WO1995025701A1

WO1995025701A1 - Floor tiles and a method for their production

Info

Publication number: WO1995025701A1
Application number: PCT/SE1995/000264
Authority: WO
Inventors: Johan Alexanderson
Original assignee: Johan Alexanderson
Priority date: 1994-03-21
Filing date: 1995-03-15
Publication date: 1995-09-28
Also published as: NO963645D0; SE9400928D0; NO963645L; SE9400928L; SE503885C2

Abstract

The invention refers to floor tiles and a method for their production. The tiles are produced on the basis of a mix of hydraulic binder, polymer, filler, sand, colour pigments, additives and water. The binder content is 15-40 % by weight and the polymer content is 3-10 % by weight, calculated as percentages of the dry constituents. The tiles are produced from a castable mix which is made to harden within 24 hours. Then a protective coating is applied. The tiles give a warmer and less hard impression when you stand and walk on them and require less production energy as compared to traditional tiles made from ceramic material or concrete.

Description

Floor tiles and a method for their production

The present invention refers to tiles of the kind which is described in the preamble of claim 1 and for use pre¬ ferably as flooring in different kinds of indoor premises, such as dwellings, offices etc. The invention also refers to a method for production of these tiles.

Ceramic floor tiles are widely used, but have the disad¬ vantage that they give a cold impression when walked upon. Further, they give a hard impression when you stand and walk on them. The production of ceramic tiles also requires relatively much energy, since they have to be burnt at a high temperature.

Ordinary concrete does not require as much energy as cera¬ mic material, but it is weaker and also more brittle and therefore relatively great thicknesses are required if concrete is to be used for making tiles. Concrete also gives a cold and hard impression when you walk and stand on it. Neither is the wear resistance of concrete good.

It is known that the elasticity and the wear resistance of concrete can be considerably increased by the addition of polymer. Primarily, this has been used in floor level¬ ling compounds, cf. the Swedish patent publication SE 435 0-49. It has also been suggested to use polymer cement concrete in various building elements, cf. the Danish patent publication 1 8 10 B. However, the method of production that is described there is relatively compli¬ cated and would lead to high costs.

The aim of the present invention is to make floor tiles which gives a warmer and less hard impression when you walk and stand on them and requires less energy for their production compared to traditional tiles made of ceramic material or concrete. Further, the aim is to accomplish a simple method of production, which does not require high investments.

This is obtained with tiles and a method for their produc¬ tion which due to the invention is special by what has been stated in the characterizing part of claim 1 and claim 2 respectively. Through the invention, it has supri- singly been shown that it is now possible to make 5-20mm thick tiles, preferably 5-10mm, for use preferably as floors indoors and that the tiles in any case can be given the required strength, wear resistance and elasticity.

The dry constituents, with or without pigments, is prefer¬ ably produced as a dry mortar in a factory. By the produc- tion of the tiles, water and polymer is added, if the latter has not already been added as a powder in the dry mortar. Also colour pigments can be added to make a suit¬ able colour, and then mixing is done in a rapid mixer. In the most simple case, one can use an ordinary drilling machine with a stirrer. The water content shall be such that it gives a castable mix, the flow diameter of which is preferably 100-140 mm measured according to a proposed EN-standard. At this measurement, the mix at 23 °C is poured into a ring with the inner diameter of 30 mm and the height of 50 mm. The ring is lifted and the mix is allowed to flow out on a horizontal substrate of glass with the same temperature. When the flow has stopped, the diameter is measured. With the above mentioned flowabi- lity, the mix can be filled into the moulds without any appreciable compaction, which makes it possible to use cheap and simple moulds, e.g. from pvc.

In those cases when you use batchwise mixing, the amount of retarder, an ingredient which is used traditionally in floor levelling compounds in the form of an unorganic salt, has to be adjusted so that the flowability is suffi¬ cient during the time it takes to fill the moulds.

When the hydraulic binder is kept within 15-40% by weight and it consists of calcium aluminate cement and gypsum, the hardening is relatively quick and the tiles reach a strength high enough to be demoulded or handled within 24 hours, and thereafter the surface is provided with a protective coating, preferably of uretane lacquer. This protective coating is necessary if the tiles are to keep their appearance during use. Otherwise staines can occur when you are spilling something on the tiles.

The tiles are fixed and jointed on a solid substrate in the traditional way. After jointing, further protective coatings can be applied on the whole surface, which has the advantage that also the joints will be easy to clean.

Example

A dry mortar was produced with the following composition:

Binder 25% by weigth Polymer powder 5% by weight

Filler+sand 65% by weight

Colour pigment 4% by weight

Other additives 1% by weight

The binder consisted of 3/4 calcium aluminate cement and 1/4 alfagypsum. The polymer was a copolymer on vinylacetate basis. The filler was ground dolomite. The colour pigment was of the unorganic type. The other additives were of traditional kind, viz. plasicizer, cellulose, unorganic salts and defoamers. 20 kg of the dry mortar was mixed with 24% water by weight with a drilling machine with a stirrer. After the mixing the flowability was found to be 120 mm. The mix was filled in pvc-moulds with the dimensions 250x250x8 mm.

The day after the casting, the tiles were demoulded and three layers of uretane lacquer were applied, the first layer being more diluted than the latter layers. The drying time between the layers was short, about 30 minutes or less. After storing for a week, the tiles were fixed and jointed on a levelled concrete substrate in a traditional manner. After jointing, two further layers of uretane lacquer were applied over the whole surface.

Testing of specimens which has been cast separately, showed the flexural strength to be 10 MPa after 28 days storage at 23 °C and 50% RH.

It has been found that the aim of the invention can be achieved if the constituents in the mix from which the tiles are made are kept within the limits which are given in the claims .

Claims

1.Tiles for use on floors indoors and on the basis of a mix consisting of binder, polymer, filler, sand, colour pigments, additives and water and produced by forming in moulds and curing during at the most 24 hours characterized in that the binder is hydraulic, preferably consisting of calcium aluminate cement and gypsum, that the binder content is 15-40% by weight, preferably 20-30% by weight, that the polymer content is 3-10% by weight, preferably 4-6% by weight, whereby the percentages refer to % by weight of the dry constituents, that the addi¬ tives are of the kind which traditionally are used in floor levelling compounds and that the finished tiles have a protective coating, preferably of uretane lacquer.

2.Method for production of tiles according to claim 1 and where binder, polymer, filler, sand, colour pigments, additives and water are mixed to a castable mix characterized in that a hydraulic binder is used, prefer¬ ably consisting of calcium aluminate cement and gypsum, that the binder content is 15-40% by weight, preferably 20-30% by weight, that the polymer content is 3-10% by weight, preferably 4-6% by weight, whereby the percen¬ tages refer to % by weight of the dry constituents, that the additives are chosen among such which are tradi- tionally used in floor levelling compounds and that the constituents are mixed with water in such an amount as to give a castable mix, preferably with a diameter of flow of 100-140 mm when measured according to a pro¬ posed EN-standard, that the elements which are formed from this mix are made to harden during at most 24 hours before demoulding and that thereafter a protective coat¬ ing is applied, preferably of uretane lacquer.