Decorative Panel Hard UV Coating Scratch Resistance
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Resilient flooring panels face challenges in achieving effective scratch resistance, with conventional thermoplastic wear layers being soft and prone to scratches, despite their UV filtering properties.
Innovation Solution
A decorative panel design featuring a substrate with a Shore D hardness of at least 80 and a textured, crosslinked coating layer with a Shore D hardness of at least 85, applied directly on the substrate's surface, eliminating the need for a separate wear layer and enhancing scratch resistance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If a soft thermoplastic wear layer is used, then UV filtering function is provided, but scratch resistance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the soft thermoplastic wear layer entirely from the flooring structure. Instead of using a separate wear layer made of plasticized PVC, the invention applies a hard UV-cured coating layer directly onto the decorative layer, thereby extracting the problematic soft layer while maintaining UV protection through the hard coating's inherent properties
Solution Approach 2:
The invention merges the protective function and UV filtering function into a single hard UV-cured coating layer. This coating layer simultaneously provides scratch resistance, abrasion resistance, and UV filtering capabilities, eliminating the need for a separate soft thermoplastic wear layer that compromised scratch resistance
2Shape
If a hard coating layer is applied to improve scratch resistance, then texture depth capability is improved, but the need for separate wear layer increases complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The invention combines multiple functions (protective coating, UV filtering, and texture carrier) into a single integrated hard UV-cured coating layer. This merger eliminates the need for separate wear layers and reduces overall structural complexity while enabling deep texture application directly into the coating layer itself
Solution Approach 2:
The hard UV-cured coating layer serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides scratch and abrasion resistance, acts as a UV filter, and serves as the medium for creating surface textures. This multi-functionality reduces the number of separate components needed in the flooring structure
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The combination provides superior scratch resistance, meeting or exceeding laminate flooring standards, while maintaining other performance characteristics like microscratch and stain resistance, and allowing for deep surface textures without compromising abrasion resistance.
Implementation Method 1
The finishing layer of wood-based and polymeric flooring panels in particular are generally sprayer-, roller- or curtain-applied ultraviolet-cured coatings (UV coatings)
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a decorative panel, comprising at least one substrate comprising an upper surface and a bottom surface and two pairs of opposing side edges, wherein the substrate comprises at least one core layer and at least one decorative layer and the panel comprising at least one coating layer, wherein the coating layer is provided upon the upper surface of the substrate.