FLOOR COVERING MATERIAL AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SAME

Abstract

Floor covering material, wherein this floor covering material comprises at least a foamed layer, a printed decor provided thereon, and preferably a transparent wear layer, wherein the printed decor represents a plurality of panel-shaped or tile-shaped elements, wherein at the edges of said represented elements, lowered edge regions are formed, which form at least a portion of the circumference of the respective element, wherein said lowered edge regions, seen in cross-section, are realized with at least two different geometries. The invention further also relates to a method for manufacturing such floor covering material.

Claims

1. A floor covering material, wherein this floor covering material comprises at least a foamed layer, a printed decor provided thereon, and a transparent wear layer, wherein the printed decor represents a plurality of panel-shaped or tile-shaped elements, wherein at the edges of said represented elements, lowered edge regions are formed, which form at least a portion of the circumference of the respective element, wherein said lowered edge regions, seen in cross-section, are realized with at least two different geometries.

2. The floor covering material of claim 1, wherein said elements are rectangular and wherein said lowered edge regions extend along both pairs of opposite edges, wherein the lowered edge region, which extends along a first pair of said opposite edges, is realized with a geometry that differs from the geometry of the lowered edge region which extends along a second pair of said opposite edges.

3. The floor covering material of claim 2, wherein said elements are oblong, wherein the first pair of edges is formed by the long edges and wherein instead of a lowered edge region with another geometry, no lowered edge region is present at the short edges.

4. The floor covering material of claim 1, wherein the difference between said geometries comprises at least one or a combination of two or more of the following features: the feature that the first lowered edge region has a deepest point which is situated lower than the deepest point of the second lowered edge region; the feature that the first lowered edge region at the actual surface of the floor covering material has a width which is more than the width of the second lowered edge region at the actual surface of the floor covering material; the feature that the first lowered edge region comprises walls which on average form an angle with the actual upper surface which is steeper than in the case of the second lowered edge region.

5. The floor covering material of claim 1, wherein the degree of foaming of said foamed layer at the location of the respective edge regions is different.

6. The floor covering material of claim 1, wherein it concerns a web-shaped floor covering material, wherein the printed decor forms a representation of a parquet floor, wherein floor panels are depicted in adjacent-situated rows.

7. The floor covering material of claim 6, wherein said rows extend in the longitudinal direction of said web-shaped floor covering material.

8. A method for manufacturing a floor covering material, wherein this floor covering material comprises at least a foamed layer, a printed decor provided thereon and a transparent wear layer, wherein the printed decor represents a plurality of panel-shaped or tile-shaped elements, wherein at the edges of said represented elements, first and second lowered edge regions are formed, which both form at least a portion of the circumference of the respective element, wherein the method comprises at least the following steps: providing a layer to be foamed; providing an inhibitor on the layer to be foamed at the location of a second edge region to be formed, and foaming the layer to be foamed; providing a printed decor on the layer to be foamed or already foamed; providing a transparent wear layer on the printed decor; mechanically embossing the already foamed whole at the location of a first edge region to be formed.

9. A method for forming a floor or wall covering material, wherein this covering material comprises at least a foamed layer and a printed decor provided thereon, wherein the method comprises at least the following steps: providing a layer to be foamed, preferably on a liner or carrier; providing a foaming inhibitor or foaming promoter on the layer to be foamed and foaming the layer to be foamed, for example, by means of a printing technique via one or more rollers or via an ink jet or valve jet; providing a printed decor on the layer to be foamed or already foamed; mechanically impressing the already printed whole and preferably already foamed whole.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0055] With the intention of better showing the characteristics of the invention, herein below, as examples without any limitative character, some preferred embodiments are described, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

[0056] FIG. 1 in top view represents a floor covering material with the characteristics of the invention;

[0057] FIGS. 2 and 3, at a larger scale, represent a cross-section according to the line II-II, III-III, respectively, represented in FIG. 1;

[0058] FIGS. 4 and 5, in similar views as FIGS. 2 and 3, respectively, represent a variant; and

[0059] FIGS. 6 and 7, in similar views as FIGS. 2 and 3, respectively, represent another variant.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0060] FIG. 1 represents a portion of a floor covering material 1. In this case, this relates to a web-shaped floor covering material 1. The width B of such floor covering material 1 can vary between 2 and 6 meters and preferably is from 3.5 to 5.5 meters. The length L can be various dozens of meters, for example, between 20 and 50 meters. In the example, this relates to a floor covering material 1 which is supplied from a roll.

[0061] FIG. 2 clearly shows that this floor covering material 1 comprises at least a foamed layer 2 and a printed decor 3 provided thereon. The foamed layer 2 relates to a foamed PVC layer, or so-called cushion vinyl. In this case, the printed decor 3 is provided as a printed PVC foil 4 having, for example, a thickness of 60 micrometers to 150 micrometers. In this case, a transparent wear layer 5 is provided above the printed decor 3. The wear layer 5 preferably has a thickness T1 of 0.15 to 0.75 millimeters, and still better between 0.25 and 0.55 millimeters. The overall thickness T of the floor covering material 1 can be between 2 and 5 millimeters, preferably from 2 through 3.5 millimeters.

[0062] In the example, said foamed layer 2 is provided on a liner 6 of felt.

[0063] The printed decor 2 represents a plurality of panel-shaped elements 7, in this case panel-shaped elements 7, which form an imitation of parquet panels. The elements 7 are rectangular and are represented in a random pattern in adjacent rows 8.

[0064] At the edges 9-10 of the represented elements 7, lowered edge regions 11-12 are formed, which, in the example, form the entire circumference of each element 7. Herein, the lowered edge regions 11-12, viewed in the cross-section of FIGS. 2 and 3, are realized with at least two different geometries. The lowered edge region 11 which extends along a first pair of opposite edges 9, namely, along the pair of long edges, has, as represented in the cross-section of FIG. 2, a geometry which is different from the geometry of the lowered edge region 12 which extends along a second pair of opposite edges 10, namely, along the pair of short edges, as represented in the cross-section of FIG. 3. In this case, the difference between the two geometries is manifold. The edge region which extends along the long edges 9 has a smaller depth D1, a smaller width B1 at the surface, and a higher inclination A1 of the walls than the depth D2, width B2 and inclination A2 in the case of the edge region 12 which extends along the short edges 10. The edge region 11 which extends along the long edges 9 rather is V-shaped, whereas the edge region 12 which extends along the short edges 10 rather is U-shaped, considering that the respective edge region 10 clearly has a bottom part 13. The degree of foaming at the location of the longitudinal edge region 11 is higher than the degree of foaming at the location of the transverse edge region 12. The printed decor 3, at the edge region 12 of the short edges 10, is situated on a lower level N2 than the level N1 in the case of the edge region 11 of the long edges 9.

[0065] In FIG. 2, it is further also shown that a lowered edge region 11A can also be present at the edge 9A of the web. In this case, such edge region 11A coincides with the edge of a represented row 8. Preferably, such edge region 11A has a geometry which corresponds to a half of a lowered edge region 11 which is situated at the long edges 9 internally in the floor covering material 1.

[0066] The edge region 11 represented in FIG. 2 in this case is obtained by mechanically deforming or impressing the transparent wear layer 5, whereas the edge region 12 represented in FIG. 3 is obtained by a chemical technique, namely, in that at the location of the edge region 12 to be formed a foaming inhibitor is provided prior to foaming the foamed layer 2. Therefore, it is clear that the floor covering material 1 of the FIGS. 1 to 3 is obtained or can be obtained by means of a method with the characteristics of the second aspect of the invention.

[0067] Apart from the lowered edge regions 11A-11-12, the surface of the floor covering material 1 further also comprises relief parts 14 at the location of the actual element 7 represented in the printed decor 2. In this case, this relates to imitations of wood pores obtained by mechanically impressing the transparent wear layer 5.

[0068] FIGS. 4 and 5 represent a variant and practical embodiment, wherein the floor covering material 1 comprises two separately formed foam layers 2-15, namely, a first foamed layer 2, which is provided on a liner 6, and a second foamed layer 15, which is situated there above. The printed decor 3 is printed directly on the second foamed layer 15. The lowered edge region 11 of FIG. 4 is obtained by a mechanical impression, whereas the lowered edge region 12 of FIG. 5 is obtained by a chemical technique. In order to realize the edge region 12 of FIG. 5, the degree of foaming of the second foamed layer 15 is influenced by means of a foaming inhibitor. The lowered edge regions 11-12 of FIGS. 4 and 5 have a mutually differing geometry, for example, in that the walls show a different degree of inclination A1-A2.

[0069] FIGS. 6 and 7 represent another embodiment, similar to the one of FIGS. 2 and 3, respectively, however, wherein the printed decor 3 forms the surface of the floor covering material 1 and wherein, in other words, the transparent top layer 5 is omitted. The printed decor 3 is formed directly on the floor covering material 1 and has a thickness T2 of 0.1 millimeters or more in that it has penetrated into a PVC layer situated at the surface, such that a certain wear resistance is obtained. For the rest, the geometry of the lowered edge region 11 of FIG. 6 is similar to that of FIG. 2, and for the rest, the geometry of the lowered edge region 12 is equal to that of FIG. 3. The respective lowered edge regions 11-12 are also obtained in a similar manner.

[0070] In general, it is also noted that the combination of at least two different geometries for lowered edge regions and/or the combination of mechanical and chemical embossing techniques can also be applied for wall coverings.

[0071] The present invention is in no way limited to the embodiments described by way of example and represented in the figures, on the contrary may such floor covering materials and methods be realized according to various variants, without leaving the scope of the invention.