Stock material or miscellaneous articles – Coated or structually defined flake – particle – cell – strand,... – Particulate matter
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-06
2003-01-28
Jones, Deborah (Department: 1775)
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
Coated or structually defined flake, particle, cell, strand,...
Particulate matter
C428S407000, C428S402000, C428S363000, C428S015000, C523S171000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06511750
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a polymerizable composition useful in producing a pattern material for artificial marble which contains a mica flake and/or glass flake. Further, the present invention relates to a mica flake- and/or glass flake-containing cured resin article obtained by curing this polymerizable composition, and artificial marble having natural grain-like pattern containing a ground material of this cured resin article.
BACKGROUND ART
Natural stones have been used for a long period of time as wall materials, floor materials, top boards and the like due to gracefulness thereof. However, natural stones have defects that application and process are difficult because of heavy weight and high hardness, stain removal is difficult because of porous surface, long size articles are not obtained easily leading to articles having seam, and the like.
Therefore, resin molder articles having natural grain-like pattern have been developed such as artificial marble and the like which can be used instead of natural stones. Since resin molded articles having grain-like pattern have grace texture, excellent strength and weather-resistance, easy applicability and processability, and the like, the amount used thereof is increasing year by year mainly in sanitary field.
As the resin molder articles having natural grain-like pattern, there are exemplified melamine-decorated plates, gel-coated artificial marble in which patterning has been conducted only on the surface, acrylic artificial marble, polyester artificial marble and the like. They are light and are not porous, as compared with natural marble. However, the melamine-decorated plate and gel-coated artificial marble have defects that processing and repairing are difficult and impact-resistance is low, because patterning has been conducted only on the surface thereof.
On the other hand, the acrylic artificial marble and polyester artificial marble have grace texture specific to solid materials. In particular, the acrylic artificial marble has a number of merits such as easy processability, excellent strength, impact-resistance and weather-resistance, and the like.
As the acrylic artificial marble and polyester artificial marble having natural grain-like pattern, for example, Japanese Patent Publication (JP-B) No. 61-24357 discloses artificial marble containing transparent/semi-transparent/opaque particles dispersed composed of ground stones such as quartz, malachite, marble, obsidian and the like; or resin ground materials such as ABS resins, epoxy resins, melamine resin, phenol resins and the like.
However, artificial marble containing a particle composed of a hard substance such as quartz and the like tends to have poor processability. Particularly, surface abrasion and cutting often lead to unsuccessful results, and in some cases, a processing machine is broken. Further, a particle composed of an epoxy resin and melamine resin is easily charged, consequently, the resin particle tends to adhere and coagulate on wall surface and the like of an apparatus in producing process, causing problems in production.
For solving such problems, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 5-279575 for example suggests an organic-inorganic composite transparent particle composed of a resin composition (unsaturated polyester-styrene copolymer, benzyl methacrylate-ethylene glycol dimethacrylate copolymer) and a soft inorganic filler such as aluminum hydroxide and the like. However, this organic-inorganic composite transparent particle has insufficient transparency, and the appearance of artificial marble in which the particles are dispersed is not graceful appearance remarkably resembling a natural stone, and twinkling feeling thereof tends to differ from that of a natural stone.
Therefore, for the purpose of reproducing twinkling feeling resembling that of a natural stone, JP-A Nos. 59-171612, 62-27363 and 6-172001, for example, disclose use of mica as a filler or pattern material for artificial marble. Also, for example, JP-B No. 6-18999 and JP-A No. 3-139548 disclose use of a glass flake as a filler or pattern material for artificial marble. Further, JP-A No. 6-322143, for example, discloses use of an organic-inorganic composite particle composed of a mica flake or glass flake and a crystalline thermoplastic resin as a pattern material for artificial marble.
However, the artificial marble disclosed in JP-A Nos. 59-171612, 62-27363, 6-172001, JP-B No. 6-18999 and JP-A No. 3-139548 has problems that since a mica flake or glass flake is directly compounded in a matrix composed of a polymer and an inorganic filler, the appearance is flat and lacks in depth feeling, and texture is different from that of a natural stone. The organic-inorganic composite particle disclosed in JP-A No. 6-322143 has problems that hardness is high and processability of artificial marble is decreased because a crystalline thermoplastic resin is used in the particle. In particular, when the surface of artificial marble after molding is abraded, it is difficult to finish the surface smoothly because the difference in hardness between the matrix composed of a resin and an inorganic filler and the composite particle is high.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to provide artificial marble further having appearance remarkably resembling a natural stone while maintaining features originally owned by artificial marble, namely, uniform and non-porous solid materials applicability and processability, equivalent to that of hard wood, maintenance easiness, impact-resistance, weather-resistance, flame retardancy and the like, and further, a cured resin article useful as a pattern material of this artificial marble and a polymerizable composition useful as a raw material thereof.
The present inventors have intensively studied for attaining the above-described object, and as a result, found that artificial marble comprising particles dispersed containing a vinyl polymer (A) and a mica flake and/or glass flake has appearance remarkably resembling a natural stone and in addition, has excellent properties such as processability and the like, completing the present invention.
Namely, the present invention relates to an artificial marble in which particles (X) containing a vinyl copolymer (A), and mica flake (B) and/or a glass flake (C) are dispersed in a matrix (Y) containing a vinyl polymer (E).
The present invention further relates to a mica flake- and/or glass flake-containing cured resin article which comprising a vinyl polymer (A), mica flake (B) and/or a glass flake (C), and an inorganic filler (D), and wherein a difference between the refractive index of the vinyl polymer (A) at room temperature and the refractive index of the inorganic filler (D) at room temperature is in the range from −0.02 to +0.02.
Furthermore, the present invention relates to a mica flake- and/or glass flake-containing polymerizable composition comprising a resin component containing a radical-polymerizable vinyl compound (a) and a polymer powder in which the bulk density is in the range from 0.1 to 0.9 g/ml and the oil absorption for linseed oil is in the range from 10 to 200 ml/100 g, and mica flake (B) and/or a glass flake (C); a mica flake- and/or glass flake-containing cured resin article obtained by curing this polymerizable composition; and an artificial marble containing a ground material of this cured resin article.
The artificial marble of the present invention contains a dispersed particles (X) having twinkling feeling, and the artificial marble has appearance revealing depth feeling and significant gracefulness resembling that of a natural stone, and in addition, maintains features originally owned by acrylic artificial marble such as applicability, processability and the like (including other features such as stain resistance, high strength, easy maintenance and the like). Therefore, the artificial marble of the present invention is very useful for top plates of counters and kitchen furniture, floor boards, and the like for which app
Okazaki Shougo
Watanabe Hiroyuki
Yanagase Akira
Boss Wendy
Jones Deborah
Mitsubishi Rayon Co. Ltd.
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