Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Methods – Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
Patent
1989-02-01
1992-03-24
Ball, Michael W.
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Methods
Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
156212, 156220, 156221, 156555, 156312, 156582, B32B 3100
Patent
active
050984993
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a method for forming surface-engraved panels clad with a sheet of thermodeformable material, and an apparatus for implementing the method.
Methods are known for forming surface-engraved panels clad with a deformable material sheet.
One of these methods comprises a first stage in which a surface of the panel, generally in the form of a chipboard substrate, is engraved in order to form personalized effects and designs on it accordance with the client's requirements. Over said surface a layer of glue is then spread, on which a sheet of PVC or other thermodeformable material is then applied.
The assembly is then subjected to the action of a press, the punch of which has a shape complementary to that of the engraved panel. The press acts under hot conditions on the PVC sheet to thus cause it do adhere to the cavities in the chipboard substrate.
However, this known method has certain drawbacks, and in particular: formed, time the decorative panel motif changes, and to the laboriousness of this replacement operation. In this respect, in order to replace the punch it first has to be cooled, and after being replaced it then has to be raised to the working temperature in order to be able to again use it.
To obviate these drawbacks, another method has already been proposed in which the stages involving the engraving of the chipboard substrate and the application of the thermodeformable material remain unchanged, but in which the panel is subject to the action of a hot press, the fixed plate of which is in the form of a chamber filled with a fluid and having that surface in contact with the panel formed from a deformable elastic membrane. By virtue of the pressure and temperature increase of the fluid contained in the chamber, the membrane deforms by expanding, to cause the thermodeformable material to penetrate into the cavities previously formed in the chipboard substrate.
This known method, which enables the same punch to be used for all types of design, has however other drawbacks, and in particular: and thus impossible to obtain sufficient deformation in the case of cavities of a certain depth; in any event, the membrane undergoes stretching and is therefore subject to frequent rupture, walls, and consequently results in an unfaithful reproduction of the design, temperature. In this respect, if the chamber fluid is water, it is obviously impossible to operate at a temperature exceeding 100.degree. C. If however the fluid is a diathermic oil, not only does the membrane disintegrate at the high temperature but the oil reacts chemically with it.
DE-A-2 731 657 relates to a machine for cladding a workpiece with a sheet of thermodeformable material, which comprises a plurality of pairs of rollers between which the panel to be treated is passed, the roller of the pair in contact with the panel surface to be treated being formed of elastically yieldable material, and means for heating the panel surface to be treated before its passage between the pair of rollers.
A drawback of this machine consists in that it allows to only clad flat surface panels.
The object of the invention is to obviate all these drawbacks and to produce surface-engraved panels clad with thermodeformable material, in a rapid, reliable and versatile manner.
This object is attained according to the invention by a method for forming surface-engraved panels clad with a sheet of thermodeformable material, particularly PVC, comprising a preliminary stage of engraving the surface of a chipboard substrate to obtain cavities therein in accordance with a predetermined design, a stage in which a thermosoftenable adhesive is spread over said surface, a stage in which further thermosoftenable adhesive is spread on a sheet of thermodeformable material, and a stage in which said sheet of thermodeformable material is applied to the surface of the chipboard substrate provided with said cavities, characterised in that the panel prepared in this manner is heated to obtain the partial softening of the sheet of thermodeformable material and the
REFERENCES:
patent: 2673168 (1954-03-01), Pascoe et al.
patent: 2685548 (1954-08-01), Drozdowski
patent: 2723931 (1955-11-01), Mercer
patent: 3540960 (1970-11-01), Widigs
patent: 3793125 (1974-02-01), Kunz
patent: 3846219 (1974-11-01), Kunz
patent: 3994769 (1976-11-01), Gersbeck
patent: 4327634 (1982-05-01), Colmon et al.
patent: 4542691 (1985-09-01), Kokrhanek
patent: 4788911 (1988-12-01), Bishop et al.
Aftergut Jeff H.
Ball Michael W.
LandOfFree
Method for forming surface-engraved panels clad with a sheet of does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Method for forming surface-engraved panels clad with a sheet of , we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method for forming surface-engraved panels clad with a sheet of will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2007228