Method for manufacturing a floor covering

Abstract

A method for manufacturing a floor covering involves leading a glass fiber matt 1 from a supply reel 2 onto a conveyor belt 3. At a first scattering station 4, a saturation material is scattered onto the matt 1 to form a scattered layer. The matt 1 is then led between upper and lower heated belts 10, 11 to gel the scattered layer. The belts are then passed between a pair of smoothing / nipping rollers to form a layer of uniform thickness. The belts are then cooled and the matt 1 with saturation layer applied is wound for further processing. In an alternative arrangement a saturation material is scattered directly onto a substrate belt at the first scattering station 4, a glass fiber matt 26, is applied over the scattered material and, at a second scattering station 28, an amount of the saturation material or a different material is scattered onto the matt 26.

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a method for manufacturing a floor covering and in particular to a method for manufacturing a polymeric, for example, a vinyl floor covering.

[0002] In conventional manufacturing processes for cushion vinyl floor covering, a glassmat tissue or mineral felt is used as the base carrier material. In a first step in the process, the glassmat tissue is saturated with a PVC plastisol material which is applied to the mat using a knife and / or application roller. The plastisol is then gelled on a hot chrome plated drum to provide a smooth solid surface.

[0003] A basecoat in the form of a foamable plastisol is applied using a knife or roller to a coating thickness of typically 300 g / m.sup.2. This basecoat is also gelled on a hot gel drum to produce a smooth surface which is suitable for printing. A design is then printed on the gelled basecoat, typically using a rotogravure method in which a design / coloration is printed using a sequence of printing cylinders. To ...

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