The present invention relates to intercrystaline coloration methods in marbles, granites, limestone and stones in general, aimed to modify or add colors to plate and parts of marbles, granites, limestone and stones in general in order to obtain a new visual effect in the stone slab submitted to said method.
The stones, specially marbles, granites and limestones, are very used a long time ago as building elements, more specifically as coverage, and also as ornamental purpose. However, such stones have a relatively predicable visual aspect, and thus they are known according to the type of stone and from where it cames.
In order to provide a different visual aspect to the stone slabs and increase the choice of colors, some methods to obtain different colors for the marbles, granites and limestones in general are known, different from the colors that are usually found in nature.
A known method consists in pre-heating a stone slab which is desired to be submitted to the coloration process, it being then immersed in a bath containing a colorant substance which is made circle throughout the whole surface or a part of said slab stone. Afterwards, it is removed from said coloring bath in order to drain the excess of coloring substance and then, submitted to wash.
This coloration by immersion method is ineffective and further has the disadvantage of usually needing a recipent of large dimensions for immerging the stone slab, what also demands the use of great amounts of colorants. Another disadvantage of this method is to allow the employment of just one single color for each immersion bath, what limits the effects caused by the coloration that is desired to be printed to the stone slab.
Furthermore, it was proved, after countless tests, that the immersion of the finished piece or crude plate is not effective in relation to the total absorption of the stone in its thickness, since after an infinity of tests for several years, it was evidenced that independent from the amount of the used colorant liquid or from the depth of the immersion of the slab or the position of the slabs to the coloration, in vertical or horizontal tanks and even independent from the time that the stone remains submerged, it still presents fail with a colorless line localized in the symmetric center of its thickness, since the coloration does not occur in order to total and uniformly color the thickness of the stone, to make possible post work and completion.
What was verified and proved is that in the immersion, the colorant liquid even after 15 days covering the slab, independent from the amount of liquid or depth of the slab, after the liquid enter by the upper part of the stone and by the lower part, an air cushion is formed in the middle avoiding the colorant liquid to penetrate in the hole thickness of said slab-stone, in other words, a side harms the penetration of the other, forming a colorless line in the middle, as a consequence of the expulsion of the pores air that is not reached since it is found paint obstructing the passage of the air from out of the other side.
Therefore, it is an objective of the present invention the provision of methods developed to allow the total absorption by the slabs in its thickness, reaching the aimed and desired total coloration, eliminating all the restrictions for the industrialization and improvement process.
Another objective is the production of a plate or a slab having several colors in different areas, in other words, multicolor slabs.
In order to overcome the inconveniences of the immersion method described previously, it were developed the coloration methods, which are subject matter of the present invention.
In a first embodiment of the present invention, the stone slab receives on its surface submitted to the coloration method, a colorant solution, afterwards the stone slab is placed in a stuffiness chamber, then being submitted to a stuffiness method. Thus, the colorant penetrates by the surface of the stone slab.
In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, after the employment of a coloring solution in a surface of the stone slab, said colorant solution is forced to cross all the thickness of the stone slab through the use of air negative pressure exercised in the opposite surface of the stone slab in which the colorant solution was applied. By this way the colorant substance is absorbed by the pores of the stone slab totally.
In another embodiment of the present invention, after the colorant solution be applied in one or more surfaces of the stone slab, said stone slab is placed in a pressure chamber, said pressure chamber being submitted to a positive pressure of air, in order to make the colorant solution pass throughout the thickness of the stone slab.
In the embodiments described above, it is possible to apply several and different colors in different areas of the stone slab, in order to allow a varied coloration in different areas of the surface of said stone slab, for the production of multicolor slabs and plates, what would not be possible by the immersion of the stone slab in a bath containing a single colorant solution.
The methods described in the embodiments above mentioned can be combined, in other words, it is possible, for instance, firstly submit the stone slab to a coloration method by stuffiness, afterwards to an air negative pressure method and finally to a method of positive pressure of air. Naturally the sequence of said methods will influence the final result obtained in the coloration of said stone slab, what allows the free choice of the sequence to be adopted.
In anyone of the above-mentioned methods and their combinations, it is possible the adoption of countless pluralities of colors and colorant types, such as phosphorescent, reflective, luminescent, fluorescent, etc.
The coloration methods described above can be applied in stone slabs in crude state and without finishing, as well as in stone slabs worked in crude plates, polished or not, since the coloration is total. In other words, the methods can be applied in several types of marbles, granites and stones in general.
Another objectives, characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become more evident from the following detailed description, when taken together with the drawings, in which:
a shows a stone slab colored by known immersion methods;
b shows a stone slab colored by the methods of the present invention;
As can be understood from the drawings, wherein equal numeric references identify correspondent parts,
The pressure chamber 6, shown in
In the above-described methods, the stone slab 2 can be heated in order to accelerate the coloration method. Said coloration methods are complemented by the use of a proofing specially developed, based of vegetable oils that do not attack neither the stone nor the color, mixed to the coloring solution 3 that penetrates in the interior of the stone slab 2, the proofing, by this way, protecting against degrading agents of the stone and protecting the applied color against abrasive products, the natural wear, besides stabilizing and fixing the resulting coloration in the stone slab 2 and making it hydro-oil repellent.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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PI0603397-0 | Aug 2006 | BR | national |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 11585776 | Oct 2006 | US |
Child | 12453809 | US |