Linoleum floor covering

Abstract

The present invention provides a linoleum floor covering comprising: a first layer of cured linoleum composition; a second layer of cured linoleum composition, and a reinforcement layer having multiple through openings arranged between the first layer and the second layer,
wherein a combined surface area of the through openings is at least 50% of the total surface are of the reinforcement layer,
wherein the first layer and second layer are adhered to each other through the through openings, and
wherein the reinforcement layer is made of knitted material.

Claims

1. A linoleum floor covering comprising: a first layer of cured linoleum composition; a second layer of cured linoleum composition, and a reinforcement layer having multiple through openings arranged between the first layer and the second layer, wherein a combined surface area of the through openings is at least 50% of the total surface area of the reinforcement layer, wherein the first layer and second layer are adhered to each other through the through openings, and wherein the reinforcement layer is made of knitted material.

2. The linoleum floor covering of claim 1, wherein the reinforcement layer is made of a warp knitted mesh comprising several yarns in which wales and courses run roughly parallel to itself, wherein each wale is a column of loops corresponding to the first direction of the reinforcement layer and each course is a meandering row of loops moving both with the first direction of the wale and in a second direction of the reinforcement layer, interlocking to the wale loops at each crossing and connecting the individual columns of wale loops to each other.

3. The linoleum floor covering of claim 1, wherein each individual through opening has a surface area of 1 mm.sup.2 to 10 mm.sup.2.

4. The linoleum floor covering of claim 1, wherein the through openings are distributed in a regular pattern over the reinforcement layer.

5. The linoleum floor covering of claim 1, wherein the reinforcement layer has a constant thickness.

6. The linoleum floor covering of claim 1, wherein a maximum thickness of the reinforcement layer is in the range of 0.05 to 0.5 mm.

7. The linoleum floor covering of claim 1, wherein the mass percentage of the reinforcement layer is maximally 3% of the total weight of the linoleum floor covering.

8. The linoleum floor covering of claim 1, wherein the reinforcement layer has a first tensile strength in a first direction and a second tensile strength in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, wherein the first tensile strength is lamer than the second tensile strength,

9. The linoleum floor covering of claim 1, wherein the linoleum floor covering is a shaped as a tile or a panel.

10. The linoleum floor covering of claim 1, wherein the reinforcement layer is made of a non-porous material.

11. The linoleum floor covering of claim 1, wherein the reinforcement layer is free of adhesive material to adhere the first layer and/or the second layer to the reinforcement layer.

12. The linoleum floor covering of claim 1, wherein a hydrophobicity of the reinforcement layer is the same or lamer than a hydrophobicity of the first and second layer.

13. The linoleum floor covering of claim 1, wherein the linoleum floor covering comprises a third layer of cured linoleum composition, wherein the third layer is arranged on the first layer or the second layer at a side opposite to the reinforcement layer.

14. The linoleum floor covering of claim 1, wherein the reinforcement layer has a mass of less than 100 g/m.sup.2.

15. A method for manufacturing of a linoleum floor covering comprising the steps of: providing a reinforcement layer having multiple through openings wherein the reinforcement layer is made of knitted material; applying a first layer of a linoleum composition at a first side of the reinforcement layer; applying a second layer of a linoleum composition at a second side of the reinforcement layer, wherein during the step of applying the second layer, the first layer and the second layer are adhered to each other through the openings in the reinforcement layer; and curing the first layer and the second layer of linoleum composition so as to form a linoleum sheet in which the first layer and the second layer are bonded together, wherein the reinforcement layer is enclosed between the first layer and the second layer.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the method comprises the step of providing a further layer on the linoleum sheet.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of providing a further layer on the linoleum sheet comprises the step of printing on the linoleum sheet.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of providing a further layer on the linoleum sheet comprises the step of laminating the further layer on the linoleum sheet.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the further layer is an acoustic layer and/or a self-adhesive layer.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the method comprises the step of cutting or punching tiles or panels from the linoleum sheet.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0062] Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying schematic drawings, in which:

[0063] FIG. 1 shows an schematic cross-section of a linoleum floor covering according to an embodiment of the invention;

[0064] FIG. 2 shows a cross section of the reinforcement layer of the schematic embodiment of FIG. 1; and

[0065] FIG. 3 discloses an example of a reinforcement layer according to an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0066] FIG. 1 shows schematically an embodiment of a linoleum floor covering 1 generally denoted by reference numeral 1. The linoleum floor covering 1 comprises a first layer 2 of cured linoleum composition and a second layer 3 of cured linoleum composition. A reinforcement layer 4 is arranged between the first layer 2 and the second layer 3. The general advantage of such construction is that the reinforcement layer 4 is arranged between the first layer 2 and the second layer 3 which improves the dimensional stability and flexibility of the linoleum floor covering 1.

[0067] It is possible that the linoleum floor covering 1 comprises one or more additional layers on the first layer 2 and/or the second layer 3 at a side opposite to the reinforcement layer 4. One or more additional layers 6 on top of the second layer 3 are, as an example, indicated by dashed lines in FIG. 1.

[0068] The one or more additional layers 6 may comprise an additional layer made of any suitable material to provide a desired function or characteristic to the linoleum floor covering 1. This additional layer 6 may for example be a primer layer to provide a flat top surface, a printed layer and/or a wear-resistant coating on the top side of the second layer 3. Correspondingly, an acoustic layer and/or a self-adhesive layer may be arranged on the bottom side of the first layer 2. The acoustic layer may be provided to increase noise damping properties of the linoleum floor covering. A self-adhesive layer may be provided to facilitate the application of the linoleum floor covering on a sub-floor.

[0069] The one or more additional layers 6 may also comprise an additional layer made a cured linoleum composition. For example, an additional layer made of a cured linoleum composition may be arranged on the first layer 2 or on the second layer 3 on the side opposite to the reinforcement layer 4. Further additional layers, made of a cured linoleum composition, or any suitable other material, may be arranged on the additional layer made of a cured linoleum composition arranged on the first layer 2 or the second layer 3. In practice, an upper side of the linoleum floor covering 1 will usually be covered by a wear-resistant coating on the top side.

[0070] The reinforcement layer 4 is separately shown in FIG. 2. The reinforcement layer 4 comprises multiple through openings 5 that extend from the top side to the bottom side of the reinforcement layer 4. The through openings 5 are distributed in a regular pattern over the surface of the reinforcement layer 4. A combined surface area of the through openings 5 is at least 50% of the total surface are of the reinforcement layer 4. This provides a large open area formed by the through openings 5 through which the first layer 2 is bonded to the second layer 3.

[0071] The individual through openings 5 may have a surface area of 1 mm.sup.2 to 10 mm.sup.2, for example between 2 mm.sup.2 and 6 mm.sup.2. Openings of this size allow the materials of the first layer 2 and the second layer 3 to properly bond to each other.

[0072] FIG. 1 shows that the first layer 2 and the second layer 3 are bonded to each other through the openings 5. There is no additional bonding/adhesive agent used to adhere the first layer 2 and/or the second layer 3 to the reinforcement layer 4 as used in linoleum floor coverings as described in WO 97119219 and WO 97144518.

[0073] As a result of the first layer 2 and the second layer 3 being bonded to each other through the through openings 5, the reinforcement layer 4 is enclosed between the first layer 2 and the second layer 3. The reinforcement layer 4 is however not used for bonding the first layer 2 and the second layer 3.

[0074] Since the reinforcement layer 4 is not used to adhere or bond the first layer 2 and the second layer 3, the reinforcement layer 4, the reinforcement layer 4 can be constructed differently than conventional carriers used in linoleum floor coverings that are used to adhere to the linoleum layers. This allows to improve the reinforcement layer 4 for other characteristics of the linoleum floor covering 1.

[0075] The reinforcement layer 4 is made of warp knitted mesh made by a wrap knitting technique.

[0076] The warp knitting technique provides a knitted fabric comprising several yarns in which the wales and courses run roughly parallel to itself. The wale being a column of loops corresponding to the first direction of the reinforcement layer. Each course is a meandering row of loops, moving both with the direction of the wale and in a second direction of the reinforcement layer, interlocking to the wale loops at each crossing and connecting the individual columns of wale loops to each other. The first direction and the second direction are preferably perpendicular to each other. The first direction is for example a length direction of the reinforcement layer and the second direction a width direction of the reinforcement layer perpendicular to the length direction.

[0077] The thread filaments from which the knitted reinforcement layer 4 is made are for example polyester filaments, glass fibres, carbon fibres, and similar filament materials. The materials may be non-porous since the reinforcement layer 4 is not used for adhering the first layer 2 or second layer 3. The knitting materials preferably have a hydrophobicity which is the same or larger than a hydrophobicity of the first layer 2 and the second layer 3.

[0078] As the reinforcement layer 4 is made of knitted material with relatively large openings, the reinforcement layer 4 can be made with relatively low weight of less than 100 g/m.sup.2, for example 50 to 100 g/m.sup.2. The mass percentage of the reinforcement layer 4 may for example be maximally 4% for a linoleum floor covering with a thickness <2.5 mm and maximally 3% for a linoleum floor covering with a thickness of ≥2.5 mm of the total weight of the linoleum floor covering 1.

[0079] Further, the use of a knitted material makes it possible to give the reinforcement layer 4 a constant thickness. The maximum thickness of the reinforcement layer may be in the range of 0.05 to 0.5 mm, for example between 0.2 and 0.4 mm. A constant thickness has the advantage that the linoleum floor covering is less susceptible for telegraphing due to thickness differences in the reinforcement layer. This has the additional advantage that the linoleum layers, i.e. the first layer 2 and the second layer 3, may be constructed with smaller thickness which generally improves the flexibility of the linoleum floor covering.

[0080] An additional advantage of the relatively thin and light reinforcement layer 4 is that the flammability of the linoleum floor covering 1 is substantially reduced. Linoleum materials have a low flammability, but the materials traditionally used for carrier layers have a relatively high flammability. Due to the low amount of material that is used for the reinforcement layer 4, and due to the location of the reinforcement layer being enclosed by the first layer 2 and the second layer 3, the fire resistance of the linoleum floor covering is substantially improved.

[0081] Usually fire retardants are added to a linoleum floor covering to reduce the flammability, in particular to bring the flammability below a certain flammability score. In the linoleum floor covering 1 the amount of fire retardants to be added may be substantially reduced as a result of the improved fire resistance of the linoleum floor covering 1.

[0082] A further advantage of the relatively thin and light reinforcement layer 4 is that the linoleum floor covering 1 can be more easily cut to specific shapes or sizes. This is beneficial for a person installing the linoleum floor covering 1, for example to adjust the shape to a wall or other object, but also for cutting tiles or panels from a sheet of the linoleum floor covering 1.

[0083] FIG. 3 shows an example of a knitted reinforcement layer having rectangular through openings.

[0084] The reinforcement layer is made by a warp knitting technique. The through openings in the reinforcement layer each have a surface area of about 1.25 mm.sup.2 and have a combined surface area of about 60% of the total surface area of the reinforcement layer. The thickness of the reinforcement layer is about 0.3 mm, and the mass of the reinforcement layer is about 85 g/mm.sup.2.

[0085] While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, the various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purpose of illustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicated by the following claims.