Industrial Floors

In addition to providing the properties of polyurethane chemistry, the authors reported that HNIPUs also exhibit the chemical resistance of epoxy binders. Potential uses of HNIPUs include commercial application in paints, varnishes, adhesives, caulking compounds, flooring/industrial coatings, foams, and composite materials. 

Still in the forties, butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP) was introduced by Monsanto Co. This ester is based on the monohydric alcohol n-butanol, but the benzyl group is derived from benzyl chloride rather then benzyl alcohol. This route was selected to make possible manufacture of pure coester which showed a better balance of properties than if made from the two alcohols. BBP was destined to make its mark in PVC, particularly in the flooring industry. 

Energy absorbent methods have been widely used by the footwear and flooring industries, for example the apparatus described by Wilson and Mahoney [21). Energy acquired by a trolley running down an incline is absorbed by the braking action of a heel on the horizontal test surface at the base of the incline. A similar test appears in BS 7044 [22] for artificial sports surfaces. 

Uses Urethane for textiles, artificial leather, furniture, flooring, industrial primers and coatings, and masonry sealants Features Exc. adhesion to plastics, metal, and wood produces coatings with exc. resist, to abrasion, UV and hydrolytic stability low VOC Properties Translucent disp. colloidal particle size dens. 8.98 Ib/gal vise. 200 cps flash pt. (PMCC) > 100 C pH 7-9 surf. tens. 49 dynes/ cm VOC 151.41 g/l Film props. tens. str. 6500 psi tens, elong. 450% (ultimate) anionic 40% solids Witcobond W-240 [Uniroyal]... 

The growth of seamless floors has had an exciting and profound effect on both the PU and flooring industries [18]. 

Uses Defoamer for solvent-tree paint systems such as PUR and epoxy floorings, industrial coatings, coil coatings and in automotive primer surfacers Features Silicone-free eliminates air bubbles and ensures pinhole-free surfaces ... 

The objective ofthe SURV-RTRACKapplication is to provide an efficient monitoring service forthe surveillance ofacertaingeogr hical region (office, building floor, industrial plants...) using a cooperative team of mobile robots and a fixed network infiiastructure of sensor nodes. 

Natural diamonds are found in kimberlite of ancient volcanic "pipes," found in South Africa, Arkansas, and elsewhere. Diamonds are now also being recovered from the ocean floor off the Cape of Good Hope. About 30% of all industrial diamonds used in the U.S. are now made synthetically. 

Industrial appHcations often require that bulk materials or Hquids be weighed in hoppers, silos, tanks, or reactor vessels, referred to collectively as vessels. Because they come in such a wide variety of si2es, shapes, and capacities, scales using these vessels as load receivers are not typically available as standard products. Vessels are usually custom-fabricated to suit a particular appHcation, then mounted on a scale. Some can be mounted on a standard scale such as a bench, portable, or floor scale. More typically, a number of weigh modules are used to support the vessel. This offers the scale designer great flexibiHty but certain precautions are necessary in order to constmct an accurate scale. Some of the more important factors associated with the design of vessel scales are discussed herein. 

The majority of particleboard is used in furniture and cabinetry. A significant amount is used as floor decking in manufactured homes and as undedayment in conventional homes. Particleboard is used as shelving in homes and industrial businesses, as door cores in soHd core doors, in stair stepping, door frames, and a host of uses requiring small flat parts as a starting point. 

Emulsion Polymerization. Emulsion polymerization is the most important industrial method for the preparation of acryhc polymers. The principal markets for aqueous dispersion polymers made by emulsion polymerization of acryhc esters are the paint, paper, adhesives, textile, floor pohsh, and leather industries, where they are used principally as coatings or binders. Copolymers of either ethyl acrylate or butyl acrylate with methyl methacrylate are most common. 

Raw Materials. PVC is inherently a hard and brittle material and very sensitive to heat it thus must be modified with a variety of plasticizers, stabilizers, and other processing aids to form heat-stable flexible or semiflexible products or with lesser amounts of these processing aids for the manufacture of rigid products (see Vinyl polymers, vinyl chloride polymers). Plasticizer levels used to produce the desired softness and flexibihty in a finished product vary between 25 parts per hundred (pph) parts of PVC for flooring products to about 80—100 pph for apparel products (245). Numerous plasticizers (qv) are commercially available for PVC, although dioctyl phthalate (DOP) is by far the most widely used in industrial appHcations due to its excellent properties and low cost. For example, phosphates provide improved flame resistance, adipate esters enhance low temperature flexibihty, polymeric plasticizers such as glycol adipates and azelates improve the migration resistance, and phthalate esters provide compatibiUty and flexibihty (245). 

Hydrocarbon resin is a broad term that is usually used to describe a low molecular weight thermoplastic polymer synthesized via the thermal or catalytic polymerization of coal-tar fractions, cracked petroleum distillates, terpenes, or pure olefinic monomers. These resins are used extensively as modifiers in the hot melt and pressure sensitive adhesive industries. They are also used in numerous other appHcations such as sealants, printing inks, paints, plastics, road marking, carpet backing, flooring, and oil field appHcations. They are rarely used alone. 

Uses. In architectural and industrial appHcations vibrational isolators are used to reduce transmission of vibration into building stmctures from rotating or reciprocating machinery, such as ventilating fans, pumps, chillers, industrial machinery, and the piping and ductwork coimected to this equipment (6). Vibration isolators also can be used to isolate vibration-sensitive equipment or noise-sensitive areas from sources of vibration. Examples are special pneumatic isolators to protect electron microscopes, and isolators used to support floating concrete floors in recording studios. 

These foams are used for board stock in commercial and industrial buildings as insulation for internal cavity and external walls, roof, floor, and foundations. Spray-appHed foam, covered subsequently with one of a variety of protective coatings, is widely used for large roofing appHcations and has limited use as external walls. Eor residential buildings, the principal use is as external sheathing board. 

The uniqueness of methyl methacrylate as a plastic component accounts for its industrial use in this capacity, and it far exceeds the combined volume of all of the other methacrylates. In addition to plastics, the various methacrylate polymers also find appHcation in sizable markets as diverse as lubricating oil additives, surface coatings (qv), impregnates, adhesives (qv), binders, sealers (see Sealants), and floor poHshes. It is impossible to segregate the total methacrylate polymer market because many of the polymers produced are copolymers with acrylates and other monomers. The total 1991 production capacity of methyl methacrylate in the United States was estimated at 585,000 t/yr. The worldwide production in 1991 was estimated at about 1,785,000 t/yr (3). 

Tetrahydronaphthalene [119-64-2] (Tetralin) is a water-white Hquid that is insoluble in water, slightly soluble in methyl alcohol, and completely soluble in other monohydric alcohols, ethyl ether, and most other organic solvents. It is a powerhil solvent for oils, resins, waxes, mbber, asphalt, and aromatic hydrocarbons, eg, naphthalene and anthracene. Its high flash point and low vapor pressure make it usehil in the manufacture of paints, lacquers, and varnishes for cleaning printing ink from rollers and type in the manufacture of shoe creams and floor waxes as a solvent in the textile industry and for the removal of naphthalene deposits in gas-distribution systems (25). The commercial product typically has a tetrahydronaphthalene content of >97 wt%, with some decahydronaphthalene and naphthalene as the principal impurities. 

There are two basic segments in the floor care market the household market which has been declining as a result of changing lifestyles and no-wax floors, and the industrial and institutional (I I) market. Whereas trends in the former have stressed convenience, the I I market, which has been hoi ding fairly steady, has focused on labor saving, either through increased durabihty or faster maintenance. 

Formulas for representative floor poHshes are Hsted in References 3, 12, 13, and 25. An aqueous formula may contain 0—12 wt % polymer, 0—12 wt % resin, 0—6 wt % wax, 0.3—1.5 wt % tris(butoxyethyl)phosphate, 1—6 wt % glycol ether, and 0—1 wt % zinc, with water filling the rest. Water-clear floor finishes contain Htfle or no wax, whereas buffable products contain relatively large amounts of wax. Sealers contain Htfle wax and relatively large amounts of emulsion polymers (28). For industrial use, sealers are appHed to porous substrates to fiH the pores and prevent poHshes that are used as topcoats from soaking into the floor. 

Industrial and institutional floor care demands poHshes that accommodate the needs of machine-centered maintenance. The development of machines that buff or burnish with rotational speeds from 1000 to 2000 rpm has produced poHsh formulations that are balanced to accommodate the process (32—36). 

According to U.S. Census Data, the value of polishing preparations and related products shipped from U.S. factories in 1987 was 798 million in factory sales, a 23% increase from 1982 (67). These sales included 155.3 million in furniture poHsh, 245.2 million in floor poHsh, 185.1 million in automotive poHsh, 81.1 million in metal poHsh, and 42.8 million in shoe poHsh. Industry estimates for retail sales as of 1994 involving furniture poHsh were that this category remained flat at 197 million (68). Retail shoe poHsh sales remained constant at 200 million household floor poHsh sales declined about 7% in 1993, whereas institutional floor wax and poHsh sales have grown at an aimual rate of 2—2.5% to 370 million (69). In 1992 and 1993, automotive poHsh sales increased about 40% a year with the advent of colored car poHshes to 240 million, but were flat in 1994. 

The leading manufacturers in the poHsh categories are S. C. Johnson Son, Inc., Reckitt Coleman, Sara Lee, Scotts Liquid Gold, Turtle Wax, and Alberto Culver for furniture poHshes S. C. Johnson Son, Inc, and L F Products for household floor poHshes S. C. Johnson Son, Inc., Pioneer-EcHpse, Spartan Chemical, HiHyard Chemical Co., and Butcher Co. for industrial and institutional floor poHshes Turtle Wax, Armor AH, Eirst Brands, Kit Products of Northern Labs, Meguires, Blue Coral, and Nu-Finish for automotive poHshes and Kiwi for shoe poHshes (68—72). 

Amino resins are manufactured throughout the industrialized world to provide a wide variety of useful products. Adhesives (qv), representing the largest single market, are used to make plywood, chipboard, and sawdust board. Other types are used to make laminated wood beams, parquet flooring, and for furniture assembly (see Wood-BASED composites and laminates). 

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