Awi Licensing Company

Armstrong World Industries, Inc.

Armstrong Cork Company

Afi Licensing LLC

Larry W Leininger

Dong Tian

Jeffrey S Ross

Gary A Sigel

Rebecca L Winey

Craig W DeSantis

Michael H Maney

Burton L Wilson

Leonard N Ray, Jr

Mervin R Buckwalter

Walter T Bulson

Thomas Posipanko

Richard E Herr, Jr

Elizabeth A Malkowski

Bennett E Wallick

Mary Kate Boggiano

Tian Dong

Susan Monroe

Burton Wilson

Disclosed is an energy curable coating composition for roll coating, a product, and continuous process of applying the energy curable coating composition to a substrate. The energy curable coating composition has a substantially constant viscosity and includes an energy curable resin having plurality of texturing particles suspended therein. The substantially constant viscosity of the energy curable coating composition remains at least less than about 1500 centipoise at approximately 15&#xb0; C. to approximately 40&#xb0; C., during recirculation, in a coating pan, and prior to application using a roll coating apparatus. The plurality of texturing particles provide a predetermined texture to a cured energy coating composition. The continuous process of applying the energy curable coating to a substrate allows the process to continuously operate until the energy curable coating composition is depleted from the container.

Energy cured coating composition and process of applying same to substrate

A linoleum flooring product in one embodiment includes a linoleum substrate and a printed wear layer comprising a decorative indicia. The printed wear layer includes a wear layer and an ink print layer. The linoleum substrate may include a base linoleum layer applied on a backing material, and in some embodiments further includes a visual linoleum layer formed on top of the base linoleum layer. The printed wear layer may be adhesively bonded onto the linoleum substrate. In one embodiment, an ultraviolet curable adhesive may be used. A related method for forming the linoleum flooring product is also provided.

Linoleum flooring

A process for producing higher molecular weight polyester includes heating a polyester to form a melt, and applying and maintaining a vacuum of between about 5 mm and about 85 mm of mercury to the melt while passing bubbles of gas through the melt until molecular weight has increased. The process may involve esterification of a diacid component and a diol component at elevated temperature. After the acid functional groups have essentially reacted, a vacuum of about 5 mm of mercury or less was applied and excess diol stripped off during transesterification, thereby increasing molecular weight.

Process for preparing high molecular weight polyesters

A radiation curable biobased coating, such as a UV/EB curable biobased coating, for flooring applications includes a biobased component comprising renewable and/or biobased materials. The biobased component is selected from the group consisting of a biobased resin, a biobased polyol acrylate, or a biobased polyol. The biobased component is blended with a coating formula. The coating formula includes at least one initiator. The radiation curable biobased coating contains at least about 5% weight of renewable materials or biobased content.

UV/EB curable biobased coating for flooring application

The methods for making a coated thin veneer, plank or wood product in which the coated surface does not crack due to instability of the wood involve applying to a veneer, plank or wood product a composition including a hydrophilic polymer and a reactive monomer or a composition including a reactive (meth)acrylate. In one embodiment, the hydrophilic polymer is a polyalkylene glycol, such as polyethylene glycol. The composition also advantageously includes a thermally activated free radical initiator, a photoinitiator or both. The veneer is further laminated into wood product boards that are cut down to planks. In another aspect of the current invention, several solvent based resins are roll coated onto the loose and/or tight side of the thin veneer or unfinished plank wood, dried to remove solvent, and exposed to UV radiation to cure the resinous material by radical initiation of the photoinitiator that leads to polymerization. Further polymerization of the resin material within the pores or voids occurs by heat induced initiation of the organic peroxides at the time of lamination in the case of veneer or by UV radiation exposure in the case of planks.

Method and process to reduce surface cracking for coated hardwood composite flooring

Coated hardwood composite flooring having reduced surface cracking

The invention comprises a composition and method for controlling the gloss of surface covering products through curing of the composition to create a wearlayer surface, and preferably on a floor covering product. The surface covering product preferably is prepared by application of an aromatic polyester acrylate composition including a flatting agent and/or hard particles, and at least one free-radical generating compound to a substrate, and then the coating is partially cured by exposure to low peak irradiance UV light in either ambient or inert air, followed by fully curing the coating with high peak irradiance UV light in preferably an inert atmosphere to form a low gloss abrasion resistant wearlayer surface. Alternatively, a high gloss wearlayer surface is obtained by solely exposing the preferred composition to high peak irradiance UV light in ambient atmosphere. Furthermore, a differential gloss flooring product is obtained by using the present inventive method described herein.

Process for providing a gloss controlled, abrasion resistant coating on surface covering products

A transfer sheet is printed with inks containing sublimable dyes. A carpet having face fibers and a backing is prepared. The inked surface of the transfer sheet and the carpet are positioned adjacent the openings on opposite sides of a honeycomb structure. Heated air is applied to the transfer sheet to sublime the dyes in the ink and to transfer the sublimed dyes from the carrier, through the passageways of the honeycomb structure, to the carpet. The fibers of the carpet are thereby dyed.

Method of no-contact printing of carpet with a transfer sheet

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Akron, PA, United States of America

Larry W Leininger