Stock material or miscellaneous articles – Web or sheet containing structurally defined element or... – Physical dimension specified
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-13
2001-06-19
Nakarani, D. S. (Department: 1773)
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
Web or sheet containing structurally defined element or...
Physical dimension specified
C427S574000, C427S575000, C427S578000, C427S579000, C428S451000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06248440
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This is the national stage of International Application No. PCT/EP96/03859 filed Sep. 2, 1996.
SUBJECT OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a process for obtaining a floor covering comprising at least one substrate consisting of a polymeric material.
The present invention also relates to the floor covering obtained by this process.
TECHNOLOGICAL BACKGROUND
Vinyl-type floor coverings have been known for a long time. Their composition is essentially based on vinyl chloride homopolymers or copolymers commonly called PVC.
Furthermore, products intended as floor coverings essentially produced from an acrylic resin or from olefin homopolymers or copolymers have recently appeared on the market for the purpose of replacing these PVC-type coverings, especially for environmental protection reasons.
These polymeric coverings, intended for covering floors, are called by those skilled in the art “resilient” polymeric coverings as opposed to coverings such as those made of ceramic and wood, which are not resilient.
Among polymeric coverings are the thermoplastic polymeric coverings mentioned above, but also certain thermosetting polymeric coverings comprising melamine resins used for producing floor coverings.
These floor coverings, whatever their nature, are intrinsically subjected to a great deal of traffic and consequently deteriorate quite quickly through wear.
In fact, this deterioration is essentially due to the scratchability of the covering by the rubbing of hard particles.
Various processes have consequently been proposed for improving the resistance of floor coverings by increasing the hardness of their surface, essentially by depositing a protective layer.
Most of the protective layers, more generally called “top coats”, currently used are of the organic type and, in particular, are based on polyurethanes generally containing aliphatic polyisocyanates.
Such coverings may be applied using solutions, in organic phase, of one-part or two-part systems, of aqueous dispersions or of reactive systems having a solids content of 100%.
It may be mentioned that the solution systems are crosslinked by hydroxylated polyesters or polyethers, of which many types exist. Hydroxylated acrylic polymers are also used as a diisocyanate crosslinking agent. The crosslinking takes place in an oven and requires a catalyst.
As regards the polyurethane systems in aqueous phase, these are crosslinked by melamine resins or aziridines in an oven.
The solvent-free systems are intended to be dried under UV radiation. These are polyurethanes obtained from diisocyanates, from hydroxylated polyethers or polyesters and from hydroxylated acrylic monomers. They may be diluted with reactive polyacrylated monomers in order to adjust the application viscosity. Drying is extremely rapid, but does require the addition of photoinitiators.
Other systems have been used, such as:
hydrolysed alkyl silicate or organoalkoxy-silane+polyurethane elastomers,
alkyd resin+polymethoxybutoxytrimethyl-siloxysilane+butoxylated melamine resin,
ethoxylated melamine resin+epoxy resin+styrene-allyl alcohol copolymer, etc.
It should be noted that, in the literature, these top coats are always applied to vinyl-type floor coverings, that is to say those based essentially on PVC.
On the other hand, in the case of floor coverings based on other polymers, such as EVA (ethylene-vinyl acetate) copolymers, no specific mention of a protective layer has been made in the literature.
Nevertheless, the various techniques proposed come up against certain difficulties, the main ones of which are the scratchability and the loss of appearance, in particular the degree of gloss and of transparency, which defects are related to traffic. In addition, the adhesion of the protective layer to the substrate, which, in the case of a floor covering, is a resilient polymeric substrate, and the mechanical stability, between the deposit of organic material making up the protective or wear layer and the substrate itself, are often insufficient.
STATE OF THE ART
Documents U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,188,876 and 5,077,112 describe surface coverings, and in particular floor coverings, comprising several layers, at least one of which is a wear layer made of a hard inorganic material deposited on a support using techniques working under reduced-pressure conditions.
Among these techniques may be mentioned ion bombardment, plasma polymerization, ion implantation and ion plasma.
The support may be chosen from the following materials: metal, plastic film or sheet, rubber or support comprising a mineral. Among the plastics are mentioned thermoplastics and thermosets. By way of example, mention may be made of polyethylene terephthalate and polyesters, optionally reinforced. PVC is also mentioned.
With regard to the wear layer, this is produced from a hard inorganic material comprising metals, metal oxides or metal nitrides, and having a hardness of at least 5 mohs. By way of examples, silicone oxides and nitrides are most particularly mentioned.
The thickness of this layer is between 1 and 25 microns.
The techniques mentioned, of the ion- or thermal-plasma type, heat the support significantly and cause it to deteriorate. In addition, it is difficult to achieve satisfactory operating conditions in large volumes, except by multiplying the number of sources.
In these two American documents, it is also mentioned that the surface layer is polycrystalline.
Document WO-A-95/19456 describes a general process for depositing a metal, semi-metal, metal oxide or semi-metal oxide layer on a substrate using the nitrogen remote cold plasma technique, it being possible for the substrate to be a metal, an alloy, a ceramic, a polymer, composite materials or even glass. By way of example, a polypropylene substrate is mentioned.
In order to carry out this process, a volatile alkyl derivative of the said metal or semi-metal is introduced into a closed chamber, so as to decompose the said alkyl and to deposit the metal, semi-metal, metal oxide or semi-metal oxide layer on the substrate.
Document WO-A-95/23652 describes a process for depositing an abrasion-resistant coating comprising one or more layers on a substrate using an ion beam.
The material intended to produce the coating must be optically transparent and consist of silicon carbide, silicon nitride, silicon oxide, silicon oxynitride, silicon oxycarbide, silicon carbonitride or silicon oxycarbonitride.
The substrate on which the coating is deposited may be a plastic, a metal, glass or ceramic, and is intended for particular applications such as ophthalmic lenses, plastic lenses, bar code-scanner windows or windows for other elements which may rapidly deteriorate. It should be noted that the substrate is not a resilient material.
Document DD-A-107312 describes a process for covering a plastic surface, such as PVC and polyethylene with a “non-slip” layer made of a ceramic or metallic material, by means of a thermal spray device such as plasma gun.
Document EP-A-0,590,467 describes a process for depositing a silicon-oxide-based layer on synthetic materials such as polymethyl methacrylate or poly-carbonate, by a plasma treatment using an organosilane or organosiloxane compound in gaseous form.
Document WO-A-94/18355 describes a process for applying a thin layer on a metallic, inorganic or organic substrate using a nitrogen-based remote cold plasma for the purpose of fabricating electronic or microelectronic devices. More particularly, this process is intended for forming dielectric thin layers in which organometallic compounds are involved.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
The aim of the present invention is to provide a process for obtaining a floor covering which consists of a resilient polymeric substrate, that is to say one which deforms under impact, and which has a transparent protective layer having improved wear resistance properties compared to those of the floor coverings proposed by various processes in the state of the art.
In particular, the present invention aims to provide a pr
Baclez Emmanuelle
Dessaux Odile
Goudmand Pierre
Mutel Brigitte
Alix Yale & Ristas, LLP
Nakarani D. S.
Sommer Revetements France S. A.
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