FLOOR COVERING AND SET OF COMPONENTS FOR SUCH A FLOOR COVERING

Abstract

A floor covering including a flexible underfloor having at least one foamed polymer layer; one or more sheet vinyl floor elements or LVT floor elements, one or more LVT floor elements, or one or more rigid LVT floor elements, an adhesive layer that bonds the underfloor and the floor element to one another.

Claims

1.-47. (canceled)

48. A floor covering comprising: a. a flexible underfloor comprising at least one foamed polymer layer; b. one or more sheet vinyl floor elements, each floor element having a layered structure comprising an optional backlayer of soft PVC, a soft or semi-hard PVC layer, to which or in which at least one reinforcing layer is attached or embedded, and a finishing layer, typically comprising a decorative layer, a wear layer, and optionally a coating or lacquer layer on the outer side; c. an adhesive layer that bonds the underfloor and the floor elements to one another, wherein the total surface weight of the one or more reinforcing layers is preferably at least 30 grams per m.sup.2 of floor element.

49. The floor covering of claim 48, wherein the underfloor, in or on its foamed polymer layer, comprises at least one reinforcing layer.

50. The floor covering of claim 49, wherein the at least one reinforcing layer of the underfloor is a glass fiber web or glass fiber fabric.

51. The floor covering of claim 48, wherein the foamed polymer layer of the underfloor is a polymer layer of PVC, PU, or PVB.

52. The floor covering of claim 48, wherein the foamed polymer layer of the underfloor is a PVC layer.

53. The floor covering of claim 48, wherein in the sheet vinyl floor elements, a reinforcing layer is attached to or embedded in the soft or semi-hard PVC layer.

54. The floor covering of claim 48, wherein the at least one reinforcing layer of the floor elements comprises a first and a second reinforcing layer, each of which has a surface weight of at least 15 g/m.sup.2, and preferably each of which has a surface weight of at least 25 g/m.sup.2.

55. The floor covering of claim 48, wherein in the sheet vinyl floor elements, the one or more reinforcing layers of the floor elements are glass fiber webs or glass fiber fabrics.

56. The floor covering of claim 48, wherein the underfloor comprises a reinforcing layer, and wherein each of the at least one sheet vinyl floor elements comprises one or two reinforcing layers.

57. A floor covering comprising: a. a flexible underfloor comprising at least one foamed polymer layer and at least one reinforcing layer; b. one or more sheet vinyl floor elements lying adjacent to one another, each floor element having a layered structure comprising an optional backlayer of soft PVC, a soft or semi-hard PVC layer, to which or in which at least one reinforcing layer is attached or embedded, and a finishing layer, typically comprising a decorative layer, a wear layer, and optionally a coating or lacquer layer on the outer side; c. an adhesive layer that bonds the underfloor and the carrier of the floor elements to one another; for which the total surface weight of the reinforcing layers of the underfloor and the floor element is at least 30 grams per m.sup.2.

58. A set of components comprising a flexible underfloor and at least one floor element, which set of components is suitable for making a floor covering in accordance with claim 48.

59. The set of components of claim 58, wherein the adhesive layer is applied to the foamed and flexible polymer layer of the underfloor, and wherein the adhesive layer is optionally provided with a protective film.

60. The set of components of claim 58, wherein the adhesive layer is applied to one side of the sheet vinyl, and wherein the adhesive layer is optionally provided with a protective film.

61. A floor covering comprising: a. a flexible underfloor comprising at least one foamed polymer layer; b. one or more LVT floor elements, each floor element having a layered structure comprising a core layer formed of PVC, to which or in which one or more reinforcing layers is/are attached or embedded, and a finishing layer on this core layer, the total surface weight of the one or more reinforcing layers being at least 60 grams per m.sup.2 of floor element; c. an adhesive layer that bonds the underfloor and the one or more floor elements to one another.

62. The floor covering of claim 61, wherein one of the at least one reinforcing layer(s) is embedded in the core layer.

63. The floor covering of claim 61, wherein one of the at least one reinforcing layer(s) is positioned between the core layer and the finishing layer.

64. The floor covering of claim 61, wherein the LVT floor elements comprise at least two reinforcing layers.

65. The floor covering of claim 64, wherein one of the two reinforcing layers is embedded in the core layer, and a reinforcing layer is positioned between the core layer and the finishing layer.

66. A floor covering comprising: a. a flexible underfloor comprising at least one foamed polymer layer and at least one reinforcing layer; b. one or more LVT floor elements lying adjacent to one another, each floor element having a layered structure comprising a core layer of PVC, to which or in which at least one reinforcing layer is attached or embedded, and a finishing layer on this core layer; c. an adhesive layer that bonds the underfloor and the one or more floor elements to one another; for which the total surface weight of the reinforcing layers of the underfloor and the floor element is at least 65 grams per m.sup.2.

Description

[0294] In order to better illustrate features of the invention, as examples that are in no way limitative, several preferred embodiments are described below with reference to the attached drawings, wherein:

[0295] i) FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of an underfloor according to the invention;

[0296] ii) FIG. 2 shows two underlayers laid next to each other according to FIG. 1;

[0297] iii) FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of sheet vinyl such as that used in the context of the first, second, third or fourth aspect of the invention; and

[0298] iv) FIG. 4 is a schematic view of an LVT floor element such as in the fifth, sixth, seventh or eighth aspect of the invention.

[0299] The present invention is described below by means of specific embodiments.

[0300] It must be noted that the term “comprising,” such as used for example in the claims, must not be interpreted in a limitative sense, i.e. limitative with respect to the following elements, features and/or steps. The term “comprising” does not exclude the presence of other elements, features or steps.

[0301] The scope of an expression “an article comprising the elements A and B,” is therefore not limited to an article that comprises only 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 comprises only the steps A and B.

[0302] In the light of the present invention, these expressions simply mean that the relevant respective elements or steps for the invention are the respective elements or steps A and B.

[0303] In the specification below, reference is made to “an embodiment” or “the embodiment.” Such a reference means that a specific element or feature described by means of this embodiment is contained in at least this one embodiment.

[0304] The occurrence of the terms “in an embodiment” or “in the embodiment” at different locations of this description, however, does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, although this indeed can refer to the same embodiment.

[0305] Moreover, the characteristics or the features can be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments, such as will be clear to the person skilled in the art.

[0306] A cross-section of a floor covering 100 according to the invention is shown schematically in FIG. 1.

[0307] The floor covering 100 comprises a preferably flexible underfloor 200 and several vinyl or PVC floor elements 300. In this embodiment, two floor elements 300 adjacent to each other are shown. As an example, these floor elements are dryback elements.

[0308] The underfloor 200 is provided with a first flexible and foamed PVC layer 202, which is provided on a first side 212 with the textile reinforcing layer 230. The textile reinforcing layer 230 comprises a textile product 232 which is completely embedded in the first PVC layer 202. On a first outer side of the underfloor, a layer of adhesive 204 is provided.

[0309] On the second, opposite side 214, the underfloor is provided with a nonwoven structure 206. This nonwoven structure 206 is partially embedded in the first PVC layer 202.

[0310] The side 214 is in contact with the floor 400 to which the covering is applied.

[0311] The adhesive 204 of the adhesive layer is for example a pressure sensitive adhesive or PSA applied in an amount of 70 g/m.sup.2. As an alternative, an acrylate adhesive can be used, for example in an amount of 30 g/m.sup.2. As a further alternative, an adhesive, for example an acrylate adhesive, with an endlessly long open time may be used.

[0312] In the textile reinforcing layer 230, a glass fiber nonwoven is completely embedded in the first PVC layer 202. This glass fiber web has a thickness of 0.3 mm and a surface weight of 35 g/m.sup.2

[0313] The first PVC layer 202 ideally has a thickness T of between 0.6 and 1.4 mm.

[0314] The PVC is made of an emulsion polymerization of PVC with a K value of between 57 and 86. The degree of filling (i.e. the weight of the filler based on the weight of the entire formulation of the polymer, optionally PVC, in which the filler is contained) is between 10 and 70 wt %, wherein calcium carbonate is used as a filler.

[0315] 80 to 120 phr of a plasticizer of the DINP type is used.

[0316] The density of the first PVC layer is approximately 650 kg/m.sup.3. Foaming is carried out with azodicarbonamide.

[0317] The textile product 206 is not necessarily, but is preferably provided. The textile product 206 is a spunbond or needle-punched nonwoven, preferably of polyester, polyamide polyolefins or fiberglass, wherein the thickness can vary between 0.1 mm and 1 mm, for example 0.7 mm, and a surface weight of between 15 and 200 g/m.sup.2 is preferably selected. The textile product is partially embedded in the first PVC layer. As an example, a polyester needle-punched with a surface weight of 120 g/m.sup.2 is selected. As an alternative, a polyester spunbond web is used with a thickness of between 0.1 and 0.3 mm and a surface weight of 20 g/m.sup.2.

[0318] The measurements of the underlayer are preferably approximately one m in width and 6 to 20 m in length. Typically, this underlayer is made available in rolled-up form and is to be unrolled onto the floor 400 to be covered, after which the release film (not shown in FIG. 1) is to be removed and the floor elements are to be applied.

[0319] Two underlayers 200 laid adjacent to each other in FIG. 1 are again shown in FIG. 2, with reference nos. 2001-2002. The person skilled in the art further understands that several such underlayers can be laid adjacent to one another. Here, the underlayers are also provided with their release film 3000.

[0320] The underlayer 2001 is provided on a first edge 2011 with a recess on the side 2021 where the adhesive is present. The underlayer 2001 is on a second edge 2012, opposite to the first edge 2011, is provided with a recess on the side 2022 opposite the side 2021 where the adhesive is present. The underlayer 2002 is also provided on corresponding sides of such recesses.

[0321] As the recess on the first side of a first underlayer 2001 for floor covering is brought into contact with the recess on the second side of a second underlayer 2002 for floor covering, the two underlayers for floor covering are substantially coplanar and lie in the plane 2200.

[0322] An embodiment of the floor element 300 is shown in FIG. 3. The finishing layer or top layer 421 comprises a decorative layer 403, and on it, a wear layer 402 and a lacquer layer 401.

[0323] Under the top layer or finishing layer 421 is a core layer 422 that is composed of a number of calendered soft PVC layers.

[0324] The core layer 422 comprises a first glass fiber web 414 impregnated with soft PVC. This glass fiber web has a thickness of 0.35 mm and comprises PVC with approximately 60 phr of plasticizer and up to 50 wt % of filler.

[0325] The core layer 422 further comprises layers of soft PVC. In this case, a glass fiber web 416 is incorporated that is positioned between a set of upper layers (together with the soft or semi-hard PVC layer 415) and a set 417 of underlayers or backlayers. The glass fiber web 416 is impregnated with soft PVC. The core layer 422 has a thickness of up to 5 mm. The soft PVC comprises approximately 35 phr of plasticizer and up to 66 wt % of filler. This floor element 300 is a sheet vinyl floor element.

[0326] Alternatively, the floor elements 300 of FIG. 1 can also be configured as dryback elements. For example, the floor elements 300 shown are two LVT elements laid adjacent to each other that can also have a cross-section such as that shown in FIG. 4.

[0327] A first embodiment shown in FIG. 4 has a top layer 420 consisting of a PU lacquer layer 401 (UV-hardened) with a thickness of 10 μm and a wear layer 402 lying hereunder with between 30 and 38 phr of plasticizer and without fillers. This layer 402 has a thickness of between 0.2 and 0.55 mm. The top layer 420 further comprises a decorative layer 403, i.e. a PVC film with a thickness 0.09 mm printed with a decor. The PVC of this film comprises between 10 and 15 phr of plasticizer and up to 15 wt % of filler.

[0328] Under this top layer is an extruded PVC layer 404 with a thickness of between 0.16 and 1.56 mm. The PVC comprises, in addition to approximately 35 phr of plasticizer, up to 75 wt % of filler. Under this layer 404 is a reinforcing layer, i.e. a glass fiber web 405 with a surface weight of approximately 60 g/m.sup.2 that is embedded in the further underlying layer of PVC 406. This underlying layer 406 is obtained by pressing the PVC beads of which the layer 406 was constructed together while increasing the heat above the glass transition temperature. The glass fiber web 405 is incorporated into the softened PVC during formation of the layer 406. The composition of the PVC beads is, in addition to PVC, approximately 40 phr of plasticizer and up to 75 wt % of filler; the layer 406 obtained has a thickness of between 1.4 mm and 2.56 mm. The floor element is provided on its upper side with a relief by embossing. This floor element is a flexible LVT embodiment.

[0329] An alternative embodiment has a roughly identical structure to that in FIG. 4, and has a top layer consisting of a PU lacquer layer (UV-hardened) with a thickness of 10 μm and a wear layer lying hereunder with between 30 and 38 phr of plasticizer and without fillers. This layer has a thickness of between 0.2 and 0.55 mm. The top layer further comprises a decorative layer, i.e. a PVC film with a thickness of 0.09 mm printed with a decor. The PVC of this film comprises between 10 and 15 phr of plasticizer and to 15 wt % of filler.

[0330] Under this top layer is an extruded PVC layer that has a thickness of between 0.3 and 0.7 mm. The PVC comprises, in addition to approximately 35 phr of plasticizer, up to 75 wt % of filler.

[0331] Under this layer, but on top of the reinforcing layer, is a layer of rigid PVC with a thickness of approximately 0.4 to 0.5 mm and comprising PVC with approximately 10 phr of plasticizer and approximately 66 wt % of filler.

[0332] This is followed by two reinforcing layers, i.e. glass fiber webs with a surface weight of approximately 60 g/m.sup.2 that are embedded in the further underlying rigid PVC layers. These underlying rigid PVC layers are obtained by pressing together of the PVC beads while increasing the heat above the glass transition temperature. The glass fiber webs are incorporated into the softened PVC during formation of the layer. The composition of the PVC beads is, in addition to PVC, approximately 10 phr of plasticizer and up to 75 wt % of filler; the layer obtained has a thickness of between 3 mm and 4.25 mm. The two glass fiber webs are at a distance of between 1.7 and 3 mm from each other. This floor element is a rigid LVT embodiment.

[0333] According to another alternative embodiment, not shown here, the floor element comprises a top layer consisting of a PU lacquer layer (UV-hardened) with a thickness of 10 μm and a wear layer lying hereunder comprising between 30 and 38 phr of plasticizer and without fillers. This layer has a thickness of between 0.2 and 0.55 mm. The top layer further comprises a decorative layer, i.e. a PVC film with a thickness of 0.09 mm printed with a decor. The PVC of this film comprises between 10 and 15 phr of plasticizer and up to 15 wt % of filler.

[0334] Under this top layer is an extruded PVC layer that has a thickness of between 0.3 and 0.7 mm. The PVC comprises, in addition to approximately 35 phr of plasticizer, up to 75 wt % of filler.

[0335] Under this layer, but on top of the reinforcing layer, is a layer of rigid PVC with a thickness of approximately 0.4 to 0.5 mm and comprising PVC with approximately 10 phr of plasticizer and approximately 66 wt % of filler.

[0336] This is followed by two reinforcing layers, i.e. glass fiber webs with a surface weight of approximately 60 g/m.sup.2 that are embedded in the further underlying rigid PVC layers. These underlying rigid PVC layers are obtained by pressing together of the PVC beads while increasing the heat above the glass transition temperature. The glass fiber webs are incorporated into the softened PVC during formation of the layer. The composition of the PVC beads is, in addition to PVC, approximately 10 phr of plasticizer and up to 75 wt % of filler; the layer obtained has a thickness of between 3 mm and 4.25 mm. The two glass fiber webs are at a distance of between 1.7 and 3 mm from each other. This floor element is a rigid LVT embodiment.

[0337] According to another alternative embodiment, not shown here, the floor element comprises a top layer consisting of at least one wear layer, for example of PVC without fillers. This layer preferably has a thickness of between 0.2 and 0.55 mm, or even up to 0.78 mm. The top layer further comprises a decorative layer, preferably comprising a PVC film printed with a decor having a thickness of for example 0.09 mm. The PVC of this film can comprise between 10 and 15 phr of plasticizer and up to 15 wt % of filler.

[0338] Under this top layer is an extruded PVC layer that has a thickness of between 2 and 6 mm. The PVC of the extruded layer is hard PVC with a plasticizer content as defined above or without plasticizer, and up to 75 wt % of filler.

[0339] This floor element is a rigid LVT embodiment. Such a floor element is preferably at least provided on one pair of opposite edges with coupling means which allow two of such floor panels to be coupled to each other, wherein in the coupled state, an interlock occurs both in a horizontal direction perpendicular to the relevant edges and in the plane of the coupled panels as well as in a vertical direction perpendicular to the plane of the coupled panels.

[0340] It is clear that although the embodiments and/or the materials for providing embodiments according to the present invention are discussed, various amendments or modifications may be applied without departing from the scope of action and/or the spirit of this invention. The present invention is by no means limited to the embodiments described above, but can be realized according to different variants without departing from the scope of the present invention.