Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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~ield of the Invention
The invention relates to inoombustible building material
elements whioh have good thermal insulation propert1es, and i
partioularly oonoerned with, but not limited to~ building boards.
Description of the Prior Art
Inoombustible building material element~ generallg oonsist
of inorganio material~. ~or example, shaped elements, suah as
boards or blooks, whioh oan be used as light-weight building
~ elements, may be obtained by mixing expanded materials, suoh as
expanded mioa, with plaster or oement and by ~uitably shaping
the oomposition and allowing it to set or by outting the
composition after it has set. The relatively hlgh proporbion of ;~
binding agents in the form of p1asber or oement whioh is neoe0sa~y
; in order to aohieve adeguabe binding of the expanded =aterial0,
lead0 in most oa~es to relatively long setting ti=es or to element~
whioh have only poor thermal insulation~properties. In addition,~
building elements of thi~ kind can generally be worlced only with
difficulty or with considerable wear of the material. ~ -
In Swiss Patent Speoifioatlon ~o. 519,639 it has been
~ propo0ed to mix expanded mica and an inorganio inoombusbible binder
in the volumebrio proportion of 9:1, and to press the mixture to ;~
form building elements. The amount of`binder required in thi0 prooe0s
is also relatively great.
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Summary of the In~ention
25~ Aooording to one~aspeot of the pre0ent inventlon there is~
provided a building material elemenb oomprising a lightweight
inoxganic material, and~an organio re0in two-oomponent binder for
aid material, one component of sald binder being a oombustible
resin oomponent and the other oomponent of 0aid binder being an
3O~ inoo=busbible nibrogen-oonbaini~g resin oo=ponent.
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The present building elements, which are preferably in the for~ of
building boards, thus contain a resin-bound inorganic material, suoh as
exfoliated vermiculite, expanded perlite, slag wool, fly ash, in which a
relatively small proportion of the organic binder is used, while, despite
the use of the organic binder, an incombustible building element is ~;
obtained which has good hea-t inRulation properties and whioh in addition
provides good æound insulation.
The combustible resin component is preferably a phenol resin and
the incombustible nitrogen-containing resin component is preferably a
urea resin, in which case, the content of the urea resin component in
the resin mixture is desirably from 10 to 25 mole pex cent.
I~ a fire should occur, the action of heat on a urea resin in the ~;
pre~ent building element will produce an atmosphere having a high nitrogen
content, which will prevent the comb~stion of the combus-tible resin
component (phenol resin) to ~uch an extent that carbonisation of the resin
component does not occur but only a superficial charring as the result
of which a dense thermally stable layer of carbon is formed on the surface
of the building.element.
Exfoliated vermiculite, expanded perlite, expanded clay, or
mixtures thereof are preferred e~amples of expanded materials which
may be used in forming the present building elements.
In addition to the organio binder, the presen-t building material
- element preferably contains waterglass as an additional binder, theproportion of waterglass in the entire quantity of binder, calculated as ~` .
solid material, preferably being at least l~o bv weight~ ~he addition of -;~-
waterglass to the binder has, among other results, the effect of increasing
the fire resistance of the building material element~
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided
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a procesa for the production of a building material element,
wherein granules of a lightweight inorganio material are spxayed,
while being stirred, with an organio re~in two-oomponent binder,
in an amount of from 2 to 30% by weight o~ binder calculated as a
dry solid, based on weight of inorganic material, suoh binder ha~ing
one component which i~ a combustible resin ¢omponent and another
component whichis an incombustible nitrogen-containing re~in component,
and wherein the coated granules are moulded or pre~sed to form the
element in a heated press.
~he moisture content of the granules coated with binder is
advantageously reduced to below 7% and the treated granules then pressed
in a preaa heated by high frequency.
In one embodiment of the present process, the granules treated
with binder may be precompreased at room temperature in a mould to
form a ~elf-suataining body which is then removed from the mould, and
thereupon prea~ed and bhermally oured. ~he body removed from the mould
has sufficient strength re~ulting from the preoompression to form a
atable bisouit which oan be introduoed into the press without
xequiring speoial tranaport means, suoh as plates or belts.
If desired, strengthening or reinforcing elements may be
introduced during the spraying of the granules with the binder,
whereupon the ~ranulea are preferabIy preoompressed and then
pre~sed into the final building element. Glass fibres, glasa filaments,
and bhe like are parbioularly suitable as strengthening or reinforcing
elements.
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~he preaent building material element, partioularly in the form
of a building board, oan be integrated with similar boards to form a
multi-layer board direct during ita manufaoture, and a multi-layer
board of this kind oan be produoed by pressing the gxanules treated with
binder, or the preoompressed biacuit, with oover sheets previously
3 treated with binder or together with external cover boarda. ~hrough
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a multi-layer ¢onstruction of this kind, for exa~ple u3ing paper,
glass fleece, aluminium foil, or the like, an improvement of the
mechanical stxength of the resulting board i9 achieved.
If the present building material element is to oontain water~
glass a~ an additional binder, the granulate may be sprayed with water-
glasa prefera~bly using the spraying means 3epara,te from those u~ed
for spraying the organic binder, whereafter the granules, treated with
binders and ¢ontaining an expanded material, are prqferably first
precompressed and then shaped or pressed into mouldings in a heated
hydrauli¢ press.
' ~ It is true that ~ ~ Patent Speoifioation ~o. 187,051
has disclosed a b~ilding board which is composed of expanded mica with
waterglass a~ a binder. When an inorganic binder, such as waterglass, is
used, lt is however, generally necessary to u~e a ~ub~tantially hlgher
proportion of binder than when an organio binder i~ employed. ~urther- ;~
more, with binders suoh as waterglass, whioh give up a xelatively large
amount of water on setting, the diffioulty of removing thi~ water
suffioiently quiokly arises, and this generally leads to relatively long
pressing times. ~heiuse of waterglass as a binder for building elements
has, therefore, not been very widespread.
In the present procesa in whioh both an organic binder and water- ~ ~
glass are used, a sub~tantially ~maller amount of watergla~s i9 required ?
than in the abovementioned prooes~ desoribed in~e ~ Patent
Specification No. 187,051, since a large part of the binding action is
supplied by the organio binder. Sinoe, however, the organio binder
fraotion gives up only relatively small amounts of water on setting,
substantially smaller amounts of water have to be removed in this -
embodiment of the present prooess and it is possible to manage with
substaniially shorter heating times than would be the oase for a building
material element in whioh uaterglas~ wa~ the only binder. :
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~ ecause the expanded material granules are sprayed
separately with the organic binder and with the waterglass, a
binder film i8 produced which containa both these products, namely
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-the organic binder and the waterglass. In this binder film there now
5 takes place a precipitation reaction by which the film iæ co~verted to
a jelly-llke consistency. It is found that, after precompression, the
granule~ coated in this manner produce substantially ~tronger preformed
elements than in the case of coating with the organic binder or waterglass
alone.
10Description of the Preferred Embodiments ~ ~ ;
~he invention will now be illustrated by the following Examples~
Example 1:
600 litres (50 kg.) of exfoliated vermiculite of a ~rain size
0.5 to 3 mm. are sprayed in a free-fall mixer with 12 litres of a 7~/0
15aqueous resin mixture conaisting of 85 mole % of a phenol-formaldeh~de
resin and 15 mole % of a urea-formaldehyde resin, in such a manner that
the grains of the exfoliated vermiculite are uniformly wetted. ~he resin-
coated granulate obtained in this manner is compressed-uniformly in an
unheated prepressing apparatus at a pressure of about 1.5 kp./cm2 to 5~/0
20of its original bulk volume, whereby a transportable moulded produot is
obtained. ~he latter is thereupon cured in a press equipped with a high
frequenoy and/or thermal heating system, together with oover sheets of
kraft paper coated with resin on one side, at a pressure of from 2 to
kp./cm.2 and with a press temperature of 150 to 170C.. ~he moulded
product is removed from the mould in the hot state ana c~t to the desired
size. ~;
In a test for combustibility, no asphyxiating or combustible
vapours or gases occurred, the material glowed when subjected to the
action of a flame, in aooordanoe with the temperature produced, and after
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removal of the flame, no ther burnin~ could be ob~erved.
Ihe building material produced in accordance with -this Example
nas a unit weight of 350 to 400 kg./m3 and posses6es a bending strength
of from 40 to 50 kg./cm.2. ~ ;
Example 2 -
~or the production of a mixed resin solution 1 kilomole of ~-
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phenol (94 kg.), 0.15 kilomole of urea (~ kg.) and 1.6 kilole of
formaldehyde (120 kg., 40 weight % solution) are catalysed with sodium
hydroxide solution and condensed to form a mixed resin at 80 to 100C
~he resin æolution is thereupon concentrated to a solids content of 70/o
by weight by vacuum distillation.
600 litres (50 kg.) of exfoliated vermiculite of a grain size
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0.5 to 3 mm. are sprayed in a free-fall mixer with 12 litres of this
70/0 mixed resin solubion in a manner ~imilar to that desoribed i~
Example 1.
~he granulate aoated in this manner is then further processed as
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desaribed in ~xample 1.
Example 3
600 litres (15 kg.) of exfoliated vermaculite of a grain size
0.5 to 3 mm. are sprayed in a free-fall mixer with 5.4 litres (6.21 kg.)
of the mixed resin æolution deæcribed in Example 2 and, u~ing a æeparate
~praying deviae, with 5.4 litres (8.10 kg.) of sodium waterglass of 48
50 ~é, in such a manner that the grainæ of the exfoliated vermiculite
are uniformlg wetted. The granulate coated in this manner iæ aompressed
unifo~mlg in an unheated prepressing apparatus at a pressure of 1.5 kp./cm.
to 5~/o of its original bulk volume, whereby a transportable moulded product
is obtained. The latter is thereupon cured in a press equipped witn a ;
high frequenay and/or thermal heating system, together with cover sheets
of kraft paper coated with resin on one side, at a presæure of from 2-3
kp./cm.2 and with a press temperature of 150 to 170C... The moulded
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product is removed from the mould in the hot state and cut to the
desired size.
The board-like building element produced in acco~dance with
this Example has a unit weight of 350 ot 400 kg./m.3 and posaesses a
bending strength of from 45 to 55 kp./cm.2.
Example 4
~he procedure described in Example 3, i8 f'ollowed with the
exception that 600 litres (50 kg.) of exfoliated ~er~iculite are used
with only 4.2 litres (4.83 kg.) of mixed resin solution but with a
higher proportion of waterglass, namely 6.7 litres (10.05 kg.);of
sodium waterglass, the quality being the same in each case as in
Example 3.
~he building material element obtained ha~ a unit weight of
350 to 400 kg./m3 and a bending ~trength of 45 to 55 kp./cm2 as in
~xample 3, but beoau~e of the higher proportion of watiglas~ in the
bi~der ha~ greater re~istance to fire.
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