Patent Application
20070224896
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a natural polymer mat and a method for manufacturing the same, and more particularly to a mat and a method for manufacturing the same that use a natural polymer material to substitute traditional plastics as a filler, so that after the mat is discarded, the nutrient sources of the mat and the microorganisms in the soil are used for the biological degeneration of the discarded mat.
2. Description of the Prior Arts
Although the industrial society constantly brings tremendous convenience to our life, yet the extensive use of plastics come from the petrochemistry and the huge amount of plastic garbage become a secret worry and create pollution to our environment. As indicated in a survey conducted by the Gallup Organization, the quantity of solid trashes produced by cities in the United States in 2000 reaches up to 216,000,000 tons, wherein the discarded plastics occupy 9.8% of the total trashes (and over 30% of the total by volume), and Taiwan also produces plastic trashes exceeding 15% of the total trashes. These statistics show that plastic is definitely a major damage to our ecological environment.
As to the present mat manufacturing technologies, almost all plastics contaminate the environments, and these plastics include polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or plasticizers such as di-iso-nonyl phthalate (DINP) di-octyl phthalate (DOP), dioctyl adipate (DOA), azo dyes, cadmium, vinyl chloride monomer (VCM), nonylpheno, and organic tin, which can be used for manufacturing mats such as an anti-slippery mat, an anti-slippery net, an exercise mat, etc. Since these mats contain the aforementioned toxic plastics and become one of the environmental pollutants, therefore finding a way of designing a mat that contains no plastic but has the properties of plastic to meet the requirements of the environmental protection demands immediate attention and feasible solutions.
In view of the shortcomings of the prior art, the inventor of the invention based on years of experience in the related industry to conduct extensive researches and experiments, and finally invented a natural polymer mat and method for manufacturing the same in accordance with the invention.
Therefore, it is a primary objective of the present invention to provide a natural polymer mat and a method for manufacturing the same, and the method uses a natural polymer material to substitute a plastic material as a filler and goes through a special process to manufacture a mat that contains no plastic material and meets the requirements for environmental protection as well as having the properties of a plastic material.
The present invention provides a method for manufacturing a natural polymer mat that comprises the steps of (a) providing and leveling a central meshed fabric, and continuously outputting the central meshed fabric; (b) using a material feeder that contains the natural polymer material to coat the natural polymer material with a predetermined composition onto the leveled central meshed fabric; (d) providing a predetermined high temperature to dry the natural polymer material; and (d) providing an instant temperature drop to condense the natural polymer materi al, and produce a natural polymer mat.
The present invention provides a natural polymer mat that comprises a central meshed fabric having an upper surface and a lower surface, and a natural polymer material layer disposed on at least one of the upper and lower surfaces of the central meshed fabric, and the natural polymer material is made according to a predetermined composition, and the predetermined composition contains a large proportion of natural polymer material, a yeast, a small proportion of pure water, a small quantity of resin, and a small amount of cross-linking agent.
The present invention will now be described in more detail hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings that show various embodiments of the invention, in which:
The present invention provides a natural polymer mat and a method for manufacturing the same that uses a meshed fabric as a support framework, and then coats the natural polymer material made by a predetermined composition onto the exterior of the meshed fabric and finally goes through a pressing by force, a high-temperature drying, and a condensation with an instant temperature drop to produce the natural polymer mat.
Since the polymer material used in the invention includes a natural polymer such as pectin, cellulose and starch, etc, the polymer material does not have the high plasticity of the plastics and the control of physical properties and applicability of the finished goods cannot match with those of the plastics. Thus, it is necessary to change or convert the physical properties or strictly set and control the manufacturing process to produce a natural polymer mat (including the extensively used mat such as an anti-slippery mat, an anti-slippery net, or an exercise mat, etc) of the present invention.
Referring to
In
The composition of the natural polymer mat 1 includes a large proportion (substantially equal to 70%) of the natural polymer material (such as pectin, cellulose, or starch), a small amount (substantially equal to 1%) of yeast, a small amount (substantially equal to 20%) of pure water and these substances are well mixed (Step 1). Then, a small amount (substantially equal to 5%) of resin is added, wherein the resin could be a polyol cross-linked with Isocyanate, acrylic resin, or polyisoprene (Step 5). A small amount (substantially equal to 4%) of cross-linking agent is added, wherein the cross-linking agent is a water-soluble polymer such as methylethycellulose with modified starch or stadex material, and they are well mixed (Step 6).
Referring to
In summation of the description above, the natural polymer mat and method for manufacturing the same in accordance with the invention have the following effects:
1. The mat of the invention uses the natural polymer material (pectin, cellulose, or starch) as the main filling materials to maintain the same functions and applicability of the general plastic products.
2. The mat of the invention contains the natural polymer material as the main filling material, and thus it contains no plastic at all and it is suitable for a use of a direct contact with human skins.
3. The mat of the invention contains the natural polymer material as the main filling material, so that after the mat is discarded, the nutrients of the natural polymer material and the microorganisms in the nature carry out the biological degeneration to produce a compound (and dreg) with a low molecular weight, and finally the natural polymer material will be degenerated into inorganic matters such as carbon dioxide and water to be absorbed by the environment. Thus the mat of the invention fully complies with the requirements of environmental protection.
While the invention has been described by way of examples and in terms of preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. To the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements and procedures, and the scope of the appended claims therefore should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements and procedures.
