Method and apparatus for the manufacture of vinyl tiles, a drawing decorative, for the coating and the products obtained by their use

摘要

An improved process is disclosed for forming tiles that are embossed in register with a printed design. A printed design (12) is first applied to a base coat (10) and a wear coat (82) is laminated over the design (12). Advantageously, the wear coat (82) is applied to the printed web (12) before it is heated for lamination. Before embossing occurs, the laminated product is cooled until partial setting occurs, and the embossing roll (112) is sprayed with water in order to minimize the likelihood that the laminated product will adhere to the embossing roll (112). To avoid distorting the web during lamination and embossing, proper web tension is maintained by controlling the rotational speeds of the laminating drum (83) and the embossing roll (112) so that a desired ratio is preserved. The web is then cut into oversized tiles that shrink to size during annealing. IMAGE