FLOOR OR WALL COVERING

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for manufacturing a floor or wall covering comprising at least one layer composed of at least one plastic material and at least one mineral filler, characterized in that it consists of using mineral waste as mineral filler.

Description

Title of the invention: FLOOR OR WALL COVERING Technical field

[0001] The invention relates to the technical field of floor and wall coverings which may be in the form of a roll or in the form of a panel, a slab, a strip, or the like.

[0002] The invention relates in particular to a method for manufacturing a floor or wall covering comprising a plastic material such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and a mineral filler having a reduced environmental impact compared to the prior art. The floor or wall covering according to the invention may consist of a layer to form a homogeneous floor covering or several layers bonded together to form a heterogeneous floor covering. The invention also relates to the corresponding floor or wall covering. Prior art

[0003] The compositions for obtaining floor and wall coverings from a plastic material generally comprise a polymer, such as PVC, optionally plasticized, as well as mineral filler. The mineral filler makes it possible in particular to modify the properties of the plastic material used. In the case of PVC, the mineral filler commonly used is, for example, calcium carbonate.

[0004] The addition of mineral fillers makes it possible in particular to improve the resistance to expansion and puncture of a layer obtained from PVC. The layer obtained is also stiffened depending on the filler content of the composition.

[0005] These fillers used in the manufacture of floor and wall coverings from plastic materials all come from extraction processes in quarries or mines. This operation involves a significant consumption of virgin and non-renewable material. The extraction of these fillers also causes significant nuisances in the direct environment of the extraction site, in particular large quantities of dust, noise, as well as a strong visual impact for many years following the exploitation of a site. On the other hand, the extraction and transport of these mineral fillers by road emits a significant quantity of CO2 which contributes heavily to the carbon footprint of the coverings using them.

[0006] Producers of floor and wall coverings are therefore looking for solutions to reduce the impact of their products on the environment, from the moment they are manufactured and throughout their lifespan. Statement of the invention

[0007] One of the aims of the invention is therefore to reduce the environmental impact of a floor or wall covering obtained from a composition comprising a plastic material and a mineral filler while maintaining satisfactory mechanical and usage properties. The invention aims in particular to reduce the extraction of virgin material and the CO2 impact linked to the manufacture of the floor or wall covering.

[0008] For this purpose, a method has been developed for manufacturing a floor or wall covering comprising at least one layer composed of at least one plastic material and at least one mineral filler, which consists of using mineral waste as the mineral filler.

[0009] Mineral waste may in particular be obtained from a recycling process, for example a process for recycling waste from the construction industry or from the operation of quarries or mines. Mineral waste may also be obtained from scrap or waste from processes for cutting or transforming virgin ore. Mineral waste is a recycled mineral filler in the sense that it comes from a second use of waste containing a mineral filler at the end of its life or from a mineral filler at the end of its life or from the revaluation of scrap or waste of mineral filler.

[0010] The invention therefore allows a reduction in the CO2 footprint of the coating and its production process, a reduction in visual and auditory pollution, dust emissions and degradation of resources by using a resource previously abandoned in illegal dumps or intended for landfill. By integrating this mineral waste or recycled mineral fillers, the proportion of recycled resources in the floor or wall covering is thus increased and the environmental impact reduced.

[0011] The invention also relates to a floor or wall covering resulting from the manufacturing method according to the invention.

[0012] Preferably, the floor or wall covering according to the invention has a layer comprising a mineral waste obtained by coating, for example consisting of a gelled plastisol.

[0013] More particularly, the mineral waste that can be used according to the invention is a recycled waste according to the definition of standard ISO 14021:2016, for example a recycled mineral filler.

[0014] Advantageously, the composition of the layer comprising mineral waste also comprises a virgin mineral filler.

[0015] Advantageously, the composition of the layer comprising mineral waste also comprises a plant and / or synthetic filler.

[0016] In order to use mineral waste in the composition of a layer according to the invention, it may be necessary to carry out treatment by crushing, grinding, possibly washing, micronization, possibly drying, and sorting by size to obtain a particle size distribution adapted to the processes for implementing floor or wall coverings, and to the expected usage properties. The aim of these operations is to achieve particle sizes that can be integrated into compositions and processes for obtaining floor and wall coverings from plastic compositions.

[0017] The mineral waste preferably has a particle size of between 5 and 500 microns based on D98 measurements, preferably between 5 and 250 microns, and even more preferably between 10 and 100 microns depending on the method of implementing the compositions including these recycled fillers. The D98 corresponds to the particle size for which 98% of the sample is below this dimension.

[0018] The composition of the layer comprising a mineral waste according to the invention comprises between 5 and 75%, preferably between 15 and 60% by weight of mineral waste relative to the weight of the layer so as to retain good properties of resistance to traffic and expansion.

[0019] The floor or wall covering according to the invention has a layer comprising a mineral waste which can be obtained by a pressing, calendering or extrusion process.

[0020] The plastic materials that can be used in the composition of the layer comprising mineral waste are, for example, polyolefins (PE, PP), PVC, PVB, PLA, TPU, cellulose derivatives, elastomers, alone or in mixtures.

[0021] Alternatively, a plastic material that can be used in the composition of the layer comprising a mineral waste comprises linoleum.

[0022] Advantageously, the composition of the layer comprising mineral waste also comprises crushed recycled floor or wall coverings, preferably crushed coverings obtained from PVC. Detailed description of the invention

[0023] The invention therefore relates to a method for manufacturing a floor or wall covering comprising at least one layer composed of at least one plastic material and at least one mineral filler, which consists of using mineral waste as mineral filler.

[0024] More particularly, the mineral waste comes from a recycling process or comes from scrap or rejects.

[0025] The invention also relates to a floor covering resulting from the manufacturing method according to the invention.

[0026] Mineral waste can be obtained in particular from mineral waste from the deconstruction of buildings, plaster, bricks, tiles, ceramics. This waste is usually collected on site and then used as backfill or even abandoned or buried. However, by a process of crushing, grinding and sorting by size, it is possible to integrate this waste into floor or wall coverings as mineral waste or recycled mineral fillers.

[0027] Mineral waste can also be obtained from excavated earth from excavation sites or foundations during construction or rehabilitation sites or from cleaning operations in navigable areas or bodies of water.

[0028] A process for integrating these mineral wastes may also include a step of separating the metals from the mineral wastes in order to avoid their integration into the manufacturing process of the floor or wall covering. The metals in fact present a significant risk of degradation for the pressing, calendering, extrusion or coating processes.

[0029] A method of integrating this mineral waste may also include a step of decontaminating the mineral waste in order to avoid its integration into the floor or wall covering manufacturing process. This step may, for example, include sorting by size and / or decantation.

[0030] Mineral waste can also be obtained from quarry waste and scrap, particularly marble, as well as installation or manufacturing offcuts from the marble industry. It has been noted in particular that a significant quantity of waste and offcuts are generated by this industry, starting from the extraction stage, where 70 to 80% of the extracted material is discarded. Indeed, since marble is primarily sought after for its visual appearance, many extracted and cut blocks do not meet the selection criteria allowing their use as facing or ornamental stone and have unacceptable appearance defects. These discarded blocks as well as the cutting offcuts are therefore already extracted from the quarry but usually unusable.

[0031] The invention therefore allows a reduction in the CO2 footprint of the coating and its production process, a reduction in visual and auditory pollution, dust emissions and degradation of resources by using a resource previously intended for burial or abandoned in the form of unstable mounds, likely to cause landslides, particularly in the event of severe weather. By integrating this mineral waste, the proportion of recycled resources used in the floor or wall covering is thus increased.

[0032] The mineral waste that can be used according to the invention has a recycled character according to the definition of standard ISO 14021:2016.

[0033] This standard defines a recycled resource as a characteristic of a product, packaging or associated component that can be diverted from a usual waste stream through available processes and programs and can be collected, processed and reused as raw materials.

[0034] Preferably, the floor or wall covering according to the invention has a layer using mineral waste as a mineral filler obtained by coating, for example consisting of a gelled plastisol.

[0035] The invention is indeed of more particular interest in the case of a process for obtaining a PVC layer comprising mineral waste by coating and then gelling a plastisol. Indeed, unlike calendering, pressing or extrusion processes, plastisol coating processes do not allow for the direct incorporation into the plastisol of crushed recycled coatings originating from installation waste or other sources. The plastisol is by definition not gelled upstream of the layer manufacturing process and has a viscosity that is difficult to reconcile with a mixture containing already gelled plastic granules or shavings. In a plastisol, the introduction of recycled PVC or products obtained from recycled PVC, even micronized, considerably increases the viscosity of the plastisols, making it difficult to apply them by coating using a doctor blade in particular.The invention therefore also relates to a composition for producing a plastisol from PVC comprising a mineral waste, the mineral waste which can be used according to the invention having, for example, a recycled character according to the definition of standard ISO 14021:2016. The invention thus allows the production of layers and coatings obtained from coating processes whose environmental footprint is reduced.

[0036] Advantageously, the composition of the layer comprising a mineral waste also comprises a virgin mineral filler. This filler is for example chosen from clays, silica, kaolin, talc, chalk, lime, talc, calcium carbonate, alone or in combination.

[0037] Advantageously, the composition of said layer also comprises a plant and / or synthetic filler.

[0038] In order to use a mineral waste in the composition of a layer comprising a mineral waste according to the invention, it may be necessary to carry out a treatment by crushing, grinding, possibly washing, micronization, possibly drying, and sorting the mineral waste by size. The purpose of these operations is to make it possible to achieve particle sizes that can be integrated into compositions and processes for obtaining floor and wall coverings from plastic materials.

[0039] The mineral waste preferably has a particle size of between 5 and 500 microns based on D98 measurements, preferably between 5 and 250 microns, and even more preferably between 10 and 100 microns depending on the implementation process of the compositions including these recycled fillers. This makes it possible in particular to guarantee a viscosity adapted to the implementation process, to facilitate dispersion in a given composition, to reduce the risks of sedimentation and / or segregation in compositions prepared in advance, in particular in liquid PVC plastisol compositions. On the other hand, the particle size of the recycled fillers has an impact on the mechanical properties of floor coverings, in particular their rigidity, strength and breaking stress. A good particle size also makes it possible to avoid the formation of appearance defects, in particular in calendered or coated layers of thin thickness, for example between 0.1 and 2 mm or even between 0.1 and 1 mm.Finally, a good particle size allows for optimizing usage performance, in particular the resistance to breakage of assembly means machined on the edges of slab or strip coverings. D98 corresponds to the particle size for which 98% of the sample is below the indicated dimension.

[0040] Advantageously, the composition of the layer comprising mineral waste comprises between 5 and 75%, preferably between 15 and 60% by weight of mineral waste relative to the weight of the layer. The greater the quantity of recycled filler, the lower the environmental impact. However, depending on its origin, it may be difficult to integrate more than 60% of recycled filler without resorting to sorting processes that are costly in terms of time and energy.

[0041] The floor or wall covering according to the invention has a layer comprising a mineral waste which can be obtained by a pressing, calendering or extrusion process through a flat die.

[0042] In the case of PVC, processes that can be used are also the pressing of granules made from a composition comprising PVC and a mineral waste and mixed hot and gelled or by coating PVC with plastisol.

[0043] The calendering, extrusion or pressing processes have the advantage of allowing the incorporation of crushed material from coating installation waste or crushed material from coatings deposited following their renewal. For this purpose, the waste or coatings are recovered, crushed and then integrated into granules or chips in the composition upstream of the calendering, pressing or extrusion processes. According to the invention, the composition of the layer comprising a mineral waste advantageously comprises crushed material or granules from floor or wall coverings, in particular PVC floor or wall coverings. Depending on the quantity of recycled material introduced, the environmental footprint of the layer obtained is reduced accordingly.

[0044] The plastic materials that can be used in the composition of the layer comprising mineral waste are, for example, polyolefins (PE, PP), PVC, PVB, PLA, TPU, cellulose derivatives, elastomers, alone or in mixtures. Alternatively, the plastic material that can be used in the composition of the layer comprising mineral waste comprises linoleum.

[0045] The floor or wall covering according to the invention may consist of a layer comprising mineral waste to form a homogeneous floor covering or several layers bonded together to form a heterogeneous floor covering, at least one of the layers comprising mineral waste.

[0046] According to a particular embodiment, the floor or wall covering according to the invention only comprises said layer comprising mineral waste so as to form a homogeneous floor covering.

[0047] According to a particular embodiment, said layer comprising a mineral waste comprises a face, which face is bonded to at least one backing layer. In this way, a heterogeneous floor covering is obtained.

[0048] A comparative example of a floor covering in the form of a roll intended to be glued to the floor during installation is presented below.

[0049] The floor covering is a multi-layer covering composed successively and from the lower layer, intended to be in contact with the floor, to the upper layer, intended to be in contact with the user: a compact backing layer called smoothing compact (CL), a semi-finished product (CLCD) comprising a compact impregnation layer (CI), a glass veil and a printed compact decorative layer (CD). This decorative layer (CD) is then covered with an unfilled transparent wear layer (CU), itself varnished. The transparent wear layer is obtained by coating and gelling an unfilled plasticized PVC plastisol. The semi-finished product is obtained from the coating and gelling on each face of a glass veil of the compact impregnation (CI) and compact decorative (CD) layers from plasticized PVC plastisol comprising a mineral filler.The compact smoothing layer (CL) is obtained by coating and gelling a plasticized PVC plastisol comprising a mineral filler.

[0050] The transparent wear layer has a thickness of 0.1 mm, the decorative compact (CD) of 0.2 mm, the impregnation compact (CI) of 0.6 mm, the smoothing compact (CL) of 0.6 mm. The glass veil is embedded in the thickness of the semi-finished product (CLCD). The thickness of the varnish is less than 100 m.

[0051] This floor covering is therefore obtained by a multi-layer coating process in several stages.

[0052] For this comparative example, the usage performances of a reference floor covering obtained with a smoothing compact of formula A are compared with those of a floor covering according to the invention in which the smoothing compact comprises a mineral waste in the form of recycled marble of formula B. Formulas A and B of the smoothing compacts are summarized in Table 1. [Tables 1] Formula A Formula B Part Percent of Resin Percentage by mass Part Percent of Resin Percentage by mass Plasticizers 60.81 21.87 60.8 21.9 Additives 2.26 0.81 2.3 0.8 PVC 100 35.96 100 36.0 Virgin limestone 115 41.36 Recycled marble 115 41.36 TOTAL FORMULA 278.1 100.0 278.1 100.0

[0053] For formulas A and B, the following additives will be found: thermal stabilizers and co-stabilizers, pigment and process aids. The recycled marble used has a D98 of 150 pm and a D50 of 35 pm.

[0054] The performances of the coatings obtained with formulas A and B are summarized in Table 2. [Tables 2] Characteristics Units Floor covering including a smoothing compact according to Formula A Floor covering including a smoothing compact according to Formula B Torsional flexibility O 66.6 62.8 Ease of cutting daN 2.16 2.34 Punching 2h30 (ISO 243 43-1 June 2007) mm 0.03 0.03 Tear (NF EN ISO 24345 April 2012) daN 7.8 7.7 CLCD adhesion (NF EN ISO 24345 April 2012) daN / cm 1.02 1.04 Elongation (NF EN ISO 142 1 December 2017) % 132 152 Breaking load (NF EN IS 0 1421 December 2017) daN / 2cm 23.6 25.7 Modulus of elasticity (QB 30 -Ml-Ueatc July 2015) daN / cm 4.35 4.41 N / mm2 2.17 2.21 Spontaneous curvature 6h at 80° C (NF EN ISO 23999 August 20 18) mm 2.6 2.5 Dimensional stability (NF EN ISO 239 99 August 2018) Direction Ion g % -0.04 -0.04 Cross direction -0.05 -0.07

[0055] Table 2 shows that the floor covering according to the invention has very good performance in use of a coated floor covering, compared to the reference floor of the same architecture, but produced with a smoothing complex containing a calcium carbonate obtained by the exploitation of a limestone quarry generating noise nuisance and pollution.

[0056] In comparison, the recycled marble used in formula B comes from the micronization of primary mining waste from a marble quarry (non-compliant blocks, offcuts from the production of ornamental objects, etc.), and therefore avoided intentionally blowing up or further digging a cliff for the sole purpose of producing a fine load. The revalorization of these by-products therefore avoided further irreversible exploitation of a natural resource that is non-renewable on the human timescale. It also made it possible to avoid the significant and difficult-to-manage accumulation of enormous quantities of marble offcuts previously left in the quarry, and likely to cause serious accidents in the event of a landslide.

Claims

Claims

1. Method for manufacturing a floor or wall covering comprising at least one layer of PVC obtained by coating then gelling a plastisol, and comprising at least one mineral filler, characterized in that it consists of using a mineral waste as mineral filler, said mineral waste having a particle size of between 5 and 500 microns based on D98 measurements, preferably between 5 and 250 microns, and even more preferably between 10 and 100 microns.

2. A method of manufacturing a floor or wall covering according to claim 1, characterized in that, in order to use the mineral waste as a mineral filler, a step of drying the mineral waste is carried out.

3. Method of manufacturing a floor or wall covering according to claim 1, characterized in that the mineral waste comes from a recycling process.

4. Method of manufacturing a floor or wall covering according to claim 1, characterized in that the mineral waste comes from offcuts or scrap.

5. Floor or wall covering resulting from the manufacturing process according to one of claims 1 to 4.

6. Floor or wall covering according to claim 5, characterized in that the mineral waste has a recycled character according to the definition of standard ISO 14021:2016.

7. Floor or wall covering according to claim 5, characterized in that the composition of the layer also comprises a virgin and / or vegetable and / or synthetic mineral filler.

8. Floor or wall covering according to claim 5, characterized in that the composition of the layer comprises between 5 and 75%, preferably between 15 and 60% by weight of mineral waste.