Decorative synthetic resin sheets having three-dimensional pattern for walls, ceilings or furniture and process for manufacturing same

Claim 2

A process for manufacturing a decorative synthetic resin sheet having a three-dimensional pattern suitable for a surface covering, comprising: (a) coating one surface of a thin base sheet with a paste-like composition consisting predominantly of a synthetic thermoplastic resin composition containing a plasticizer, a blowing agent, a stabilizer, a pigment and a coloring agent to form a coating layer on the base sheet, drying the coating layer by heating at a temperature below the decomposition temperature of the blowing agent and thereafter delustering the surface of the coating layer with a suitable solvent, (b) foaming the delustered coating layer by heating at a temperature at which the blowing agent decomposes to obtain a foamed layer, then cooling and stabilizing the foamed coating layer, (c) reheating only a surface of the foamed layer after cooling and stabilizing the foamed layer while leaving unheated a portion of said layer remote from said surface, (d) subjecting the surface of the foamed layer to hot-embossing immediately after the reheating and then cooling the embossed foam, and (e) applying a coating composition comprising a coloring agent, a plasticizer, a synthetic resin and a solvent only to the raised top surface of the resulting embossed pattern formed on the surface of the foamed layer by step (d) and cooling the resulting sheet.

Claim 3

The decorative synthetic resin sheet manufactured by the process of claim 1.

Claim 4

The process as defined in claim 1 wherein the synthetic resin in the coating layer on the base sheet is polyvinyl chloride.

Claim 5

The process as defined in claim 1 wherein a coating composition comprising a coloring agent of desired color, a plasticizer, a synthetic resin and a solvent is applied simultaneously with the hot-embossing operation to the depressed bottom surface of an embossed pattern to be formed in the surface of the foamed layer by the hot-embossing operation.

Claim 6

The process as defined in claim 4 wherein numerous fine projections are formed in the depressed bottom surface of the embossed pattern.

Claim 7

A process for manufacturing a decorative synthetic resin sheet having a three-dimensional pattern for a surface covering comprising the steps of: (a) coating one surface of a thin base sheet of paper with a paste-like main composition consisting predominantly of polyvinyl chloride and containing a plasticizer, a blowing agent, a stabilizer, a pigment and a coloring agent to form a coating layer on the base sheet, drying the coating layer by heating at a temperature of about 120° C and thereafter delustering and smoothing the surface of the coating layer with toluene, (b) foaming the delustered coating layer by heating at a temperature of about 190° C for 2 minutes to obtain a foamed layer, then cooling said layer with a cool air stream at about 10° C for about 20 seconds to stabilize said layer, (c) reheating only a surface of the foamed layer at a temperature of about 150° C after cooling while leaving unheated a portion of said layer remote from said surface, (d) subjecting the surface of the foamed layer to hot-embossing immediately after the reheating and then cooling the embossed surface with a cool air stream at about 10° C to reduce the surface temperature to 40° to 70° C, and (e) applying a coating composition having polyvinyl chloride as a predominant resin component and containing a coloring agent of the desired color and a plasticizer, to a raised top surface of the resulting embossed pattern formed on the surface of the foamed layer and cooling the resulting sheet with a cool air stream at about 10° C and thereafter by cooling rolls.

Claim 8

A process for manufacturing a decorative synthetic resin sheet having a three-dimensional pattern for a surface covering comprising the steps of: (a) coating one surface of a thin base sheet of paper with a paste-like main composition consisting predominantly of polyvinyl chloride and containing a plasticizer, a blowing agent, a stabilizer, a pigment and a coloring agent to form a coating layer on the base sheet, drying the coating layer by heating at a temperature of about 120° C and thereafter delustering and smoothing the surface of the coating layer with toluene, (b) foaming the delustered coating layer by heating at a temperature of about 190° C for 2 minutes to obtain a foamed layer, then cooling said layer with a cool air stream at about 10° C for about 20 seconds to stabilize said layer, (c) reheating only a surface of the foamed layer at a temperature of about 150° C after cooling while leaving unheated a portion of said layer remote from said surface, (d) subjecting the surface of the foamed layer to hot-embossing immediately after the reheating and then cooling the embossed surface with a cool air stream at about 10° C to reduce the surface temperature to 40° to 70° C, and (e) applying a coating composition having polyvinyl chloride as a predominant resin component and containing a coloring agent of the desired color and a plasticizer, to a raised top surface of the resulting embossed pattern formed on the surface of the foamed layer and cooling the resulting sheet with a cool air stream at about 10° C and thereafter by cooling rolls.

Claim 9

The decorative synthetic resin sheet manufactured by the process of claim 6 wherein an embossed pattern formed in the surface of the foamed layer of the decorative sheet includes depressions and protuberances differing from each other by about 1.0 to 1.5 mm in elevation.

Claim 10

The decorative synthetic resin sheet as defined in claim 7 wherein the embossed pattern includes a depressed bottom surface and a raised top surface which are colored in distinct colors, respectively.