GB2115742A

GB2115742A - Decorative articles

Info

Publication number: GB2115742A
Application number: GB08305445A
Authority: GB
Inventors: John Robert Eshbach; Richard Earl Felter; Thomas Posipanko
Original assignee: Armstrong World Industries Inc
Current assignee: Armstrong World Industries Inc
Priority date: 1982-03-01
Filing date: 1983-02-28
Publication date: 1983-09-14
Also published as: NL8300097A; FR2522298A1; GB8305445D0; LU84633A1; DE3302721A1; BE895785A; JPS58148753A; AU9091382A

Abstract

A composite article has utility as a decorative surface for materials such as resilient flooring, furniture, walls, ceilings and counter tops. The article is typically in the form of a film, sheet, or board having generally tubular unidirectionally aligned voids embedded therein between two layers of the composite. The article is made by forming unidirectionally aligned grooves on the mating surface of at least one of the layers and then bridging the grooves with the mating surface of the other layer.

Description

SPECIFICATION Decorative articles This invention relates generally to decorative articles which possess desirable visual qualities and which are of particular use in the resilient floor and furniture industries and to methods of producing such decorative articles.

Surface coverings, and in particular resilient floorings, are selected by the consumer largely on the basis of appearance, durability, ease of maintenance and cost. Consumers have, in recent times, been bypassing the use of finished wood floors in favor of resilient synthetic floors for economic reasons and for ease of maintanance.

However, because of the beauty of a finished wood floor, many efforts have been made to simulate many of wood's unique and desired visual qualities on resilient flooring. For example, one well-known method of producing simulated wood grain is to reproduce a wood grain pattern photographically and apply the reproduction to a suitable base surface. Other well-known methods include applying a wood grain pattern by printing or engraving means, such as hot stamping foils and roll and rotogravure printing or by heat transfer means. However, such surface coverings invariably appear, even at a casual glance, as being a wood simulation and, furthermore, do not possess many of wood's unique and desired visual effects. Such visual effects are caused primarily by real wood's physical structure and surface qualities and cannot be reproduced by printing or photographic means alone.In particular, many finished wood products have visual qualities that change, in reference to the viewer, with the angle of incident light on the surface of the article. This visual effect, which is sometimes known as directional flip, may be noted by the transformation of the area viewed from light to dark shades and vice versa as the angle of incident illumination and/or the angle of view are changed. In addition to the above visual effect, it would be desirable to produce synthetic surfaces that have a sheen or luster and, even on smooth surfaces, a non-surface texture three dimensional effect. These effects are difficult, if not impossible, to duplicate in a printed or photographically reproduced pattern.

U.S. Patent No. 4,310,581 teaches a surface covering article that possesses many of the visual qualities of a wood product which is produced by aligning and embedding a plurality of hollow fibers or metallic fibers on or near the surface of a translucent medium.

U.S. Patent No. 4,303,716 teaches a decorative surface article which possesses woodlike visual qualities which is produced by (1) aligning and embedding a plurality of non-hollow fibers in a flexible translucent binder, (2) curing the binder and (3) subjecting the cured binder to tension which is applied so as to create unidirectionally aligned air pockets which are individually positioned between the fiber's surface and the binder.

It is an object of the present invention to provide decorative articles that contain, in whole or part, many of the visual properties set forth above which can be employed, for example, on flooring, furniture, and countertop surfacing products and which are produced through the use of nonwood materials.

This and other objects as set forth herein have been surprisingly accomplished in an effective manner by producing a composite decorative article which has a solid translucent covering layer and a solid bottom layer. In at least one of these layers, on the surface thereof that is to be in contact with the other layer, there is formed a plurality of aligned grooves By "aligned" is meant substantially parallel. The grooves are then bridged, or covered, by the opposite layer. The end result is a decorative surface which has, embedded therein, a plurality of aligned voids.

These aligned voids simulate the reflective light scattering qualities of wood's fibrous lumen and give the resulting decorative surface product directional flip. Through the use of such aligned voids, there is provided an aestheticaliy attractive, functional, resilient decorative surface article which can be employed, for example, as a floor covering material and which has many of the unique desired visual properties that are discussed above.

The decorative articles [hereinafter simply articles] of the present invention are produced by first applying a plurality of aligned grooves on at least a portion of the surface of either or both of a solid translucent covering layer or a solid bottom layer. The grooves are aligned in a given layer in a unidirectional, as opposed to random orientation, i.e., they are generally parallel. Next, the grooves on the layer(s) ace then bridged by the opposite layer. The article thus formed generally can be described as containing tubular-shaped aligned voids in a plastic matrix. The article has an inner and outer surface, the former associated with the bottom layer and the latter with the translucent covering layer. The article is generally in the form of a film or sheet and may be utilized without modification.In addition, a decorative pattern, either alone or in combination with a wear surface, may be applied, using conventional methods, to the other surface of the article. If the bottom layer is made from a translucent material a decorative pattern may alternatively be applied to the inner surface (that is, the surface of the bottom layer which is not in contact with the covering layer) of the article. The articles of the present invention may be applied to backing materials, e.g. floor tile base or composite board by, for example, heat-pressure transfer or by the use of standard adhesives.

The covering layer, which may be in the form of a film, which is applied to the bottom layer should be composed of a material at least sufficiently translucent so that light will pass freely therethrough and there will be no interference with the light scattering properties of the aligned voids or cavities. Thus, it is understood that the term "translucent" as used herein encompasses transparent and semi-transparent materials. Such materials may also be used as the bottom layer.

For best results, it is preferred that the refractive index of the covering layer should range from about 1.4 to about 1.6, relative to the refractive index of air.

The most preferred method of producing a surface covering article with unidirectionally aligned voids embedded therein is to emboss at least a portion of the bottom layer with unidirectionally aligned grooves and thereafter cover at least the grooved areas of the bottom layer with a translucent covering layer material to thereby seal off the grooves to produce an article containing a plurality of aligned voids or cavities.

Care should be taken, if the covering layer material is at fully cured or is uncured, that such covering layer material does not penetrate, prior to being cured, any of the grooves to any significant degree and thereby hinder the light scattering properties of the voids produced therefrom.

In this preferred method, the transparent covering material may be applied, if desired, only over the grooved portions of the bottom layer.

More commonly, the covering material is applied over the entire bottom layer.

The transparent covering material may be applied in the form of a sheet or film via the use of adhesives or lamination techniques. When using adhesives, care should be taken that such materials do not penetrate the grooves to any significant degree. As stated above, the covering material may be applied in an uncured state, such as in the form of a cross-linkable coating, which typically may be moisture or UV cured. The cure rate and visosity of such materials should be adjusted to insure that gelation of the material occurs before the material can fill up any of the grooves.

The bottom layer and/or the covering layer may be comprised of flowable thermoplastic resin materials such as, for example, plasticized polyvinyl chloride resins, copolymers of vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate or polyvinylidene chloride, and polyolefins, such as polyethylene and propropylene, and polyurethane resins or other thermosetting resin systems. Alternatively, the bottom layer and/or the covering layer may be compounded with coloring agents to thereby increase the number of decorative effects that are possible with the articles of the present invention.

Ultimately, however, the composition of the covering layer material and bottom layer will depend on the specific end use of the decorative surface article. If, for instance, the article will be used on flooring the covering layer should preferably be made from (or itself covered with) a material that is sufficiently strong and durable to withstand a high volume of foot traffic. The only crucial parameter, as stated above, for the covering layer material is that it is sufficiently translucent so that its relative thickness will not be a factor in impeding the light scattering properties of the aligned hollow voids.

As stated above, the composition of the bottom layer will likewise be dependent on the end use of the decorative surface article. For example, if the article is to be used in flooring, the bottom layer can advantageously be composed, for example, of polyvinylchloride cross linked polyesters, for example acrylated polyesters, and cross linked urethanes. Examples of suitable bottom layer materials which may be employed when the articles are used in furniture include cellulose nitrate, particle board and any low pressure laminates. In summary, any solid material which can be grooved is suitable for use in the bottom layer, as long as it is compatible with the intended end use of the decorative article.

For the achievement of the best visual effects, the grooved area (or, put another way, that surface area within which the invention's practitioner is trying to achieve the invention's unique visual effects) of either layer should preferably be, in terms of total area, from 5 percent to 95 percent grooved. The grooves preferably range from 1 mil to 10 mil wide and range in depth from 1 mil to 10 mils (0.04 to 0.4 mm). The minimum length of the grooves is not an important parameter herein. However, the voids formed from the grooves should preferably have, in order to achieve the best visual effects, an aspect ratio of at least 10. The maximum length of the grooves is not critical; in fact, they can be "continuous", i.e., run the length of the finished article.

The shape of the cross section of the groove itself is also not critical. The grooves may, for example, be half circle shaped, V shaped, U shaped or U shaped.

It is understood that a single substrate may have grooves having a variety of shapes and sizes.

As stated above, a decorative pattern may, if desired, be applied to either surface of the article in a number of ways, either before or after the production of the aligned hollow voids. Direct printing or heat transfer techniques, which are well-known in the art, may be employed in such applications. Alternatively, the decorative pattern may be applied to one surface of a thin, transparent protective or wear layer which, to form a decorative wear layer, can then be applied by pressure and heat to the outer surface of the article. The thin protective or weal layer may be, for example, a moisture cure polyurethane, an acrylic resin or a polyester resin, all of which may be bonded to the outer surface of the article, for example, by a heat set adhesive.

As used herein in reference to the article of the present invention, the term "inner surface" refers to the surface of the article that, when applied to a backing material, is closest to such material.

The term "outer surface" refers to the surface of the article that is furthest from such backing material. When a decorative pattern is applied to the outer surface of the article, such a pattern should be semi-transparent at least to the degree that it will now obscure the unique visual effects, such as the light scattering qualities, of the aligned hollow voids.

In another embodiment of this invention, when the bottom layer is composed of a translucent material, the decorative pattern can be applied directly to the backing material. The decorative article of the invention is then applied on top of the decorative pattern. If desired, a complementary decorative pattern may then be applied to the outer surface of the article.

Example 1 A silicone rubber mold was prepared by casting a fully compounded silicone rubber liquid onto a metal embossing plate having 59 continuous U shaped grooves per inch (23 per cm), which ranged from 5 to 10 mils (0.2 to 0.4 mm) deep.

The liquid was then allowed to cure to thereby form the silicone rubber mold.

A UY curable acrylic coating was then applied to the silicone rubber mold. The coating was UV cured and thereafter stripped off the mold. The resulting transparent grooved sheet was approximately 1 5 mils (0.6 mm) thick, 30 cm long and 20 cm wide.

A transparent adhesive-backed polyester film was laminated to the grooved side of the sheet resulting in a composite surface covering article possessing continuous aligned cavities filled with air. The article-displayed directional flip and three dimensionality.

Example 2 A rigid transparent acetate sheet, 7 mil (0.28 mm) thick, 20 cm long and 10 cm wide was grooved by moving a coarse grit sandpaper, 80 grit, across one surface of the sheet. The grooving operation is performed so that the grooves are as parallel as possible and cover the whole surface of the sheet. There were approximately 250 grooves per inch (100 per cm), ranging in depth from 3 to 5 mils (0.12 to 0.2 mm), across the sheet's width.

A transparent adhesive backed polyester film was laminated to the grooved surface of the sheet. The resulting article had continuous aligned voids and demonstrated directional flip and three dimensionality.

Claims

1. A process for producing a composite decorative article that has a solid translucent covering layer and a solid bottom layer, which process comprises forming in at least one of the layers on the surface thereof that is to be in contact with the opposite layer, a plurality of grooves which are aligned in an unidirectional orientation, and thereafter bridging the grooves with the opposite layer to thereby form a composite decorative article having unidirectionally aligned voids embedded therein.

2. The process of claim 1 wherein the grooves are only applied to the bottom layer.

3. The process of claim 1 comprising the additional step of applying a decorative pattern on top of the covering layer.

4. The process of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a translucent protective layer is applied on top of the covering layer.

5. The process of claim 4 wherein the translucent protective layer is applied on top of the decorative pattern.

6. The process of any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the bottom layer is composed of a translucent material.

7. The process of any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the bottom layer is composed of a thermoplastic resin.

8. The process of any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the covering layer is composed of a thermoplastic resin.

9. The process of any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the covering layer has a refractive index of from about 1.4 to about 1.6, relative to air.

10. A composite decorative article which is comprised of a solid translucent covering layer and a solid bottom layer wherein at least one of said layers has, on the surface that is in contact with the opposite layer, a plurality of unidirectionally aligned grooves, the layers being combined so that the grooves in either layer are bridged by the opposite layer thereby forming a composite decorative article having unidirectionally aligned voids embedded therein.

1 The article of claim 10, wherein only the bottom layer is grooved.

12. The article of claim 10 or claim 11, wherein the bottom layer is composed of a translucent material.

13. The article of any one of claims 10 to 12, wherein the bottom layer is composed of a thermoplastic resin.

14. The article of any one of claims 10 to 13 wherein the bottom layer has a refractive index of from 1.4 to 1.6, relative to the refractive index of air.

15. The article of any one of claims 10 to 14, wherein the covering layer has a refractive index of from 1.4 to

1.6 relative to air.

1 6. A flooring material comprising the composite decorative article of any one of claims 10 to 15, joined to a floor tile base.

1 7. A composite decorative article, substantially as described in either of the examples herein.

18. A process as claimed in claim 1, carried out substantially as described in either of the examples herein.

1 9. A composite decorative article, produced by the process of any one of claims 1 to 9 or 18.