Process for the manufacturing of surface elements

Details Process for the manufacturing of surface elements Process for the manufacturing of surface elements

2000-11-24

2003-05-20

Parker, F (Department: 1762)

Coating processes

Solid particles or fibers applied

Applying superposed diverse coatings or coating a coated base

C427S204000, C427S205000, C427S258000, C427S262000, C427S420000, C427S421100, C427S428010, C427S430100, C427S440000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06565919

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for the manufacturing of surface elements with a decorative upper surface of which the decorative elements have an considerably improved matching of the décor between adjacent surface elements.
2. Description of the Related Art
Products clad with thermosetting laminate is common in many areas nowadays. They are mostly used where the demands on abrasion resistance are high, and furthermore where resistance to different chemicals and moisture is desired. As examples of such products floors, floor skirtings, table tops, work tops and wall panels can be mentioned.
The thermosetting laminate most often consist of a number of base sheets with a decor sheet placed closest to the surface. The decor sheet can be provided with a pattern by desire. Common patterns usually visualise different kinds of wood or mineral such as marble and granite.
One common pattern on floor elements is the rod pattern where two or more rows of rods of, for example wood, is simulated in the décor .
The traditional thermosetting laminate manufacturing includes a number of steps which will result in a random matching tolerance of up to ±5 mm, which is considered too great. The steps included in the manufacturing of a laminate floor is: printing decor on a paper of &agr;-cellulose, impregnating the decorative paper with melamine-formaldehyde resin, drying the decorative paper, laminating the decorative paper under heat and pressure together with similarly treated supporting papers, applying the decorative laminate on a carrier and finally sawing and milling the carrier to the desired format. All these steps in the manufacturing will cause a change in format on the decor paper. It will, therefore, be practically impossible to achieve a desired match of patterns between adjacent elements causing great amounts of wasted laminate. Naturally, this waste is not desirable, as the thermosetting laminate is a rather costly part of a laminate floor.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It has, through the present invention, been made possible to overcome the above mentioned problems and provide a surface element with a decorative surface where the decorative pattern between different surface elements with matching of the decorative pattern can be obtained. The invention relates to a process for the manufacturing of surface elements which surface elements comprise a decorative upper layer and a support core. The surface elements may be used as floor, wall or ceiling boards. The invention is characterised in that:
i) A supporting core with a desired format is manufactured and provided with an upper side and a lower side.
ii) The upper side of the support core is then provided with a décor , by, for example, printing. The décor is positioned after a predetermined fixing point on the support core.
iii) The upper side of the supporting core is then provided with a protecting, at least partly translucent, wear layer by, for example, spray coating, roller coating, curtain coating and immersion coating or by being provided with one or more sheets of &agr;-cellulose impregnated with thermosetting resin or lacquer.
The décor is suitably achieved by digitisation of an actual archetype or by partly or completely being created in a digital media. The digitised décor is stored digitally in order to be used as a control function and original, together with possible control programs, when printing the décor.
The décor may accordingly be obtained by making a high resolution or selected resolution digital picture of the desired decor. This is suitably made by means of a digital camera or scanner. The most common décor will of course be different kinds of wood and minerals like marble, as these probably will continue to be preferred surface decoration in home and public environments. It is, however, possible to depict anything that is visible. The digitised version of the décor is then edited to fit the size of the supporting core. It is also possible to rearrange the décor in many different ways, like changing colour tones, contrast, dividing the décor into smaller segments and adding other decorative elements. It is also possible to completely create the décor in a computer equipped for graphic design. It is possible to create a simulated décor so realistic that even a professional will have great problems in visually separating it from genuine material. This makes it possible to make for example floor boards with an almost perfect illusion of a rare kind of wood, like ebony or rose wood and still preserving trees under threat of extermination.
The digital décor is used together with guiding programs to control a printer. The printer may be of an electrostatic type or an ink-jet type printer. Most often the colours yellow, magenta, cyan and black will be sufficient for the printing process, but in some cases it might be advantageous to add white. Some colours are difficult to achieve using the colours yellow, magenta, cyan, black and white whereby the colours light magenta and light cyan may be added. It is also possible to add so called spot colours where specific colour tones are difficult to achieve or where only certain parts of the colour spectrum with intermixing shades is desired. The resolution needed is much depending on the décor that is to be simulated, but resolutions of 10-1500 dots per inch (dpi) is the practical range in which most décors will be printed. Under normal conditions a resolution of 300-800 dpi is sufficient when creating simulations of even very complex decorative patterns and still achieve a result that visually is very difficult to separate from the archetype without close and thorough inspection.
The digitally stored décor can also be used together with support programs when guiding other operations and procedures in the manufacturing process. Such steps in the operation may include procedures like identification marking, packaging, lacquering, surface embossing, storing and delivery logistics as well as assembly instructions.
It is advantageous to manufacture the supporting core in the desired end user format and to provide it with edges suited for joining before applying the décor and wear layer, since the amount of waste thereby is radically reduced. The décor matching tolerances will also be improved further by this procedure.
The main part of the support core is suitably constituted by a particle board or a fibre board. It is, however, possible to manufacture the core that at least partly consists of a polymer, such as, for example, polyurethane or a polyolefin, such as, polyethylene, polypropylene or polybutene. A polymer based core can be achieved by being injection moulded or press moulded and can be given its shape by plastic moulding and does, therefore, not require any abrasive treatment. A polymer based core may also contain a filler in the form of a particle or fibre of organic or inorganic material, which, besides its use as a cost reducing material, also can be used to modify the mechanical characteristics of the core. As an example of such suitable fillers can be mentioned; cellulose or wood particles, straw, starch, glass, lime, talcum, stone powder and sand. The mechanical characteristics that may be changed are, for example, viscosity, thermal coefficient of expansion, elasticity, density, fire resistance, moisture absorption capacity, acoustic properties, thermal conductivity, flexural and shearing strengths as well as softening temperature.
The upper surface, i.e. the surface that is to be provided with décor, is suitably surface treated before the printing. Such surface treatment will then incorporate at least one of the steps, ground coating and sanding. It is also possible to provide the surface with a structure that matches the décor that is to be applied.
The translucent wear layer is suitably constituted by a UV- or electron beam curing lacquer such as an acrylic,epoxy, or maleimide lacquer. The wear layer is suitably applied in several steps with intermediate curing where the last one is

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