FLOOR ELEMENT

Abstract

A floor element includes a substrate made of polymer, a top layer on one of the two sides of the substrate and a polymeric foamed layer on the other of the two sides of the substrate. The density of the polymeric foamed layer is less than 120 kg/m.sup.3.

Claims

1.-12. (canceled)

13. A floor element comprising a substrate made of polymer, a top layer on one of the two sides of the substrate and a polymeric foamed layer on the other of the two sides of the substrate, wherein the density of the polymeric foamed layer is less than 120 kg/m.sup.3.

14. The floor element of claim 13, wherein the polymeric foamed layer has a thickness between 0.75 and 2.0 mm.

15. The floor element of claim 13, wherein the polymeric foamed layer consists of open-cell foam.

16. The floor element of claim 13, wherein the polymeric foamed layer consists of polyethylene.

17. The floor element of claim 4, wherein the polyethylene is crosslinked polyethylene.

18. The floor element of claim 13, wherein the substrate comprises at least one layer consisting of semi-rigid or rigid polymer, which is provided with the top layer at the contact surface.

19. The floor element of claim 18, wherein the top layer is layered per se and consists of N polymer layers, N>=2, one layer being a wearing layer and one layer being a decorative layer, and on this top layer optionally a coating, wherein $d*\left(-0.2*\left(\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{.Math.}}{d}_i*P_i\right)+62\right)<300$ wherein d is the total thickness of the substrate and the top layer, d.sub.i the thickness of the i-th of the N layers is expressed in millimeters P.sub.i is how much plasticizer there is in the polymer of the i-th of the N layers, expressed as phr.

20. A floor element comprising a substrate made of rigid or semi-rigid polymer, and a top layer on one of the two sides of the substrate, the substrate comprises at least one layer consisting of semi-rigid or rigid polymer that is provided in the contact surface with the top layer, the top layer is layered per se and consisting of N polymer layers, N>=2, one layer being a wearing layer and one layer being a decorative layer, and on this top layer optionally a coating, wherein $d*\left(-0.2*\left(\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{.Math.}}{d}_i*P_i\right)+62\right)<300$ wherein d is the total thickness of the substrate and the top layer, d.sub.i the thickness of the i-th of the N layers is expressed in millimeters P.sub.i is how much plasticizer there is in the polymer of the i-th of the N layers, expressed as phr.

21. The floor element of claim 19, wherein $d*\left(-0.2*\left(\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{.Math.}}{d}_i*P_i\right)+62\right)<280$

22. The floor element of claim 19, wherein the top layer comprises more than 2 layers and comprises at least one flexible or semi-rigid layer under the decorative layer.

23. The floor element of claim 19, wherein the substrate of the floor element comprises at least one layer with phr below 15 phr.

24. The floor element of claim 19, wherein the substrate of the floor element comprises at least one layer with phr below 10 phr.

Description

[0075] For better illustration of the features of the invention, some preferred embodiments are described hereunder, as examples without any limiting character, referring to the appended drawings, in which:

[0076] FIG. 1 shows schematically the structure of a floor element 100 according to the first and second aspect of the invention.

[0077] The present invention is described hereunder, making use of specific embodiments.

[0078] It should be noted that the term “comprising”, for example as used in the claims, is not to be interpreted in a limiting sense, limiting to the elements, features and/or steps then following. The term “comprising” does not exclude the presence of other elements, features or steps.

[0079] Thus, the scope of an expression “an object comprising the elements A and B” is not limited to an object that only contains the elements A and B. The scope of an expression “a method comprising the steps A and B” is not limited to a method that only contains the steps A and B.

[0080] In light of the present invention, these expressions only signify that the relevant elements or steps for the invention are the elements or steps A and B.

[0081] In the specification given hereunder, reference is made to “an embodiment” or “the embodiment”. Such a reference signifies that a specific element or feature, described on the basis of this embodiment, is comprised in at least this one embodiment.

[0082] The presence of the terms “in an embodiment” or “in the embodiment” at different places in this description does not, however, necessarily refer to the same embodiment, although it may well refer to one and the same embodiment.

[0083] Moreover, the properties or the features may be combined in any suitable way in one or more embodiments, as would be clear for a person skilled in the art.

[0084] FIG. 1 shows schematically the structure of a floor element 100 according to the first and second aspect of the invention. It comprises a substrate 110 with a foamed polymer layer 120 thereunder.

[0085] The substrate is formed from unfoamed PVC with a density of 1.89 kg/l and comprises 8 phr plasticizer. It also comprises two glass-fiber fleeces 111 and 112 each of 50 g/m.sup.2. The total thickness of the substrate T110 is 4 mm.

[0086] Underneath the substrate there is a foamed, open-cell polymer layer 120. This layer or “pad” is made of cross-linked polyethylene, has a thickness T120 of 1 mm and a density of 55 kg/m.sup.3.

[0087] On the substrate 110 there is a top layer 130 which is itself layered and consists of

[0088] a flexible polymer layer 131;

[0089] a decorative layer 132 and

[0090] a wearing layer 133.

[0091] On the wearing layer, a 12 μm thick PU varnish coat is applied (thickness represented as T140). This layer does not comprise any plasticizers.

[0092] The flexible polymer layer 131 is manufactured from unfoamed PVC with a density of 1.82 kg/l, has a plasticizer content P131 of 36 phr, a content of filler of 206 phr and a thickness T131 of 0.36 mm.

[0093] A decorative layer 132 is heat-bonded to this layer 131. The decorative layer is provided as a film printed with a decorative finish. The decorative layer 132 is manufactured from rigid PVC, has a plasticizer content P132 of 11 phr, a filler content of 0 phr, and a thickness T132 of 0.09 mm.

[0094] A wearing layer 133 is applied on top of the decorative layer. This is heat-bonded to the decorative layer 132.

[0095] The wearing layer 133 is manufactured from unfoamed and unfilled PVC, has a plasticizer content P133 of 34.5 phr and a thickness T133 of 0.55 mm.

[0096] Together, this gives a sum of “thicknesses multiplied by contents of plasticizer” for the top layer, being “T131*P131+T132*P132+T133*P133”, of 32.92 phr*mm

[0097] The total thickness d of the substrate and the top layer is T110+T120+T131+T132+T133, thus 5 mm.

[0098] The comparison

[00004]$d*\left(-0.2*\left(\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{.Math.}}{d}_i*P_i\right)+62\right)$

then also gives a value 277 phr*mm.sup.2, thus <280

[0099] The transmission test NF EN ISO 10140-1 (2013) gives a value of transmitted sound of 21 dB.

[0100] The reflection test NF S 31-074 gives a value of reflected sound of 76 dB.

[0101] It is clear that although the embodiments and/or the materials are discussed for supplying embodiments according to the present invention, various changes or modifications may be applied while remaining within the scope and/or the spirit of the present invention. The present invention is by no means limited to the embodiments described above, but may be implemented according to different variants while remaining within the scope of the present invention.