

1. On the one hand, given the nature of the cork or wood material, the profile of a structural layer consisting of either material has a rather rough and even discontinuous surface. This profile surface provides an area of poor adhesion to a sealing coating layer, promoting adhesion discontinuity points where the tightness is locally compromised;

2. In addition, since placing the sealing coating layer directly on the cross-section of the panel creates an over-thickness of cladding material that materializes at joining lines between panels when mounting the floor, it is found that these lines are visible by contrast with a pattern possibly used on the visible surface of the panels or by contrast with the visible color of the panels if this is different from the color of the sealing coating layer. This situation is highly limiting and undesirable, especially when it is intended to provide the floor with an aesthetic pattern that excludes the visibility of the joining lines of the panels that constitute it.

Accordingly, there is a need for a laminated panel manufacturing process that overcomes all of the aforementioned problems by providing laminated panels which preferably comprise a structural layer of cellulosic and / or cork-based material and are fully waterproofed to provide the formation of impermeable floors in damp spaces, allowing the combination of the demanding use and maintenance / cleaning actions of these spaces with the exceptional characteristics of wood and / or cork floors.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a laminated panel production process comprising the steps of:

a) arranging a network (7) on a base layer (2); the mesh (7) having a certain thickness (E) and the mesh (7) being formed by at least one mesh (8); each of the at least one meshes (8) defines an empty space (9) and a surrounding edge (10);

and the meshes (8) are adjacent and are connected by a common margin (11) which cut lines (L);

(b) complete each of the at least one respective layer (1)

c) arranging a layer (3) of in step b);

d) joining the layers (1, 2, inseparable, defines a plurality of empty space (9) defined by one, said meshes (8) with structural;

top over formed set

3) with the mesh (7) so that the thickness of the structural layer (1) of material at

base of cork is equal or lower to thickness (E) of network (7). In embodiment preferred process comprises still one e) separation step knitwear (8) from the network (7) by

cutting at one of the common margin (11) cutting lines (11) between adjacent meshes (8), forming as many panels as the meshes (8) of the net (7),

In a preferred embodiment, the process of the invention further comprises, between said steps c) and d), an additional step of disposing a film (5) printed on top layer (3) followed by arranging a layer (6). ) of transparent wear on the printed film (5).

Preferably, the joining step d) is effected by gluing or thermofusion and the cutting of step d) is effected by shearing on the average line (M) of the common edge (11) of adjacent meshes (8).

The present invention further relates to a laminated panel according to the above process comprising the panel a base layer (2), a structural layer (1), a top layer (3) and a mesh (8), wherein the mesh (8) is comprised of a material selected from the group comprising polymeric, metallic, cellulosic material, cork and combinations thereof, more preferably polymeric material.

In one aspect of the invention, mesh 8 has a thickness (E) in the range of 1 to 5 mm.

In another aspect of the invention, the structural layer (1) is a cork and PVC composite or the structural layer (1) consists of cork and wood material.

In yet another aspect, the layers in base (2) it's from top (3) are made in PVC owning, each, an thickness understood in the range from 0.4 to 2 mm.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Next proceed to description of invention making reference to drawings attachments, on what: Fig. 1 is View schematic showing the profile transverse on one panel laminate constituted for three

layers and omitting the profile coating layer.

Fig. 2 is a schematic perspective view of the panel of Fig. 1 with its transverse profile coated with a coating layer.

Fig. 3 is a schematic perspective view of a laminated panel consisting of five layers and omitting the profile cladding layer.

Fig. 4 is a schematic plan view of a floor constructed from laminated panels showing the joining zones between panels.

Fig. 5 is a schematic perspective view of an exemplary web used in the panel production process of the invention.

Fig. 6 is a schematic perspective view of only one mesh of the net shown in Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a schematic perspective view of a two mesh network.

Fig. 8 is an exploded schematic view illustrating the sequence of steps a), b) and c) of the process of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a process for the production of laminated panels preferably having a structural layer of cellulosic base material and / or cork for forming a floor, wall or ceiling.

This process is particularly suited for the production of waterproof panels.

In the context of the present invention, the term cork or simply cork refers to natural cork, sealed natural cork, agglomerated cork, micro-agglomerated cork or the like and combinations thereof.

agglomerated cork refers, according to the standard

ISO 2190 means cork material comprising at least cork granules with a minimum particle size of

0,5 mm and a water content equal to or equal to the expression micro-agglomerated cork refers to agglomerated cork but whose cork grains have a particle size of 0,1 - 2 mm.

The term cellulosic material or cellulosic base material refers to wood and wood products, such as wood pellets, plywood, wood and polymer composites and thermolaminates, where:

• Wood pellets are made from small wood particles impregnated with urea-formaldehyde resins and hot-pressed agglomerates. A particular case is the so-called medium density fiberboard (also Fiberboard);

• the agglomerates referred to as obtained from the particle level:

known for high fiber MDF

HDF (High Density r of high pressure wet fibers)

Fiberboard), are compressed under the io and temperature, being the union favored by the resin of natural origin found in the fibers;

• Plywood is formed by an odd number of thin sheets of wood, glued together with urea-formaldehyde resin and arranged so that the direction of the fibers in one sheet is perpendicular to the adjacent one, and then applied to the composition heat and pressure for a while. certain period of time;

• Wood Fiber Composites with Thermoplastics, also known as WPC (Wood Plastic Composites), combine cellulose from wood with thermoplastics such as polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS) or polyvinyl chloride (PVC). ) and • the thermolaminates are formed by several layers of kraft paper impregnated with thermosetting synthetic resins, linked together by heat and pressure.

The term polymeric material refers to material which, according to their mechanical characteristics, can be divided into thermoplastics, thermosetting and elastomers. Thermoplastics include the well-known, commercially available plastics which can be melted several times and in some cases may even dissolve in various solvents and are therefore recyclable materials. The thermosetting materials are rigid and brittle and are very stable to temperature variations, although heating the finished thermosetting polymer promotes the decomposition of the material prior to melting, making recycling difficult. With regard to elastomers, these materials have high elasticity, not being rigid like thermosetting and not being fused, which reduces the possibilities of recycling.

The term metallic or only metallic material refers to material selected from the group comprising iron, aluminum, copper, lead, zinc, tin, nickel, magnesium, chromium, tungsten, titanium and their alloys.

The term fabric refers to natural fabrics of animal (wool and silk), mineral (asbestos), or vegetable (cotton, jute, hemp, linen and sisal) origin, and man-made synthetic fabrics made from raw materials. petrochemical industry raw materials such as polyester, polyamide, acrylic, polypropylene and elastomeric polyurethane (Elastane) as well as aramids (Kevlar and Nomex).

By "melting" is meant a process in which layers of material to be joined are preheated to a temperature close to their melting point and thereafter subjected to the effect of a compressive force and thus held to cool, creating a permanent connection. This method is particularly suitable for bonding polymeric materials.

Note that regardless of the explicit presentation of the quantitative expression about X, any X value presented during the present description should be interpreted as an approximate value of the actual X value, as such approximation to the actual value would be reasonably expected by the person skilled in the art. due to experimental and / or measurement conditions that introduce deviations from the actual value. All values mentioned in the present description should be interpreted as approximate values, for example the reference to 2.0 means about 2.0.

Unless otherwise indicated, the ranges of values given in this description are intended to provide a simplified and technically acceptable way to indicate each individual value within its range. By way of example, the expression 1 to 2 or between 1 and 2 means any value within this range, for example 1.0; 1.1; 1,2; 1.3; 1.4; 1.5; 1.6; 1.7; 1.8; 1.9; 2.0.

In the context of the present disclosure, the term comprising is to be understood to include, among others. As such, that term should not be construed as consisting solely of.

Use of the term and / or in the present description is intended to mean that both conditions are met or only one of them. For example, the term wood and / or cork material means wood and cork material or wood or cork material.

Referring to Figures 1 to 8, the following is a detailed description of the process of the present invention.

The laminate panel production process of the invention comprises combining several layers of materials to provide a laminate panel configuration. Said layers are arranged in a lattice-like structure (see Fig. 5) (7) which can then be subjected to a cutting action to provide individualized panels.

With reference to Fig 5th to 8, The said network (7) comprises at least any less, an mesh (8), in that mesh (8 ) is defined by a space (9) empty delimited by lips ( : io) surrounding such as illustrated in Fig. 6 and 7

In case the net (7) comprises two or more meshes (8), they are arranged adjacent to each other as shown in Figs. 5 and 7.

Alternatively, the meshes (8) of the net (7) instead of being fully opened may be closed at the bottom. This bottom layer integrated in the network meshes (8) corresponds and performs the functions of a base layer (2).

Depending on the intended applications for the panels resulting from the process of the invention, the mesh 7 may be any functionally suitable material.

Preferably, the mesh material (7) is selected from the group comprising polymeric, metallic, cellulosic material, cork and combinations thereof.

Most preferably, the mesh (7) is comprised of polymeric material, in particular polyvinyl chloride.

The shape and dimensions of the mesh (8) correspond to the final shape and dimensions of the panel to be obtained, whereby a net (7) having N meshes (8) may give rise to N individual panels (see Fig. 8).

Said edges (10) surrounding the mesh (8) establish a cutting zone in which a mesh cutting action (8) can be performed, thus providing said individual laminate panels.

Thus, taking as an example a net (7) with two square meshes (8) as illustrated in Fig. 7, it should be noted that it will provide two distinct panels. Each panel has the dimensions defined by the width (B) of the surrounding edges of each mesh (8) plus the width (V) of its

Still referring to Fig. 7, it is to be noted that the thickness is the thickness of a structural layer (1) of the panel to be obtained.

However, this thickness (E) may be greater than the thickness of the structural layer, providing for the possibility, for example, of including a foam, fabric or other filler. Of course, mesh structures can be constructed with any number of meshes (8) as illustrated by Fig. 5.

As can be seen from Fig. 7, there is a joint edge (11) common to the two meshes (8). This joining margin (11) is at least twice the width of the remaining surrounding edge (10) of each mesh (8), whereby it defines a plurality of splitting or cutting lines (L) of the respective meshes (8). .

As will be understood, in the case of Fig.

7, after corresponding cutting these give equal number of panels. Thereafter, the resulting panels may be combined to form, for example, a cut floor may be excluded, (Fig. 4). Of course the step of depending on the desired application for the resulting panel.

Referring to Fig. 7, a common margin (11) has an average line (M) dividing its width into two equal parts, whereby said average line (M) of the common margin (11) is in a similar manner. It is preferred, but not exclusive, a particular case of a mesh separation or cutting line (L) (8). Note that any other cutting line (L) (other than the average line (M)) defined in the common margin (11) of the meshes (8) to be separated may be used for cutting and respective separation of the meshes (8). ), although it is assumed that from an operational point of view the average line (M) is the most important.

As will be understood, a mesh 7 may comprise as many meshes 8 adjacent to each other as the individual panels to be obtained.

common edge cutting process 11 may be chosen from the methods known in the art. By way of example and not limitation, slitting and laser cutting are permissible methods.

Ideally, the cutting of the common edges 11 should preferably be done only using a single cutting operation, for example by shearing, so that only one cutting motion can produce as many individual panels.

how many meshes (8 ^ ) of its network (7). According to exposed and making reference to Figs 5 to 8, the production process of panels rolled of invention understand the steps in: a) have a network (7) about a layer ( 2) basic, owning the network (7) a certain thickness (E) and being the network (7) formed by at one less mesh (8). The mesh (8 ) define one space (9 ) empty and one board (10) surrounding and in networks case with two or

further meshes (8), they are adjacent and are joined by a common margin (11) defining a plurality of cut lines (L);

b) completely filling the void (9) defined by each of said meshes (8) with a respective structural layer (1);

c) arranging a top layer (3) over the assembly formed in step b);

d) joining the structural (1), base (2) and top (3) layers with mesh (7) inseparably, wherein the thickness of the structural layer (1) is equal to or less than the thickness (E) of the network (7).

In a preferred embodiment, the process of the invention further comprises a step e) of separating the meshes (8) from the net (7) by cutting into one of the common margin (11) cutting lines (11) between adjacent meshes (8) preferably by cutting in the middle line (M), thereby forming as many panels as the meshes (8) of the net (7).

In addition, the process according to the present invention may further comprise, among the aforementioned steps c) and d), an additional step of arranging a film (5) printed on top layer (3) followed by arranging a transparent wear layer (6) on said printed film (5).

Alternatively, the process may comprise only arranging one of said layers (5, 6). In this way, it is possible to create patterns for the aesthetic enrichment of the floor as well as to better protect the floor from wear and tear.

The mesh (7) may be comprised of a material selected from the group comprising polymeric, metallic, cellulosic material, cork and combinations thereof.

In a preferred embodiment, the material of said mesh (7) is selected from the group comprising polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, polyethylene terephthalate, ethylene vinyl acetate, polyurethane, teflon, rubber and foams and combinations thereof. Preferably, the polymeric material is polyvinyl chloride.

In one embodiment, said mesh (7) has a thickness (E) in the range of about 1 to 5 mm, more preferably about 2 to 4 mm, even more preferably about 3 mm. .

In another embodiment, the web (7) has a thickness (E) in the range of about 5 to 15 mm, more preferably about 8 to 12 mm, even more preferably about 10 mm. .

In yet another embodiment the mesh (7) has a thickness (E) in the range of about 15 to 30 mm, more preferably about 15 to 25 mm, even more preferably about 20 mm. .

Said layers (1, 2, 3, 5,

6) may be comprised of any functionally suitable material which preferably allows an inseparable joint between them.

Preferably said structural layer (1) is comprised of cellulosic and / or cork-based material.

More preferably, the structural layer (1) consists of cork and wood material.

Means this that said layer (1) structural can be constituted per one or more layers of different materials united between si for give the panel as your features main For example , a layer (D

The structural structure of cork and wood may comprise a cork material layer disposed on a wood material layer, this combination providing the main mechanical structural characteristics insulation, impact damping, to the panel. On the other hand, the type of relationship between the (exemplary) cork and wood materials may be different from that mentioned above to form the structural layer (1), such as, for example, by means of a composite type bonding relationship.

Note that, depending on the combined properties required for the structural layer (1), it may combine the cellulosic and / or cork base material with another material selected from the group comprising polymers, natural fibers, synthetic fibers and the like and their like. combinations.

The top (3) and base (2) layers may preferably consist of material selected from the group comprising polymeric, metallic, cellulosic material, cork, fabric and combinations thereof.

More preferably, the top (3) and base (2) layers are comprised of polymeric material, most preferably polymeric material selected from the group comprising polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, polyethylene terephthalate, ethylene vinyl acetate, polyurethane, teflon, rubber and the like and combinations thereof; even more preferably polyvinyl chloride.

Any suitable method may be used to connect the layers (1, 2, 3, 5, 6) to each other and to the mesh (7), such as, for example, gluing or thermofusion.

Preferably a bonding method using binders (or also called binders) is used. These binding agents are well known to those skilled in the art and therefore require no further description.

Said binding agents may be selected from the group comprising polyurethane, polyester, vinylester, epoxy resins, natural resins, biomass-based resins and the like and combinations thereof.

With the present process, the aforementioned drawbacks are fully solved, with the additional advantage that the thickness of a panel cross-sectional coating layer (4) (wherein the thickness of said layer (4) corresponds to the thickness can be unrestrictedly dimensioned). width (B) of the surrounding edges of the meshes) as this dimension is housed between the top (3) and base (2) layers after step c) of the present process without any influence on the final dimensions of the mesh. panel and not visible to the user. This confers a very significant advantage when applying, for example, an impermeable floor consisting of panels resulting from the process of the invention in spaces subject to particularly severe humidity conditions.

Laminate panels of the present invention are particularly suitable for floor formation. However, their applications may vary and their use is foreseeable, for example, in walls and suspended ceilings.

The description herein is to be understood as exemplary and not limiting the scope of the present invention which is defined in the appended claims.

Claims (6)

1. Production process of laminated panels, comprising the steps of: a) arranging a network (7) on a base layer (2); the mesh (7) having a certain thickness (E) and the mesh (7) being formed by at least one mesh (8); each of the at least one meshes (8) defines an empty space (9) and a surrounding edge (10); and the meshes ( 8) are adjacent and are linked by an margin (11) common that define a plurality in lines (L) of court; (b) complete in full the space (9) empty set per each of at least one, said meshes (8) with a respective structural layer (1); c) arranging a top layer (3) over the assembly formed in step b); d) joining the structural (1), base (2) and top (3) layers with the mesh (7) inseparably, wherein the thickness of the structural layer (1) is equal to or less than the thickness (E) of the network (7). Method according to Claim 1, characterized in that it further comprises a step e) of separating the meshes (8) from the net (7) by cutting one of the lines (L) of the common margin (11) between meshes (8). ) adjacent, forming as many panels as the meshes (8) of the net (7). A method according to claim 1, further comprising, between steps c) and d), an additional step of disposing a film (5) printed on the top layer (3) followed by arranging a layer (3). 6) of transparent wear on the printed film (5). 4 Process of carried out by According to featured collage. any by the an step of d) claims in union be 5 Process of a deal with any an of claims previous featured by the step d) in union be made by thermo fusion. Method according to any one of Claims 2 to 5, characterized in that the meshes (8) of the mesh (7) are cut by shearing. Method according to the preceding claim, characterized in that said mesh (8) of the mesh (7) is cut in the middle line (M) of the common margin (11) of adjacent meshes (8). Panel laminate produced by the process claimed in the claims 1 at 7, featured per understand an layer (2) of base, a layer (D structural, an top layer (3) and a mesh (8), wherein the mesh (8) consists of a material selected from the group comprising polymeric, metallic, cellulosic material, cork and combinations thereof. 9 Laminated panel accordingly with the claim 8, characterized in that the mesh (8) is matt polymeric material. 10 Laminated panel accordingly with the claim 8, characterized by the mesh (8 ) to possess a thickness (AND) within the range of 1 at 5 mm. 11 Laminated panel accordingly with the claim 8, characterized by the layer (1) structural be a composite of cork and polymer. Laminated panel according to claim 11, characterized in that said polymer is polyvinyl chloride. 13 Laminate panel according to claim 1, characterized in that the structural layer (1) is made of cork material and wood. 14 Laminated panel accordingly with The claim 8, characterized by the layer (2) in base and the layer (3) in top are polyvinyl chloride. 15 Laminated panel accordingly with The claim 8, characterized by the layer (2) in base and the layer (3) in tops each have a thickness in the range of 0.4 to 2 mm.