Plastic and nonmetallic article shaping or treating: processes – Repairing or restoring consumer used articles for reuse
Patent
1994-09-09
1997-04-22
Silbaugh, Jan H.
Plastic and nonmetallic article shaping or treating: processes
Repairing or restoring consumer used articles for reuse
264500, B32B 3500, B29C 4300
Patent
active
056226616
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method of curing preferably so called osmosis which may exist in practically all objects manufactured from plastic laminates. When osmosis is noted to such an extent that the objects are damaged, this is normally referred to as that the objects have been hit by bubonic plague, plastics plague, glass fiber hull plague or osmosis. This latter term will be used hereinafter.
One type of object that is frequently exposed to osmosis is a plastic boat. See for instance Batnytt 10 September 1990, pages 28-31. Therefore, the description below will refer to the treatment of boats, although it is generally applicable.
It is not clear why osmosis does not occur always, or why a chemical acid generating process starts in some cases but not in other cases. However, it is clear that osmosis in many cases is a big problem.
It has been speculated that the reason for osmosis is that there might be some constituents of the water that are active and that the bottom paint or dust that has contaminated the surface of the object during the manufacture functions as a catalyst.
The damages manifest themselves in that the acid, in addition to forming gas blisters outwardly, also corrodes inwardly. The size of the gas blisters gives no sure indication of how big the damage is that is concealed within the hull. The extent of the damage will be evident only when these have been exposed.
In order to cure damages resulting from osmosis it is necessary:
1. to localize all the damaged areas;
2. to expose the damage;
3. to remove both the formed acid and the damaged laminate material;
4. to clean up and dry out;
5. to build up the laminate to the original hull thickness and strength; and
6. to restore the hull on the outer surface by means of a water tight layer, such as a gel coat or a high molecular weight epoxy.
It is known that it is possible to use drying equipment of hyper absorption type, in the following referred to as hyab-equipment, for effectively drying laminate that has been made moist, such as at blasting or washing. See for instance, Batnytt, 10 September, 1990 page 29. This article refers to drying by means of the hyab-equipment as "hyper drying by means of compressed air and bottle gas heat".
The hyab-equipment uses compressed air and bottled gas in combination with each other and the drying medium consists of a dry, hot air flow that sweeps along the object at a high velocity.
The drying method of the hyab-equipment is based on the fact that the moisture is effectively removed from an object, in that the surface thereof is cooled by the evaporation of the moisture and that the moisture within the material according to the "law of the cold wall" is urged to move towards the surface thus cooled, where it is dried. Conversely, heat directed to the surface of an object urges the moisture deeper into the material. See for instance the HYAB-Comparison.
A visual localization of the damaged areas is not only time-consuming but may, indeed, be impossible to carry out, particularly if a hull has been standing on land for some time and has dried out, because the usually only small sized blisters have dried out and are no longer visible.
Despite this, particularly in hotter climates, a conventional method is to cure osmosis only when the hulls have been standing on land for an extend period in order to dry out. This timely extended method not only renders the localization of damages difficult but makes the whole curing of osmosis unnecessarily expensive. Yard rentals for storing the boats for an extended period of time, expenses for a continuous check of the moisture content of the hull, and the fact that the boat is not available for its intended purpose, are costs that may be reduced or eliminated entirely through practice of the present invention.
The object of the present invention is to quickly and effectively localize and cure damage due to osmosis.
The method encompassed by the present invention goes considerably further than the known drying technique which is ut
REFERENCES:
patent: 2302020 (1942-11-01), Frederick
patent: 2370958 (1945-03-01), Hellier
patent: 4236951 (1980-12-01), Krchma et al.
patent: 4260439 (1981-04-01), Speer
patent: 4636338 (1987-01-01), Neefe
patent: 4824500 (1989-04-01), White et al.
patent: 4975303 (1990-12-01), McKinnon
patent: 5273701 (1993-12-01), Marlin
patent: 5334335 (1994-08-01), Norville
Water line, Hank Bowman, The Evening Star, Dec. 18, 1959.
Creto (International) Ltd.
Gray Robin S.
Silbaugh Jan H.
LandOfFree
Method of treating of layered laminated plastic objects 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 of treating of layered laminated plastic objects, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method of treating of layered laminated plastic objects will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-339440