SE428449B - SURFACE MATERIAL PROVIDED TO IMITIZE SURFACES OF GEOMETRICALLY OR IRREGULAR PIECES OF MINERAL TYPE MATERIAL AND PROCEDURE FOR SURFACE MATERIAL - Google Patents

Description

80 Û 53 '23 "- 4 parts, often with a certain light reflection and gives the eye a" hard "impression.

The rhythmic construction of the surface, which is obtained from these materials and which is based on the contrast between the different character of the pieces of material and the joint material, is generally perceived as appealing from an aesthetic point of view. At the same time, many appreciate the traditional nature of these materials and the impression of stability and durability they have long given. For these reasons, there is a stable demand for the use of these materials.

From a practical and cost point of view, however, the materials have major disadvantages. They require considerable work and considerable material input during manufacture and during application, they must be laid piece by piece with the help of the cohesive mortar. The weight is high, which increases the costs at the same time as the stress on the load-bearing structure increases. In addition, pieces of material of, for example, brick and natural stone have a considerable thickness, which when used in interiors leads to an impact on the building volume.

Taken together, the desire to exploit the aesthetic advantages of materials of this type and the mentioned disadvantages which the type of material exhibits has led to a need for materials which aesthetically give the same impression as the mentioned materials, but which can be made as thin discs or webs of material. , which are easy to handle, no, occupy someone. significant volume and are possible to produce at relatively low prices.

Such a material has been found in the relief- and color-patterned plastic material, which is generally used for surface cladding of floor and wall surfaces. Usually such a material consists of a PVC foam layer, usually supported by a substrate such as a nonwoven fabric. Through different pore formation in different parts you can get. a relief pattern, which is complemented by a printed color pattern. The surface is often protected by a transparent PVC layer. Despite the fact that such materials are excellently suitable for imitating many kinds of surfaces, it has hitherto not been possible to achieve any true-to-nature reproduction of the said. surfaces consisting of stone materials or the like and mortar joints .. Many of the more common materials such as bricks, polished stones, tiles and tiles are very well suited to imitate in plastic materials of the mentioned type, where the surface can be given the texture required and where the possibilities to a nuanced color pattern are very good. Even rougher stone surfaces can be imitated with good results. In the case of the joint surfaces 2, on the other hand, a plastic material is not suitable, but furthermore because this material is not possible to produce with the rough, matt and finely structured surface which a mortar joint has. A weakness, as material. of this type and made according to known methods, is that the joints will not make a natural impression but look "painted", so the overall impression is spoiled even if the intermediate "stone surfaces" would be very similar. The object of the invention is to provide, within the framework of the said relic- and color-patterned plastic materials, a material by means of which in a lighter manner than previously mentioned the traditional materials can be imitated and in which in particular the contrast in structure and appearance of the material pieces, for example brick bricks, and the mortar joint is given an adequate expression.

The invention also has for its object to provide a method for producing the material in question.

The object of the invention is achieved by carrying out the material with the features stated in claim 1 or carrying out the method with the features specified in claim 5.

In the following, an embodiment of the cladding material will be described as well as the method in a number of variants. In this case, reference is made to the attached drawings on. which Fig. 1 is a front view of the material; Figs. 2 - 5 each show a cross-section of the material in four different stages of its production.

Fig. 1 shows a piece of the material in question, which mimics the surface of a brick wall. The surface is formed by a number of rectangular surfaces 1, laid down in a regular pattern, hereinafter referred to as "stone surfaces", and intermediate, relatively narrow strands forming surfaces 2, hereinafter referred to as "joint surfaces". The stone surfaces are then intended to give an impression of the visible surface of bricks, while the joint surfaces in turn are intended to give an impression of the mortar joints occurring between the bricks. In the invention, the material is a plastic material, which has a surface relief and a color pattern consisting of different colors and shades. The surface relief is used to give a height difference to the material, so that the stone surfaces 1 lie in a substantially common first plane while the joint surfaces 2 lie in a second substantially common plane. It is usually preferable for the joint surfaces to be below the stone surfaces, but the reverse relationship may also occur. Usually the stone surfaces are largely flat and will thus largely be in the common plane. The joint surfaces, on the other hand, often have a certain profile, either convex or concave seen in a section across the joint, and the common plane thereby acquires the character of a main plane.

In the material according to the invention, a very natural character has been achieved for the joint surfaces 2 in that the plastic material here is provided with a layer of a granular material, which is suitable for imitating a mortar joint.

It is possible to use a granular mineral material such as sand of the type which is usually included in a joint mortar either in natural color or artificially colored. However, a mineral material is a foreign substance in relation to plastic and a mating can cause certain inconveniences, such as poor adhesion. In addition, the mineral grains can cause inconveniences from the point of view of use in that they are sharp-edged and here rubbed, scratched and accumulate dirt. However, these effects can be mitigated by mixing the mineral grains with grains of a thermoplastic, for example PVC grains. Through the friend, these grains can be made to sinter the mineral grains together and thereby provide a better retention at the same time as the mineral grains can have a thin, invisible to the eye but surface-leveling plastic layer. Embedding of the miner grains must not, however, be so strong that the structural effect which is sought is eliminated.

An even more interesting application is "also to completely replace the mineral grains with thermoplastic grains." The preferred form is that all the grains are equal from a material point of view and are sintered together by a surface softening under heat. 'At least the majority of the grains must be sutured, more easily melted, which forms a sintering mass for cohesion of the grains and more core melt. be colored so that they are not trans- I in parentheses Preferably they are spherical and have a thickness of 0.05 - 1 mm, preferably 0.3 - 0.6 mm.

A surface coating formed of such plastic grains, preferably in different colors or shades, gives according to practical experiments a not particularly dirt-collecting and non-scratching surface, which insignificantly complicates the cleaning work in relation to an uncoated material. It should be mentioned that the boundaries of the joint surfaces do not have to be made with particularly great precision, since such is not expected in a conventional joint.

According to the invention, the granular material is attached to the plastic surface in the areas of the joint surfaces.2. The underlying plastic can be given a color which substantially corresponds to the naturally colored or artificially colored adhesive in the use which is intended to be imitated. If the plastic material is visible between the grains, it will thus contribute to the effect in much the same way as the visible effect at a mortar joint is composed of grainy material and binder.

With regard to the surface cladding material, the meaning of the invention is thus essentially that the material is built up of a color and relief patterned plastic material in which the material surfaces, the "stone surfaces" mimicking the parts are formed by the color and relief patterned plastic while the joint surfaces mimicking the plastic surface carried layer of granular material, preferably in combination with the underlying plastic material and in accordance with the nature of the joint. The main task of the granular material is thus to give the joint its proper character from the point of view of appearance. At the same time, a good imitation is also obtained from a tactile point of view, which can be of value for wall material. It is not excluded that grains of the material may be allowed to adhere to insulated parts of the "stone surfaces" in order to mimic, for example, small grain inclusions which may be present in a brick material. soossza-4 By using a plastic material lined for relic patterning, the joint surfaces 2 can be laid at a different level than the stone surfaces 1. For floor materials, the joint surfaces should be recessed in relation to the stone surfaces because larger tread surfaces are then obtained. At the same time, the applied layer of granular material is protected against abrasion.

If you want to reduce the risk of slipping on floor materials, the grainy joint surfaces can be used to make the material rougher. This is achieved per se with recessed joints if they are not too deep and narrow. An even more anti-slip effect can be achieved if the joint surfaces are mainly at or above the intermediate stone surfaces. In the case of material for wall cladding, which is the second major area of use for the material according to the invention, the levels can be chosen more freely. Convex joint joints projecting over the stone surfaces can thus be made, as is sometimes the case with brick and stone walls.

Figures 2 to 5 show the successive construction of a material according to the invention in its production. According to Fig. 2, a substrate 3 of, for example, a non-woven fabric of glass fibers is provided with a plastic layer 4, preferably a PVC plastisol. The layer 4 is gelatinized before further processing in order to form a reasonably solid substrate.

According to Fig. 3, on this substrate formed by the gelatized layer 4, paint layers 5 are to be applied, which are to form the stone surfaces 1, and paint layers 6, which are to form the joint surfaces 2. Since the stone surfaces and the joint surfaces are to have different heights, the applied layers 5 and 6 in addition to its color effect give a diinension determination. This can be achieved in a manner known per se with several different methods. One way is to let the plastic layer 4 contain a blowing agent. The paint layers 5 and 6, in turn, contain inhibitors or accelerators, which can affect the fermentation in the layer 4 when it is subsequently exposed to heat. These inhibitors and accelerators are present in different amounts or are otherwise adapted to their action, so that during the fermentation the layer 4 will have different fermentation capacity in the stone surfaces and joint surfaces. In addition, in addition to these two main levels, a structured level effect can be achieved, so that the stone surfaces can become uneven (see Fig. 5) and the joint surfaces can, for example, become curved (see Fig. 5). The paint layers which affect the fermentation are usually applied by means of an engraving printing method, which method offers great estimation possibilities.

Another way of achieving different levels is to perform layers 5 and 6 of different plastic compositions with different fermentation abilities. Such a selective application of different surface sections can take place by means of the stencil printing method.

During the subsequent heat-initiated fermentation, the different surface sections will form different heights depending on the fermentation ability of the composition. The different surface sections can then have mutually different colors in that the different plastic compositions have different coloring. In addition, the surface sections can be provided with an overprinted color shading and it is also possible to combine the two methods described.

In this case, the main levels are achieved in the mentioned manner by applying selective surface sections of plastic compositions with different fermentation abilities, while finer estimates and surface structures are achieved by means of the first-mentioned method within the various surface sections. Namely, these can be actuated by means of inhibitors and accelerators in that they consist of a fermentable plastic composition.

In many plastic cladding materials, especially those intended for floors, a surface layer is desired, which consists of a transparent plastic, which protects in particular the underlying paint layer. Such a layer is denoted by 7 in Fig. 3 and consists of a PVC plastisol. The layer can be applied over the entire surface by squeegeeing or stencil printing. However, it is only needed on the stone surfaces 1 and can only be applied to these by stencil printing. In order to achieve higher gloss and / or higher wear resistance, it may be desirable to apply, for example, a polyurethane or acrylic lacquer layer to certain products. However, it is not suitable that this extends over the joint surfaces 2 because the subsequent application of the granular material would in that case be made more difficult because a gluing on the polyurethane surface is difficult to carry out. In this case, it is thus necessary to apply the surface layer only to the stone surfaces by means of a stencil printing method. Due to the subsequent adhesive layer application (see below), the K layer should not be sticky, so a pregelatinizer or the like should be used.

In the areas 2, ie the joint surfaces, an adhesive material 8 is applied. This is most advantageously done by means of the stencil printing method, which can easily be controlled to fit the already applied pattern in the form of layers 5 and 6. The adhesive can consist of a customary, open time with an evaporating solvent or preferably a PVC plastisol which is tacky as long as it is not exposed to heat and thereby gelatinized. You can also use two-component type curing adhesives or radiation-curing adhesives. Another alternative is a heat adhesive, which sticks when it is heated to a certain temperature while it is not sticky below it. It is possible to combine paint, inhibitor and accelerator and adhesive in a composition, whereby a pressure cycle can be saved.

The next step is application to the surface of the said granular material. This will adhere to the surfaces 2 which are coated with the adhesive 8 while it will not adhere to the surfaces 1 with its non-glued, relatively smooth gelatinized plastic layers 7. Excess material which is not adhered to the adhesive 8 is removed by turning the material with the coated surface downwards, brushing, suction or blowing away and thus a coating with the grainy material 9 is left only on the joint surfaces 2 as shown in Fig. 4. In the case of a hot glue, a heating must take place before the adhesive becomes so tacky that the granular material 9 adheres.The said heating in connection with the gluing process may be part of or constitute a precursor to the heating described below 8005323-4 Until the niaterizilet has been fully treated, the granular material is mainly retained. This means that the grains must be anchored reasonably well in the glue in order for them to be retained even when the excess material is removed and during nan treatment. This is done mainly by pressing the grains against the glue, so that they stick. This can be achieved by spraying the grains or allowing them to fall from a certain height towards the material surface or by vibrating the latter. Another way is to press the grains with a soft roller.

When the material has been applied to all components, thus the substrate 3, the various plastic and paint layers 4-6, the surface layer 7 and the granular material 9 attached to the adhesive 8, the material, which is assumed to consist of a long web, is transferred to a heating furnace where it is heated. . In this case, the previously mentioned fermentation will occur so that the material obtains its relief pattern according to Fig. 5. At the same time, the final gelatinization of the constituent plastic materials takes place. In the case of a plastisol as an adhesive, the granular material 9 obtains a permanent attachment. As a final result, the previously described material according to Fig. 1 is thus obtained.

Depending on the type of adhesive, additional treatments may be required for the solidification of the adhesive, such as in the case of radiation-curing adhesive radiation treatment or in the case of solvent-added adhesive, an opportunity for the solvent to disappear. If thermoplastic grains are used as granular material in the preferred manner, a combination of these takes place during the heating, so that a relatively dirt-repellent, dense surface is obtained even in the coated portions. Depending on which material is chosen in the grains, especially with regard to the melting point, whereby a material graded in this respect can be used, different types of bonding are obtained. It can range from a very weak sintering with surface softening over a more intense fusion of the grains to a complete melting of certain grains so that a mass is formed in which unmelted grains are embedded. In this way the desired surface character and structure can be obtained.

The production of the material can be carried out in different ways and in the following some examples will be given.

Example 1.

A substrate 3 consisting of a pre-coated smoothed fiberglass fabric is coated with a PVC plastisol containing a blowing agent. The plastisol is pregelatinized. See layer 4 in Fig. 2.

A multicolor decoration forming the stone surfaces 1 and the joint surfaces 2, respectively, is applied to this layer. The decoration mimics a surface of patterned tiles, each forming a "stone surface" and with a drawn decoration. A certain part of the paint, which is to form smaller, insulated portions of the stone surfaces, contains a weak additive ~ 8100 53 2 3- 4 of an inhibitor, which is capable of affecting the blowing agent in the layer 4 and inhibiting a certain part thereof. The paint, which is to form the joint surfaces 2, contains a large amount of inhibitor, so that the blowing agent is greatly influenced for passivating purposes. The color layers correspond to the layers 5 and 6, respectively, in Fig. 3. The printing is performed by means of gravure printing rollers. On the printed color decoration a layer of a transparent plastic sol is applied, corresponding to the layer 7 in Fig. 3. This plastic sol is pregelatinized.

By means of the stencil printing method, a plastisol, corresponding to the adhesive layer 8, is applied to the surfaces which are to form the joint surfaces 2.

A layer of PVC grains is applied to the surface with a melting point so adapted that: a fusion in a surface layer is obtained by the grains in the subsequent heat treatment. The grains are in different colors, whereby they form a true-to-nature joint. By means of a soft roller, the grains are pressed against the material and will thereby adhere to the sticky plastisol over the joint surfaces 2 (layer 8). After this, excess grainy material which has ended up on the non-stick layer 7, which extends over the stone surfaces 1, is sucked away by means of suction nozzles.

The material is then introduced into a heating oven and heated there to a temperature of * 180 ° C. In this case, the plastic layers, including the layer 8, are gelatinized, whereby the granular material is bound. The grains are sintered together and form a structured but dense surface. In connection with the gelatinization, the layer 4 ferments and thereby forms the intended relief decoration. A certain structure is obtained in the stone surfaces by these being affected point by point by the weak inhibitor in some of the constituent colors.

This gives an impression of the slightly rough surface of existing stone materials, bricks and the like. In the joint surfaces, on the other hand, the blowing agent is strongly influenced and the joint surfaces .2 will therefore be sunk, see Fig. 5.

Example 2 On a substrate 3 consisting of a fiberglass fabric, portions corresponding to the stone surfaces 1 of a PVC plastisol containing a blowing agent are applied by means of the stencil printing method in a pattern intended to mimic a brick wall surface (see Fig. 1). The thickness of the plastisol layer and its leavening ability is calculated to form thicker portions of the material. The plastisol is colored in the base color intended for the stone surfaces. The plastisol is pregelatinized.

On the plastisol sections separated from each other, a multicolor decor is applied, which together with the plastisol's base color should give a true-to-nature impression. the stone surfaces. The printing is done by means of the gravure printing method. The paints then contain an inhibitor, which is matched to each color, so that a fine relief can be formed during the fermentation of the printed portions. No adjustment to the "plastisol islands" previously printed by means of the stencil printing method needs to take place, since the fine structure of the stone material can be "flying" in relation to the rock surfaces of the stone surfaces 8-005323-4. In the case of the walls to be imitated, it is not expected that the respective stone surfaces will have a pattern or fine structure specially adapted to their edge limitation. This applies to bricks, which have a brick structure and color over the entire surface of the stone, and is also the case with pieces of natural stone.

However, this flying pressure presupposes that one does not intend to imitate a tile surface with a pattern decoration on the individual tiles. In such a case, fitting must be carried out between the decoration and the boundary edges of the stone surfaces.

The Mcdelst sehalone printing method is applied to the plastisol islands which are to form the stone surfaces, a plastic composition which is arranged in a known manner to form a polyurethane layer after its curing. In this case, fitting takes place, so that the plastic composition is limited to said surfaces.

With the stencil printing method, on the surfaces which are to form the joint surfaces 2, thus the hitherto uncoated parts of the substrate 3, a weakly fermentable plastisol corresponding to the adhesive layer 8 is applied to the surface. Example 1.

Thereafter, the plastic shell is gelatinized or cured, as described in connection with Example 1. Here, too, a certain structure is obtained in the stone surfaces by these being affected point by point by the weak inhibitor in some of the constituent colors. The basic thickness of the stone surfaces is achieved by fermentation of the said, first applied plastic islands. The plastisol, which forms the joint surfaces, simultaneously forms a coating in these surfaces of the substrate and adhesive for the granular material. After fermentation, these surfaces have a smaller height than the stone surfaces and the joint surfaces are thus sunk.

Claims (11)

3005323-4 10 PATENT REQUIREMENTS Surface cladding material intended to mimic surfaces formed of geometrically shaped or irregular pieces of mineral material, such as natural stone, brick or ceramic products joined by a mortar containing binder and a granular material such as sand, the cladding material consisting of a relief pattern and by means of a printing method color-patterned plastic material having partly surface portions of a first kind (1) in a first main level and designed and placed to imitate said mineral pieces and partly intermediate surface portions of a second kind (2) in a second main level at a distance from the first main level, and designed and placed to mimic the joint material, so that a relief, following the contours of the surface portions of the first kind (1) is formed, characterized in that the surfaces of the first kind (1) are formed by the color-patterned, visible surface of the plastic material and that the surfaces of the second type (2) have a coating of a granular material (9), which is attached to the surface of the plastic by means of an adhesive blank (8) and at least partially covers it and consists at least mainly of colored grains of a thermoplastic, which are partly fused to the underlying plastic material. Surface cladding material according to claim 1, characterized in that the plasma material in the surfaces of the second type (2) is partially visible between and / or through the grains of the granular material (9) and that the plastic material is made in a color, which corresponds to the color of the binder in the use intended to be imitated. in Surface cladding material according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the grains (9) are partly of a thermoplastic and partly mineral grains, which are joined together with the thermoplastic grains and are mainly covered with a plastic layer originating from the thermoplastic grains. Surface cladding material according to claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that the surfaces of the second type (2) are recessed relative to the surfaces of the first type (1). A process for producing a surface cladding material according to any one of claims 1-4, which surface cladding material is intended to mimic surfaces formed from pieces of mineral type material, such as natural stone, brick or ceramic products joined with a mortar containing binder and a granular material such as sand, the surface cladding material consisting of a relief-patterned 80053 23-'4 11 and by means of a printing process color-patterned plastic material having surface portions of a first kind (1) in a first main level and formed by the color-patterned, visible surface of the plastic material and designed and placed for to imitate said mineral pieces, and on the other hand intermediate surface portions of a second kind (2) in a second main level at a distance from the first main level, and having a coating of colored grains of a thermoplastic, which are attached to the surface of the plastic by means of an adhesive (8 ), which later surface portions (2) are designed and placed to mimic the joint material, so that a relief, following the contour of the surfaces of the first kind is formed, the method comprising coating a substrate (3) with a fermentable plastic composition (4), preferably a PVC plastisol, which has surface portions with different fermentability, and correspondingly with respect to tive portions of the first and the second kind, so that the two main levels can be formed during the fermentation of the plastic following the contours of the surface portions of the first kind (1), and color decoration of primarily the surface portions of the first kind (1) and subjecting the material to heating so that fermentation occurs and the finished material is formed, characterized in that pressure is applied to the surface portions which are to form the surface portions of the second kind (2) by means of a pressure reporting with the decorative pattern of the stone surfaces. method an adhesive (8), preferably a PVC plastisol, that while the adhesive is still sticky on the surface of the material, the plastic grains (9) are applied, removed from the adhesive, the adhesive (8) is caused to solidify, so that the granular material (9) is retained and the material is heated so that the granules (9) are partially fused to the underlying plastic material. Method according to claim 5, characterized in that as the granular material (9) grains of a thermoplastic are preferably used in the size range 0.05 - 1 mm, for which plastic such a melting point is selected that a co-citration of the grains, i.e. a sainmansmeltnirig of the grains without losing the structure, takes place, so that a structured but dense surface is formed. 7. A method according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that the adhesive (8) consists of a PVC plastisol, which is caused to solidify by gelatinization in connection with said heat treatment of the material. A method according to any one of claims 5-7, characterized in that the layer (4) of the fermentable plastic composition is applied as a smooth running layer on which said color pattern (5, 6) is printed by means of a color containing inhibitors or accelerators for the blowing agent, so that the two main levels and preferably a fine structuring of at least the surface of the first kind are achieved by differentiated fermentation of the plastic layer. Method according to one of Claims 5 to 7, characterized in that the layer (4) of the fermentable plastic composition is applied by means of the stencil printing method in limited surface areas, corresponding to the surface portions of the first kind (1), while the layer for the surface portions of the second kind is applied in the form of a second plastisol with a fermenting effect deviating from the first plastisol on limited surfaces corresponding to the surface portions of the second kind (2). 10. A method according to claim 9, characterized in that the applied plastic plate corresponding to the surfaces of the first kind (1) is provided with a color pattern of color-containing inhibitors or accelerators for the blowing agent so that during the fermentation of the layer a fine structuring of the surfaces of the first kind (1) is both. in 11. A method according to claim 10, characterized in that the color pattern is applied by means of the gravure printing method in a pattern without matching the pattern formed by the division of the surface into the surface portions of the first (1) and by. the second kind (2).