Panels are manufactured at high pressures under heat. LPLs are produced under lower pressures to avoid damaging the underlying substrate material.
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Laminate Flooring:
Beneath The Surface Recent advances in laminate flooring technology allow surface and groove effects to be achieved with startling realism. By Goh Tz’en Long.
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ncreasingly, laminate flooring has been gaining acceptance both in Europe and around the world. Manufacturing technology has improved with impregnation and coating techniques which impart better moisture, abrasion and impact resistance to these flooring products. Early laminate flooring products were more susceptible to moisture and humidity changes, resulting in conditions such as swelling. The newer products are more robust and in Europe, they are manufactured to specific standards set by the EPLF. Laminate flooring products typically consist of melamine-formaldehyde impregnated papers, overlays and kraft
Typically, high pressure laminates are manufactured in multi-opening presses while low pressure laminates are manufactured in single opening short cycle presses of relatively faster curing times under higher temperatures. Increasingly, continuous, double belt presses are also being used with faster cycle times that are closer to that for producing low pressure laminates. The HPL layer structure consists of an assembly of plies, the exact arrangement of which varies with the manufacturer. The core layer, various fillers and overlay sheets are placed over a substrate such as MDF
core layers which are pressed by heated platens onto a base substrate which is made of medium density fibreboard (MDF) or high density fibreboard (HDF) that has been saturated with resins. Depending on the flooring manufacturer, the edges of the panels can then Single opening presses enable the be machined with specially designed core substrate to be surfaced with impregnated papers. tongue and groove profiles to ensure glueless installation by simply ‘clicking’ the boards into place. Glued installations and pressed by heated press platens under are fast becoming obsolete. pressure. This causes the papers and substrate Decorative laminates can be classified to be cured and bonded together, resulting into two main categories: high pressure in surfaces that are scratch and moisture laminates (HPL) and low pressure resistant. Overlays are then impregnated with laminates (LPL). High pressure laminates alumina for greater abrasion resistance.
High-Speed Laminate Floor Processing Homag has developed a highly efficient laminate floor processing system capable of producing laminate flooring at a rate of 200 m/min, or 1 sq m of laminate flooring every second. The drive belt system (DBS) allows feedrates of up to 300 m/min to be achieved. The plant design is compact relative to the high throughput. Features include automatic optical inspection