The present invention concerns a plastic sheet having a number of recessed and protruded parts prepared by forming recessed parts and protruded parts on a flat sheet. The invention also concerns a two-layered or three-layered double wall sheet prepared by combining the above plastic sheet with another flat plastic sheet or sheets. The invention further concerns a method of producing the above-mentioned plastic sheet having a number of recessed and protruded parts, a method of producing the above-mentioned double wall sheet, and an apparatus for producing them.
There has been known processed article of thermoplastic material called “plastic bubble sheet”, which is produced with a thermoplastic material such as polyethylene and polypropylene by thermal processing (usually, vacuum forming) to form a cap-film having a number of cap-shaped projections and by adhering a flat back film to the base surface of the cap film or adhering a flat liner film to the tops of the caps, or adhering both the back film and the liner film. The product is widely used as the material for cushion-packaging, thermal insulators, or a protective sheet at moving and construction.
There are variations of the plastic bubble sheets in which thicker films, which may be more appropriately called sheets, are used as the constituting material. The products are called “plastic bubble boards” and are also widely used as the building materials, concrete placing panels, protecting boards, or materials for various containers.
The difference between the plastic bubble sheet and the plastic bubble board resides in the difference of thickness of the films or sheets as the components, and the difference of thickness of the product plastic bubble sheet and the plastic bubble board, on which the strength and the rigidity of the products depend, and therefore, the two kinds of products are applied to the appropriate use. In the following description the material films and sheets are represented by a “sheet”, and the product bubble sheets and bubble boards, by a “bubble board”.
The above described bubble board have two grades: the two-layered bubble board prepared by adhering a back sheet to the base of the cap sheet or by adhering a liner sheet to the tops of the caps, and the three-layered bubble board prepared by adhering both the back sheet and the liner sheet. Of the two-layered ones, those having a back sheet have lower rigidity, and therefore, are applied to the use where no bending rigidity is required. Even though the two-layered ones having a liner sheet can be applied to the use where the bending rigidity is required, it is a drawback that the products are not suitable as the protecting sheet, because those who stepped on the sheet may miss their footing. The three-layered ones have the highest bending rigidity and both the surfaces are smooth, and therefore, are suitable for applying to the use where such the features are required and where slipping is out of the question. The weak point of the three-layered bubble boards is, due to the producing process, that warps tend to occur during producing.
The first object of the present invention is to provide a plastic sheet having a number of recessed and protruded parts with some cushioning ability to the stress in the direction vertical to the face of the sheet, and when used as the protecting sheet, exhibiting good non-slip property.
The second object of the present invention is to provide a two-layered or three-layered double wall sheet having the above plastic sheet as the component, to which one or two flat plastic sheet are adhered, and exhibiting higher bending rigidity and improved warp when compared with the conventional plastic bubble boards.
The object of the invention includes providing a method of producing the plastic sheet having a number of recessed and protruded parts, a method of producing the double wall sheet having the above plastic sheet as the component, as well as an apparatus for carrying out the methods of producing.
The plastic sheet according to the present invention is, as shown in
The plastic sheet having a number of recessed and protruded parts according to the invention includes various embodiments. In the embodiment shown in
This embodiment includes the following three types:
Further embodiments as follows are possible.
The two-layered double wall sheet according to the present invention also includes various embodiments. One of them is the two-layered double wall sheet (2A) shown in
Another one is the two-layered double wall sheet (2B) shown in
A further one is the two-layered double wall sheet (2C) shown in
The three-layered double wall sheet (3) of the invention is produced by adhering a flat liner sheet (5) or flat back sheet (4) to any one of the above-described double wall sheets (2A, 2B or 2C) on the side opposite to the side on which a back sheet or a liner sheet is already adhered. This product may be understood either as such one that a flat back sheet (4) is adhered to the above-described two-layered double wall sheet (2A or 2B) having a liner sheet (5), or such one that a flat liner sheet (5) is adhered to the above-describe two-layered double wall sheet (2C) having a back sheet (4).
For the purpose of meeting elevated demand for the bending rigidity and the plane compressive strength, even in the conventional bubble boards, there has been such a product as “double ply-type”, which uses a pair of cap sheets and flat sheets are disposed between the two cap sheets and on both the front and the back sides. In the double wall sheet according to the invention the plane part of the plastic sheet having a number of recessed and protruded parts takes the roll of the flat sheet between the two cap sheets of the conventional products, and thus, even the two-layered structure exhibits performance equal to that of the three-layered product. It can be easily understood that the three-layered product of the double wall sheet of the invention has performance exceeding that of the conventional double ply-type bubble board.
The method of producing the plastic sheet according to the invention as shown in
A method of producing the two-layered double wall sheet (2A, 2B and 2C) as shown in FIGS. 6 to 8 comprises, further to the above-described steps, as
Another method of producing the two-layered double wall sheet (2A, 2B and 2C) as shown in FIGS. 6 to 8 comprises, following to the above-described steps for producing the plastic sheet having a number of recessed and protruded parts, as
The method of producing the three-layered double wall sheet (3) of the invention illustrated in
The apparatus according to the invention for producing the plastic sheet having a number of recessed and protruded parts has no principal difference from the conventional apparatus for producing plastic bubble boards. As shown in
The forming plug (7) to be fixed on the forming roll cylinder (6) is roughly classified into two types.
Various embodiments are possible in the forming plug (7A). Of course the projection may not necessary be truncated cone shape with round section but may be of a pyramid shape with hexagonal or octagonal section. It may be possible that the top of the projection is round and the base is pyramidal. Such a shape can be compared to the head of a pencil on the way of sharpening. Anyway, the plug having a pyramidal part can be turned with a wrench. In case of using the plugs of round cone without any hold for wrench, it is recommended to provide a plus or minus groove at the top of the plug so that the plug may be turned with a driver. Preparation of the forming plugs can be carried out by machining, and this is an easy way of manufacturing. However, because of plurality of the plugs necessary for one vacuum forming roll, it is recommended to employ a more efficient way of manufacturing such as formation of the heads by closed die forging followed by thread rolling.
Another embodiment (7B) of the forming plug is shown in
The above description on the configuration and manufacturing concerning the first embodiment (7A) of the forming plug (7) is applicable to the second embodiment (7B) as it is. However, in case where the second embodiment is chosen, if the diameter of the vacuum forming roll cylinder is relatively small and the forming plug is large, simple fitting by screw clamping causes, due to the curvature of the forming roll cylinder, formation of gaps between the forming plugs and the forming roll cylinder at some parts, and care must be taken for this. At such a part the heat possessed by the plastic sheet in the molten state will not be sufficiently transmitted to the cylinder. Then, accumulation of heat will occur in the forming plugs and results in temperature increase of the plugs. It is needless to say that local temperature increase in the apparatus is unfavorable to plastic processing.
Such problem of heat accumulation may be solved by entire contact of the forming plugs to the forming roll cylinder. It is advisable, as shown in
Plastic Sheet Having a Number of Recessed and Protruded Parts
A polyethylene of density 0.92 g/cm3 and MI 2 g/10 min. was used as the material and a plastic sheet having a number of recessed and the protruded parts was produced with the following specification. The product was suitable for the protecting sheet.
Two-Layered Double Wall Sheet
On the plastic sheet having a number of recessed and protruded parts produced in Example 1, a sheet of the same material of the thickness 0.3 mm was laminated as the back sheet to produce a two-layered double wall sheet of the invention. The double two-layered wall sheet had the following properties:
Three-Layered Double Wall Sheet
On the plastic sheet having a number of recessed and protruded parts produced in Example 1, two sheets of the same material of the thickness 0.3 mm were laminated as the back sheet and the liner sheet to produce a three-layered double wall sheet of the invention. The three-layered double wall sheet had the following properties:
The plastic sheet having a number of recessed and protruded parts according to the present invention is relatively soft and has, in addition to good cushioning property, excellent ability in preventing slip. Thus, the plastic sheet of the invention is particularly suitable as a simple protecting sheet. The two-layered double wall sheet made by combining this plastic sheet and a back sheet or a liner sheet has extremely higher bending rigidity and plane compressive strength when compared with conventional plastic bubble boards, and therefore, it is useful as the material for various panels. Relatively thin products of the two-layered double wall sheet has, though the bending rigidity and the plane compressive strength are not high, better cushioning property, and is useful as the material for various cushion packaging.
The three-layered double wall sheet made by combining the plastic sheet having a number of recessed and protruded parts with both the back sheet and the liner sheet exhibits remarkably high bending rigidity and plane compressive strength, and the warp as manufactured is much better than that of the conventional products. This is suitable as the material for a packaging container to contain heavy things.
The double wall sheet according to the invention, of course the three-layered product, even the two-layered product, is characterized by its high thermal insulating property. This seems to be caused by the fact that movement of air confined in the bubbles is more strongly prevented in the present product when compared with the conventional plastic bubble boards due to the structural difference. It is known that, in the bubble boards, as the size of the bubble reaches a certain extent, convection of the air occurs in the bubbles and results in decrease of the thermal insulating effect. However, in the double wall sheet of the invention, the space in the protruded, cone-shaped parts and the space in the recessed, ring-shaped parts are divided by the plastic sheet, the convection of air in question can occur only in the separate spaces. Thus, the heat transfer by convention is less.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2002-250146 | Aug 2002 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/JP03/09828 | 8/1/2003 | WO | 2/28/2005 |