FLOORING ELEMENT

Abstract

Floor element comprising a top layer (102) attached to a substrate layer (104), in which the top layer (102) is itself layered, the top layer (102) comprising: —an optional backing layer (122) made of flexible polymer, —a flexible or semi-rigid polymer layer (124), onto or into which optionally at least one reinforcing layer (126) is attached or embedded, and —a finishing layer comprising a decorative layer (132), a wearing layer (134) thereon and optionally a coating (136) thereon; the substrate layer (104) being a rigid substrate layer.

Claims

1. A floor element comprising a top layer attached to a substrate layer, in which the top layer is itself layered, the top layer comprising an optional backing layer made of flexible polymer, a flexible or semi-rigid polymer layer, onto or into which optionally at least one reinforcing layer is attached or embedded, and a finishing layer comprising a decorative layer, a wearing layer thereon and optionally a coating thereon; the substrate layer being a rigid substrate layer.

2. The floor element in accordance with claim 1, wherein at least one reinforcing layer is attached or embedded onto or into the flexible or semi-rigid polymer layer.

3. The floor element in accordance with claim 1, wherein the substrate layer is a wood-based substrate layer.

4. The floor element in accordance with claim 1, wherein the substrate layer is a substrate layer based on hydraulic or nonhydraulic binders.

5. The floor element in accordance with claim 1, wherein the substrate or the substrate layer is a polymer-based substrate.

6. The floor element in accordance with claim 1, wherein the top layer and the substrate layer are glued together by means of an adhesive.

7. The floor element in accordance with claim 1, wherein the top layer and the substrate layer may be attached to one another by thermal adhesion, for example thermal laminating.

8. The floor element in accordance with claim 1, wherein a further backing layer is applied on the side of the substrate layer that is turned away from the top layer.

9. A floor element, wherein this floor element comprises a substrate layer and a top layer applied on top thereof, wherein the substrate layer is based on Portland cement or on magnesium oxide cement and wherein the top layer comprises a polymer layer.

10. The floor element in accordance with claim 9, wherein said polymer layer is located between a decorative print and the substrate layer.

11. The floor element in accordance with claim 9, wherein said polymer layer is a PVC layer, preferably a rigid PVC layer, for example with a plasticizer content of less than 5 phr.

12. The floor element in accordance with claim 9, wherein a further backing layer is applied on the side of the substrate layer that is turned away from the top layer, which further backing layer comprises or consists of the same material as said polymer layer.

13. The floor element in accordance with claim 1, wherein the substrate layer exhibits a thickness that corresponds to at least half of the thickness of the floor element and/or exhibits a thickness of at least 3 millimeters.

14. The floor element in accordance with claim 13, wherein said polymer layer exhibits a thickness that is smaller than the thickness of the substrate layer, and/or a thickness of 2 millimeters or less.

15. The floor element in accordance with claim 1, wherein the decorative layer comprises a print that is formed on the polymer layer or comprises a print that is located on a carrier, such as on a paper or polymer sheet.

16. The floor element in accordance with claim 1, wherein the decorative layer and the wearing layer comprises a paper- and melamine-based laminate.

Description

[0082] 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:

[0083] FIG. 1: is a schematic diagram of a floor element according to the invention.

[0084] The present invention is described hereunder making use of specific embodiments.

[0085] It should be noted that the term “comprising”, for example such 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.

[0086] Thus, the extent 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 extent 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.

[0087] In the 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.

[0088] In the specification given hereunder, reference is made to “an embodiment” or “the embodiment”. A reference of this kind signifies that a specific element or feature, described on the basis of this embodiment, is comprised in at least this one embodiment.

[0089] The occurrence of the terms “in an embodiment” or “in the embodiment” in different places in this description, however, does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, although it may well refer to one and the same embodiment.

[0090] Moreover, the properties or the features may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments, as would be evident to a person skilled in the art.

[0091] A floor element 100 is shown in FIG. 1.

[0092] The floor element 100 comprises a top layer 102 attached to a substrate layer 104, in which the top layer is itself layered, comprising [0093] a polymer backing layer 122, [0094] a flexible or semi-rigid polymer layer 124, to which at least one reinforcing layer 126 is attached, and [0095] a finishing layer comprising a decorative layer 132, a wearing layer 134 and a coating 136 on the outer side.

[0096] The backing layer 122 is unfoamed flexible PVC; it has a thickness between 0.5 and 3 mm and comprises between 55 and 65 phr of plasticizer. This layer also comprises 100 to 125 phr of filler, mainly CaCO.sub.2.

[0097] The flexible or semi-rigid polymer layer 124 is foamed flexible PVC; it has a thickness from 0.5 to 3 mm and also comprises 55 to 65 phr of plasticizer and 100 to 125 phr of filler, preferably TiO.sub.2.

[0098] A textile reinforcing layer is attached to this layer 124. The textile reinforcing layer comprises a glass-fiber web with a weight per unit area from 35 to 50 g/m.sup.2, which is fully impregnated with flexible PVC. The PVC used for impregnation is similar to the PVC used for layer 124. This layer is about 0.35 to 0.6 mm thick. All PVC preferably has a K value between 67 and 75.

[0099] The decorative layer 132 is a print layer directly on layer 124. The layer is applied by rotary printing.

[0100] The wearing layer 134 is a transparent PVC layer with up to 50 phr of plasticizer and no fillers. The thickness is about 0.3 mm.

[0101] The coating 136 is a UV-curing PU varnish coat with a thickness of 15 μm.

[0102] The upper surface is provided with a relief by embossing (not shown).

[0103] This top layer 102 is attached to a substrate layer 104 by means of an adhesive 140. The substrate layer is a rigid substrate layer that consists of a fiber-cement material comprising Portland cement, sand, cellulose fibers, polyvinyl acetate fibers and which is air-cured. The substrate layer has a thickness of 4 mm.

[0104] The adhesive is a PU HMMC adhesive and is applied in an amount of 80 g/m.sup.2.

[0105] Under the rigid substrate, the floor element 100 is provided with a backing layer 150, which consists of foamed PVC of a good 1 mm thickness. The density is between 35 and 120 g/m.sup.3. The backing layer is attached to the substrate with a PU HMMC adhesive, applied in an amount of 15 g/m.sup.2.

[0106] In an alternative embodiment, the substrate layer made of fiber-cement was replaced with HDF board.

[0107] In an alternative embodiment, the substrate layer made of fiber-cement was replaced with a substrate based on magnesium oxychloride cement (MgO) with similar characteristics as applied for the fiber-cement embodiment.

[0108] In an alternative embodiment, the substrate layer made of fiber-cement was replaced with a substrate based on rigid PVC. The substrate layer is between 2.2 and 8.2 mm thick and is formed from PVC with less than 10 phr of plasticizer and 100 to 300 phr of filler, preferably CaCO.sub.3. This substrate may be foamed or unfoamed and may have a density between 0.8 and 2.1 kg/l.

[0109] It is clear that although the embodiments and/or the materials for supplying embodiments according to the present invention have been discussed, various changes or modifications may be made without departing from 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 carried out according to different variants while remaining within the scope of the present invention.