Method of Producing Decorative Paper and Decorative Laminate Comprising Such Decorative Paper

• US 20080090032A1
• Filed: 05/13/2005
• Published: 04/17/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Munksjo Arches
• Original Assignee: Arjowiggins Sas (UFK Management Holding GmbH)
• Inventors: Perrin, Claude, Blois, Cyril
• Granted Patent: US 9,567,713 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 428/32.21
• CPC Class Codes: B41M 5/5218 characterised by inorganic additives, e.g. pigments, clays
• CPC Class Codes: B41M 5/5254 characterised by the use of polymers obtained by reactions only involving carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bonds, e.g. vinyl polymers
• CPC Class Codes: B41M 7/0027 using protective coatings or layers by lamination or by fusion of the coatings or layers
• CPC Class Codes: B44C 5/04 Ornamental plaques, e.g. decorative panels, decorative veneers
• CPC Class Codes: D21H 19/40 siliceous, e.g. clays
• CPC Class Codes: D21H 19/60 Polyalkenylalcohols; Polyalkenylethers; Polyalkenylesters
• CPC Class Codes: D21H 23/48 Curtain coaters
• CPC Class Codes: D21H 23/70 Multistep processes; Apparatus for adding one or several substances in portions or in various ways to the paper, not covered by another single group of this main group
• CPC Class Codes: D21H 27/26 characterised by the overlay sheet or the top layers of the structures decorative panels B44C5/04; wood grain effects B44F9/02

Abstract

The invention relates to a method of producing decorative paper which is coated with at least one ink-fixing layer, which is printable and which can be impregnated with a thermosetting resin, in order to produce a high- or low-pressure decorative laminate. The inventive method comprises the following steps consisting in: (a) producing a base sheet of decorative paper using paper-making means; and (b) coating at least one of the faces of the base paper sheet with said at least one ink-fixing layer, by means of curtain coating. The invention also relates to high- or low-pressure decorative laminates comprising such decorative paper.

Claims

1. A process for producing a decorative paper coated with at least one ink-fixing layer, printable and that can be impregnated with a thermosetting resin, for a high- or low-pressure decorative laminate, comprising the following steps:

a. a sheet of base decor paper is produced by paper making route, then

b. at least one of the faces of said sheet of base paper is coated by curtain coating with at least said ink-fixing layer.

2. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein said ink-fixing layer is printable by ink-jet printing.

3. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the ink-fixing layer contains at least one hydrophilic binder.

4. The process as claimed in claim 3, wherein said layer contains, in addition to said hydrophilic binder, a non-hydrophilic polymeric binder in a ratio of hydrophilic binder/non-hydrophilic binder of at least 70/30 by dry weight.

5. The process as claimed in claim 3, wherein the hydrophilic binder is a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA).

6. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the layer is not alkaline, in particular it is free from carbonates and alkaline buffers.

7. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the layer contains coating fillers chosen substantially from silicas.

8. The process as claimed in claim 7, wherein said silicas are essentially precipitated amorphous silicas.

9. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the quantity of layer deposited is comprised between 4 and 20 g/m², in particular between 6 and 15 g/m² by dry weight.

10. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein said process includes a printing step, in particular of a decorative pattern, of the paper sheet coated with at least one ink-fixing layer coming from step b of said process.

11. The process as claimed in claim 10, wherein said ink-fixing layer is printed by ink jet printing, in particular at high resolution.

12. A decorative paper printable or printed, in particular by ink jet printing, and that can be impregnated with a thermosetting resin, obtained according to the process for producing a decorative paper such as defined in claim 1.

13. A printable or printed decorative paper that can be impregnated with a thermosetting resin such as defined in claim 1 wherein it has a resin-impregnation speed of less than 100 seconds, whatever its face, said speed being characterized by determining the time of penetration of the thermosetting resin through the sheet, this time being determined in the following manner:

a 56% by weight resin solution is prepared by dissolving the melamine-formaldehyde resin Madurit MW550 in powder form in distilled water heated to 45°

C. The viscosity is adjusted so that it is of the order of 100 mPas at 20°

C. on a Brookfield viscometer measured at 100 revolutions/min—

shaft N°

2,

and the impregnation time of a sheet of paper is determined as follows;

two square (10×

10 cm) samples are cut out per test;

for testing each face, the face is referenced,

a watch-glass is filled with resin,

the paper square is deposited on the surface of the resin, with the face to be tested in contact therewith, and the chronometer is started at the same time,

the total strike-through time is noted which gives the penetration time of the resin.

14. The paper as claimed in claim 13, characterized in that wherein said speed of impregnation is less than or equal to 65 seconds.

15. A process for producing an impregnated decorative paper for decorative laminates, characterized in that wherein a printed decorative paper as defined in claim 10 is impregnated with a thermosetting resin.

16. The process as claimed in claim 15, wherein the thermosetting resin is chosen from melamine-formaldehyde resins, urea-formaldehyde resins, benzoguanamine-formaldehyde resins, unsaturated polyester resins and mixtures thereof.

17. A high- or low-pressure laminated decorative panel or profile, wherein it comprises, as a decorative paper, a decorative paper such as obtained or defined in claim 10.