Resilient flooring product and methods of making same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12203276-B2
Application number	US-202318339499-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 22, 2023
Priority date	Sep 23, 2016
Publication date	Jan 21, 2025
Grant date	Jan 21, 2025

Abstract

Described herein are resilient floor coverings produced by using digitally printed UV-cured inks and exhibiting high adhesion properties between an ink layer and a wear layer. Also described herein are methods for manufacturing same. This abstract is intended as a scanning tool for purposes of searching in the particular art and is not intended to be limiting of the present invention.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A resilient floor covering comprising:
a backing portion having a first surface and a second surface, wherein the second surface of the backing portion is opposed to the first surface of the backing portion;
a decorative portion having a first surface and a second surface, wherein the second surface of the decorative portion is opposed to the first surface of the decorative portion,
wherein the decorative portion overlies the backing portion such that at least a portion of the second surface of the decorative portion contacts at least a portion of the first surface of the backing portion,
wherein the decorative portion comprises a substrate layer and an UV cured ink layer that overlies at least a portion of the substrate layer, and
wherein the UV cured ink layer is disposed adjacent to a portion of the first surface of the decorative portion and at least a portion of the substrate layer is disposed adjacent at least a portion of the second surface of the decorative portion;

a tie layer comprising an adhesive composition,
wherein the adhesive composition comprises hot melt polyurethane, and
wherein the tie layer substantially overlies the decorative portion such that at least a portion of the tie layer adheres to the first surface of the decorative portion;

a wear layer substantially overlying the tie layer such that at least a portion of the wear layer contacts and adheres to at least a portion of the tie layer; and
a scratch layer disposed above and adhered to the wear layer, wherein the scratch layer is a UV cured layer.

2. The resilient floor covering of claim 1 , wherein the substrate layer comprises oriented polypropylene (OPP), polyolefin (PO), woven polyethylene (PE), nonwoven PE, woven polypropylene (PP), nonwoven PP, woven PET, nonwoven PET, woven nylon, nonwoven nylon, paper, foil, foiled oriented polypropylene, a heat stabilized biaxially-oriented PET (BoPET), amorphous PET (aPET), recycled PET (rPET), polyethylene terephthlate glycol-modified (PETG), cyclic olefin copolymer (COC), cyclic olefin polymer (COP), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), polylactic acid (PLA) copolymers, nylon, cellulose acetate, poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), thermoplastic elastomers (TPS), polycarbonate, polyethylene (PE), or a copolymer thereof.

3. The resilient floor covering of claim 1 , wherein the substrate layer is a whitened substrate layer.

4. The resilient floor covering of claim 1 , wherein the substrate layer has a thickness of 1 mil to 20 mil.

5. The resilient floor covering of claim 1 , wherein the backing portion comprises a single backing layer.

6. The resilient floor covering of claim 1 , wherein the backing portion comprises a plurality of backing layers.

7. The resilient floor covering of claim 6 , wherein the backing portion is an extruded backing portion.

8. The resilient floor covering of claim 1 , further comprising a balancing layer disposed on at least a portion of the second surface of the backing portion.

9. The resilient floor covering of claim 1 , wherein the backing portion comprises a polyester, a polyamide, a polyolefin, a polyurethane, or any combination thereof.

10. The resilient floor covering of claim 1 , wherein the backing portion comprises a low-density polyethylene (LDPE), linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), ethylene methacrylate (EMA), ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), polyethylene-polypropylene (PE-PP) rubber, conventional thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs), conventional thermoplastic olefins (TPOs), alpha-olefin polyethylene co-polymers, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), ethylene butyl acrylate (EBA), ethylene-octene copolymer, high density polyethylene (HDPE), and heterogeneously branched ultra-low density polyethylene (ULDPE), or any combination thereof.

11. The resilient floor covering of claim 1 , wherein the backing portion comprises a filler component.

12. The resilient floor covering of claim 1 , wherein the UV cured ink layer is applied by at least one of rotogravure printing, flexography printing, lithography printing, offset-lithography printing, relief printing, thermography printing, thermal sublimation printing, dye-sublimation printing, heat-transfer printing, and digital printing.

13. The resilient floor covering of claim 1 , wherein the wear layer can exhibit a pull value greater than 3 pounds as determined by ASTM 3936 with 1 ″ by 6″ strip pulled at a rate of 2″/min for a pull distance of 2.

14. The resilient floor covering of claim 1 , wherein the wear layer comprises at least one of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyurethane, polypropylene, polytrimethylene terephthalate (PTT), nylon 6, nylon 6,6, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), surlyn resin, heat stabilized biaxially-oriented PET (BoPET), amorphous PET (aPET), recycled PET (rPET), polyethylene terephthalate glycol-modified (PETG), polyolefin, cyclic olefin copolymer (COC), cyclic olefin polymer (COP), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), polylactic acid (PLA) copolymers, nylon, cellulose acetate, poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), thermoplastic elastomers (TPE), polycarbonate, polyethylene (PE), high density polyethylene (HDPE), and low density polyethylene (LDPE).

15. A floor covering comprising:
a backing portion having a first surface and a second surface, wherein the second surface of the backing portion is opposed to the first surface of the backing portion;
a decorative portion having a first surface and a second surface,
wherein the second surface of the decorative portion is opposed to the first surface of the decorative portion,
wherein the decorative portion overlies the backing portion such that at least a portion of the second surface of the decorative portion contacts at least a portion of the first surface of the backing portion,
wherein the decorative portion comprises a substrate layer and an UV cured ink layer that overlies at least a portion of the substrate layer, and
wherein at least a portion of the UV cured ink layer is disposed adjacent at least a portion of the first surface of the decorative portion;

a tie layer comprising an adhesive composition,
wherein the adhesive composition comprises a polyurethane-based adhesive;

and wherein the tie layer substantially overlies the decorative portion such that at least a portion of the tie layer adheres to the decorative portion; and
a wear layer substantially overlying the tie layer such that at least a portion of the wear layer contacts and adheres to at least a portion of the tie layer; and
a scratch layer disposed above and adhered to the wear layer, the scratch layer being a UV-cured layer,
wherein the wear layer exhibits a pull value greater than about 5 pounds as determined by ASTM 3936 with a 1-inch by 6-inch strip pulled at a rate of 2 inch/min for a pull distance of 2 inches.

16. The floor covering of claim 15 , further comprising a balancing layer disposed on the second surface of the backing portion.

17. The floor covering of claim 15 , further comprising:
another substrate disposed between the tie layer and the decorative portion, wherein the other substrate is a primer coating layer; and
another primer coating layer disposed between the wear layer and the scratch layer, wherein the scratch layer is adhered to the wear layer by the other primer coating layer.

18. The floor covering of claim 15 , further comprising another substrate disposed between the tie layer and the decorative portion, wherein the other substrate is a primer coating.

19. The floor cov

Assignees

• Columbia Insurance Co

Inventors

• Odum Tom
• Vecsey Jay
• Wright Jeff

Classifications

• G01B11/24

  for measuring contours or curvatures · CPC title

• E04F15/00

  Flooring (stair treads E04F11/104; coverings not specially adapted for floors E04F13/00; borders, skirtings E04F19/02; {implements for laying flooring E04F21/20;} gratings for cleaning soles of footwear A47L23/24; {built-in gratings E04F19/10; removing floor coverings E04G23/00; carpets A47G27/00;} of similar materials to roads E01C; basic or rough floors {, structural floors} E04B5/00) · CPC title

• B32B27/00

  Layered products comprising {a layer of} synthetic resin {(fibrous or filamentary layer made of a synthetic resin B32B5/02; particulate layer made of a synthetic resin B32B5/16; foamed layer made of a synthetic resin B32B5/18)} · CPC title

• G06T2200/08

  involving all processing steps from image acquisition to 3D model generation · CPC title

• G06T17/00

  Three-dimensional [3D] modelling for computer graphics · CPC title