The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 16, 1999
Filed:
Mar. 28, 1996
Thomas M Ellison, Fort Mill, SC (US);
Rexam Industries Corp., Charlotte, NC (US);
Abstract
A flexible composite surfacing film for providing a substrate with desired surface characteristics is disclosed. The film comprises a flexible temporary carrier film and a flexible transparent outer polymer clear coat layer releasably bonded to the temporary carrier film, the flexible outer polymer layer comprising an extruded thermoplastic polymer having a M.sub.w /M.sub.n ratio of 4 or lower. A pigmented base coat layer is adhered to said outer clear coat layer and is visible therethrough, and a thermoformable backing layer is adhered to the pigmented base coat layer. The film is produced by extruding a molten transparent thermoplastic polymer and applying the polymer to a flexible temporary carrier thereby forming a continuous thin transparent film. A pigmented thermoplastic polymer in a volatile liquid vehicle is applied to the exposed surface of the transparent film while the film is bonded to the flexible temporary carrier, thus forming thereon a coating of the pigmented thermoplastic polymer overlying the transparent thermoplastic polymer film. The thus formed composite may then be heated while the transparent thermoplastic polymer film is bonded to the flexible temporary carrier to evaporate the volatile liquid vehicle and form a pigmented polymer layer. The heating step also molecularly relaxes the underlying film of transparent thermoplastic polymer to relieve any molecular orientation caused by the extrusion.