MULTILAYER ARTIFICIAL STONE AND PREPARATION METHOD THEREOF

Abstract

The present invention involves a multiplayer artificial stone and its preparation method. The decorative layer comprises the following components in percentage by weight: 80%-90% of a decorative stone, 5%-15% of an unsaturated polyester resin, 0.6%-2% of a coupling agent, 0.7%-1.2% of a curing agent, and 1%-5% of a pigment filler. The bottom layer comprises the following components in percentage by weight: 65%-78% of a calcium carbonate stone, 10%-18% of an unsaturated polyester resin, 0.6%-2% of a coupling agent, 0.7%-1.2% of a curing agent, and 1-15% of a pigment filler. The preparation method involves preparing the decorative layer and the bottom layer separately and then binding the two layers together by pressing. This arrangement allows the multilayer artificial stone to have good decorative effect and product quality; in addition, each layer contains only one type of stone, therefore its preparation is easier and can be more precisely controlled, lowering production cost.

Claims

1. A multilayer artificial stone, wherein it comprises a decorative layer and a bottom layer which are arranged from top to bottom, the decorative layer and the bottom layer bind together to form an integral body; the decorative layer comprises the following components in percentage by weight: 80%-90% of a decorative stone, 5%-15% of an unsaturated polyester resin, 0.6%-2% of a coupling agent, 0.7%-1.2% of a curing agent, and 1%-5% of a pigment filler; the bottom layer comprises the following components in percentage by weight: 65%-78% of a calcium carbonate stone, 10%-18% of an unsaturated polyester resin, 0.6%-2% of a coupling agent, 0.7%-1.2% of a curing agent, and 1-15% of a pigment filler.

2. The multilayer artificial stone according to claim 1, wherein a bottom decorative layer is provided underneath the bottom layer; the bottom decorative layer and the bottom layer bind together to form an integral body; the bottom decorative layer comprises the following components in percentage by weight: 80%-90% of a decorative stone, 5%-15% of an unsaturated polyester resin, 0.6%-2% of a coupling agent, 0.7%-1.2% of a curing agent, and 1%-5% of a pigment filler.

3. The multilayer artificial stone according to claim 2, wherein the decorative stone is glass sand and/or a quartz stone.

4. The multilayer artificial stone according to claim 2, wherein a thickness of the decorative layer or the bottom decorative layer is 0.5 cm to 1.5 cm; a thickness of the bottom layer is 0.5 cm to 2.5 cm.

5. The multilayer artificial stone according to claim 3, wherein the glass sand has a particle size of 26-150 mesh, the quartz stone is quartz powder, the quartz powder has a particle size of 200-450 mesh.

6. A method to prepare the multilayer artificial stone according to claim 1, wherein it comprises the following steps: A: heating the unsaturated polyester resin to 20-30 C.; adding the coupling agent, the curing agent, and the pigment filler; stirring thoroughly to obtain a dispersion of pigment and resin; B. adding the decorative stone and the dispersion of pigment and resin into a trough, stirring thoroughly to obtain a decorative layer pre-formed material; C. spreading the decorative layer pre-formed material in a mold frame, pre-pressing to obtain the decorative layer; D. transferring the calcium carbonate stone and the dispersion of pigment and resin into the trough, stirring thoroughly to obtain a bottom layer pre-formed material; E. spreading the bottom layer pre-formed material on an upper surface of the decorative layer in the mold frame; pressing to form the bottom layer which binds to the decorative layer to form a primary preliminary stone surface; F. curing the primary preliminary stone surface in a curing oven; polishing a surface of the decorative layer to obtain the multilayer artificial stone.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein a step E1 is provided between step E and step F: E1. spreading the decorative layer pre-formed material on an upper surface of the bottom layer in the mold frame; pressing to obtain a preliminary stone surface; Wherein in step F, the preliminary stone surface is cured in the curing oven stead of the primary preliminary stone surface.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein the stirring in step A involves stirring at a high speed for 1-2 minutes; when a mixer is stirring at the high speed, its operating frequency is 40-60 Hz; the stirring in step B and step D involves stirring at a low speed for 4-6 minutes; when the mixer is stirring at the low speed, its operating frequency is 10-20 Hz.

9. The method according to claim 6, wherein the pre-pressing is performed under a pressure of 0.1 MPa to 0.3 MPa; the pressing is performed under a pressure of 1 MPa to 2 MPa.

10. The method according to claim 6, wherein in step F, the curing of the primary preliminary stone surface is carried out at a temperature of 70-110 C.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

[0030] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, the present invention is further described in detail below with reference to the illustrated embodiments.

Embodiments 1-16

[0031] A multilayer artificial stone, which comprises a decorative layer and a bottom layer which are arranged from top to bottom, the decorative layer and the bottom layer bind together to form an integral body.

[0032] The decorative layer comprises the following components: a decorative stone, an unsaturated polyester resin, a coupling agent, a curing agent, and a pigment filler; the bottom layer comprises the following components: a calcium carbonate stone, an unsaturated polyester resin, a coupling agent, a curing agent, and a pigment filler.

[0033] The multilayer artificial stone is prepared as follows:

[0034] A: Heating the unsaturated polyester resin to 20-30 C.; adding the coupling agent, the curing agent, and the pigment filler to the unsaturated polyester resin; stirring the mixture obtained at a high speed for 1-2 minutes to obtain a dispersion of pigment and resin; when the mixer is stirring at a high speed, its operating frequency is 40-60 Hz.

[0035] B: Adding the decorative stone and the dispersion of pigment and resin into a trough, stirring at a low speed for 4-6 minutes to obtain a decorative layer pre-formed material; when the mixer is stirring at a low speed, its operating frequency is 10-20 Hz.

[0036] C. Spreading the decorative layer pre-formed material in a mold frame; pre-pressing with a pressure of 0.1 MPa to 0.3 MPa to obtain the decorative layer.

[0037] D. Transferring the calcium carbonate stone and the dispersion of pigment and resin into the trough, stirring at a low speed for 4-6 minutes to obtain a bottom layer pre-formed material; when the mixer is stirring at a low speed, its operating frequency is 10-20 Hz.

[0038] E. Spreading the bottom layer pre-formed material on the upper surface of the decorative layer in the mold frame; pressing with a pressure of 1-2 MPa to form a bottom layer which binds to the decorative layer to form a preliminary stone surface.

[0039] F. Curing the preliminary stone surface in a curing oven; polishing the surface of the decorative layer to obtain the multilayer artificial stone.

[0040] Particularly, the decorative stone is glass sand and/or a quartz stone, the particle size of the glass sand is 80 mesh, the particle size of the quartz stone is 325 mesh. The pre-pressing step is carried out via a pre-pressing roller. In step F, the curing temperature of the curing oven is 70-110 C.

[0041] Following the components and preparation method stated above, the amount of each component is adjusted in other embodiments to obtain different multilayer artificial stones each comprising a decorative layer and a bottom layer. The qualities of the products obtained are compared; see Tables 1-3 below.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Components of the Decorative Layer Components of the decorative layer (in percentage by weight) Type of Decorative Unsaturated Coupling Curing Filler decorative Embodiment stone polyester resin agent agent pigment stone 1 80 17.3 0.6 0.7 1.4 Glass sand 2 85 12.3 0.6 0.7 1.4 3 90 7.3 0.6 0.7 1.4 4 80 17.3 0.6 0.7 1.4 Quartz sand 5 85 12.3 0.6 0.7 1.4 6 90 7.3 0.6 0.7 1.4 7 80 17.3 0.6 0.7 1.4 Glass sand 8 85 8 1.0 1.0 5 9 90 5 0.6 0.7 3.7 10 80 15 2 1.2 1.8 Quartz sand 11 85 8.5 1.5 1.0 4 12 90 7 1.0 1.0 1.0 13 60 25 12 1.2 1.8 14 91 3.5 0.5 1.0 4 15 90 7 1.0 1.0 1.0 16 85 8.5 1.5 1.0 4

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Components of the Bottom Layer Components of the bottom layer (in percentage by weight) Type of Calcium calcium carbonate Unsaturated Coupling Curing Filler carbonate Embodiment stone polyester resin agent agent pigment stone 1 65 18 0.8 1.2 15 Calcium 2 70 15 0.6 1.0 13.4 carbonate 3 78 10 2 1.2 8.8 4 65 18 2 1.2 13.8 5 70 13 2 1.2 13.8 6 78 16 1.3 0.7 4 7 65 18 2 1.2 13.8 8 70 13 2 1.2 13.8 9 78 10 2 1.2 8.8 10 65 18 2 1.2 13.8 11 70 13 2 1.2 13.8 12 78 18 2 1.0 1.0 13 65 18 2 1.2 13.8 14 70 13 2 1.2 13.8 15 48 28 13 10 1.0 16 70 13 2 1.2 13.8

TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Properties of Multilayer Artificial Stones Thickness of Thickness of Heating the decorative the bottom temperature Product Embodi- layer layer in step A quality testing ment (cm) (cm) ( C.) results 1 0.5 0.5 30 Good 2 1.0 1.5 40 Good 3 1.5 2.5 50 Good 4 0.5 1.0 30 Good 5 1.0 2.0 40 Good 6 1.5 2.0 50 Good 7 0.5 0.5 30 Good 8 1.0 1.5 40 Good 9 1.5 2.5 50 Good 10 0.5 1.0 30 Good 11 1.0 2.0 40 Good 12 1.5 2.0 50 Good 13 0.5 1.0 30 Poor decorative effect 14 1.0 2.0 40 Serious cracking 15 1.5 2.0 50 Cracking 16 3.0 1.0 40 Deformation

Embodiments 17-32

[0042] A multilayer artificial stone, which comprises a decorative layer, a bottom layer, a bottom decorative layer which are arranged from top to bottom, the decorative layer, the bottom layer, and the bottom decorative layer bind together to form an integral body.

[0043] The decorative layer comprises the following components: a decorative stone, an unsaturated polyester resin, a coupling agent, a curing agent, and a pigment filler; the bottom layer comprises the following components: a calcium carbonate stone, an unsaturated polyester resin, a coupling agent, a curing agent, and a pigment filler.

[0044] The bottom decorative layer comprises the following components: a calcium carbonate stone, an unsaturated polyester resin, a coupling agent, a curing agent, and a pigment filler.

[0045] The multilayer artificial stone is prepared as follows:

[0046] A: Heating the unsaturated polyester resin to 20-30 C.; adding the coupling agent, the curing agent, and the pigment filler to the unsaturated polyester resin; stirring the mixture obtained at a high speed for 1-2 minutes to obtain a dispersion of pigment and resin; when the mixer is stirring at a high speed, its operating frequency is 40-60 Hz.

[0047] B: Adding the decorative stone and the dispersion of pigment and resin into a trough, stirring at a low speed for 4-6 minutes to obtain a decorative layer pre-formed material; when the mixer is stirring at a low speed, its operating frequency is 10-20 Hz.

[0048] C. Spreading the decorative layer pre-formed material in a mold frame, pre-pressing with a pressure of 0.1 MPa to 0.3 MPa to obtain the decorative layer;

[0049] D. Transferring the calcium carbonate stone and the dispersion of pigment and resin into the trough, stirring at a low speed for 4-6 minutes to obtain a bottom layer pre-formed material; when the mixer is stirring at a low speed, its operating frequency is 10-20 Hz.

[0050] E. Spreading the bottom layer pre-formed material on the upper surface of the decorative layer in the mold frame; pressing with a pressure of 1-2 MPa to form the bottom layer which binds to the decorative layer to form a primary preliminary stone surface.

[0051] When the multilayer artificial stone contains a bottom decorative layer, a step E1 is included: spreading the decorative layer pre-formed material on the upper surface of the bottom layer in the mold frame; pressing with a pressure of 1-2 MPa to obtain a preliminary stone surface.

[0052] F. Curing the preliminary stone surface in a curing oven; polishing the surface of the decorative layer to obtain the multilayer artificial stone.

[0053] Particularly, the decorative stone is glass sand and/or a quartz stone, the particle size of the glass sand is 80 mesh, the particle size of the quartz stone is 325 mesh. The pre-pressing step is carried out via a pre-pressing roller. In step F, the curing temperature of the curing oven is 70-110 C.

[0054] Following the components and preparation method stated above, the amount of each component is adjusted in other embodiments to obtain different multilayer artificial stones with decorative layers, bottom layers, and bottom decorative layers. The qualities of the products obtained are compared; see Table 4-6 below.

TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 4 Components of the Decorative Layer Components of the decorative layer and the bottom decorative layer (in percentage by weight) Type of Decorative Unsaturated Coupling Curing Filler decorative Embodiment stone polyester resin agent agent pigment stone 17 80 17.3 0.6 0.7 1.4 Glass sand 18 85 12.3 0.6 0.7 1.4 19 90 7.3 0.6 0.7 1.4 20 80 17.3 0.6 0.7 1.4 Quartz sand 21 85 12.3 0.6 0.7 1.4 22 90 7.3 0.6 0.7 1.4 23 80 17.3 0.6 0.7 1.4 Glass sand 24 85 8 1.0 1.0 5 25 90 5 0.6 0.7 3.7 26 80 15 2 1.2 1.8 Quartz sand 27 85 8.5 1.5 1.0 4 28 90 7 1.0 1.0 1.0 29 60 25 12 1.2 1.8 30 91 3.5 0.5 1.0 4 31 90 7 1.0 1.0 1.0 32 85 8.5 1.5 1.0 4

TABLE-US-00005 TABLE 5 Components of the Bottom Layer Components of the bottom layer (in percentage by weight) Type of Calcium calcium carbonate Unsaturated Coupling Curing Filler carbonate Embodiment stone polyester resin agent agent pigment stone 17 65 18 0.8 1.2 15 Calcium 18 70 15 0.6 1.0 13.4 carbonate 19 78 10 2 1.2 8.8 20 65 18 2 1.2 13.8 21 70 13 2 1.2 13.8 22 78 16 1.3 0.7 4 23 65 18 2 1.2 13.8 24 70 13 2 1.2 13.8 25 78 10 2 1.2 8.8 26 65 18 2 1.2 13.8 27 70 13 2 1.2 13.8 28 78 18 2 1.0 1.0 29 65 18 2 1.2 13.8 30 70 13 2 1.2 13.8 31 48 28 13 10 1.0

TABLE-US-00006 TABLE 6 Properties of Multilayer Artificial Stone Thickness of the decora- Heating tive layer Thickness temper- or the bottom of the ature in Embodi- decorative bottom step A Product quality ment layer (cm) layer (cm) ( C.) testing results 17 0.5 0.5 30 Good 18 1.0 1.5 40 Good 19 1.5 2.5 50 Good 20 0.5 1.0 30 Good 21 1.0 2.0 40 Good 22 1.5 2.0 50 Good 23 0.5 0.5 30 Good 24 1.0 1.5 40 Good 25 1.5 2.5 50 Good 26 0.5 1.0 30 Good 27 1.0 2.0 40 Good 28 1.5 2.0 50 Good 29 0.5 1.0 30 Poor decorative effect 30 1.0 2.0 40 Serious cracking 31 1.5 2.0 50 Cracking 32 3.0 1.0 40 Deformation

[0055] It can be concluded from embodiments 1 to 32 in Tables 1 to 6 that when the percentages of the components of each layer of the multilayer artificial stone are not within the specified range, the surface of the product either has a poor decorative effect or the stone surface deforms. In some scenario, even cracking occurs.

[0056] It should be noted that for the decorative layer, the bottom layer, and the bottom decorative layer, the unsaturated polyester resin is 721-9 resin from Nantong Tianhe Resin Co., Ltd.; the coupling agent is a silane coupling agent purchased from GBXF Silicones Co., Ltd, product number GX570. The curing agent is purchased from Lianyungang Sino More New Material Co., Ltd., product number V8. The filler pigment includes Ti-Pure R-706 from DuPont, yellow and black filler pigment from Bayferrox. These materials are not limited to the aforementioned products.

[0057] The present invention provides a multilayer artificial stone and its preparation method. In the preparation method, a decorative layer, a bottom layer, and a bottom decorative layer are prepared separately and then bound together by pressing to form an integral body. The bottom layer is mainly made from calcium carbonate, which is low in cost. The more expensive decorative stone is used to make the decorative layer, which is exposed to the outside. In this way, desirable decorative effect and product quality can be obtained. In addition, each layer contains only one kind of stone; therefore, the production process can be more easily and accurately controlled, lowering production cost.

[0058] The technical principles of the present invention have been described above in combination with the specific embodiments. The descriptions are merely illustrative of the principles of the invention and are not considered to limit the scope of the invention. Based on the description herein, those skilled in the art can propose other embodiments of the present invention without any creative effort; all of these embodiments shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.