Backed sanitaryware and process for the production thereof

Abstract

Backed sanitaryware, such as baths, shower trays, wash basins and the like comprise an acrylic polymer moulding, the reverse of which is reinforced with a polymer material containing neither glass fiber nor asbestos, which material is firmly bonded to the acrylic polymer moulding, wherein the reinforcement is obtainable by curing a polymerizable, cold-curing reactive (meth)acrylate system sprayed onto the reverse of the acrylic polymer moulding, which system contains, in addition to further constituents, A) as polymerizable monomers: A) a) (meth)acrylate  30-100 wt. % a1) methyl (meth)acrylate   0-99.8 wt. % a2) C 2 -C 4 (meth)acrylate   0-99.8 wt. % a3) ≧C 5 (meth)acrylate   0-50 wt. % a4) polyfunctional   0-50 wt. % (meth)acrylates a5) urethane (meth)acrylates 0.2-50 wt. % b) comonomers   0-70 wt. % b1) vinyl aromatics   0-35 wt. % b2) vinyl esters   0-35 wt. % The further constituents of the (meth)acrylate system are disclosed in the description. The sanitaryware according to the invention meets all requirements of DIN EN 198 and further relevant standards and is completely and straightforwardly recyclable.

1 . Backed sanitaryware comprising an acrylic polymer moulding, the reverse of which is reinforced with a polymer material containing neither glass fibre nor asbestos, which material is firmly bonded to the acrylic polymer moulding, wherein the reinforcing polymer material is obtainable by curing a polymerisable, cold-curing reactive (meth)acrylate system applied onto the reverse of the acrylic polymer moulding, 
 which contains                                                        A)   a)   (meth)acrylate    30-100 wt. %                 a1) methyl (meth)acrylate     0-99.8 wt. %                 a2) C 2 -C 4  (meth)acrylate     0-99.8 wt. %                 a3) ≧C 5  (meth)acrylate     0-50 wt. %                 a4) polyfunctional     0-50 wt. %                 (meth)acrylates                 a5) urethane (meth)acrylates   0.2-50 wt. %              b)   comonomers     0-70 wt. %                 b1) vinyl aromatics     0-35 wt. %                 b2) vinyl esters     0-35 wt. %                                                       wherein components a1) to b2) are selected such that, together, they amount to 100 wt. %,    B) per 1 part by weight of A), 0.05-5 parts by weight of a (pre)polymer soluble or swellable in A)    C) a redox system containing an accelerator and a peroxide catalyst or initiator in a quantity sufficient for cold-curing component A), which system is to be kept entirely or partially segregated until the constituents of the system to be polymerised are polymerised    D) conventional additives                                                    E)   fillers relative to the sum of A)-E)   0-75 wt. %.                                             
     
     
         2 . Sanitaryware according to  claim 1 ,  
       characterised in that 
 the (meth)acrylate system A) to E) used to the form the reinforcing layer of the sanitaryware contains a flexibilising content of at least one urethane (meth)acrylate a5) which comprises at least three reactive, terminal, ethylenically unsaturated functionalities.  
 
     
     
         3 . Sanitaryware according to  claim 1  or  2 ,  
       characterised in that 
 the content of component a5) is in the range from 3 to 25 wt. %, preferably from 5 to 20 wt. %, relative to the sum of components a) and b) to 100 wt. %.  
 
     
     
         4 . Sanitaryware according to  claim 2  or  3 ,  
       characterised in that 
 the urethane (meth)acrylate a5) used is obtainable by reacting 
 either I) 
 i) hydroxyalkyl (meth)acrylic acid esters with  
 ii) polyisocyanates and  
 iii) polyoxyalkylenes having at least three hydroxyl functionalities, wherein the proportion of polyethylene oxide is less than 50 wt. %, relative to the total quantity of polyoxyalkylene,  
 
 or II) 
 i′) hydroxyalkyl (meth)acrylic acid esters with  
 ii′) mixtures of polyisocyanates, at least one of which polyisocyanates has three or more isocyanate groups, and  
 iii) polyoxyalkylenes having at least two hydroxyl functionalities, wherein the proportion of polyethylene oxide is less than 50 wt. %, relative to the total quantity of polyoxyalkylene.  
 
 
 
     
     
         5 . Sanitaryware according to  claim 4 ,  
       characterised in that the urethane (meth)acrylates a5) are obtainable by reacting hydroxyethyl methacrylate, hydroxyethyl acrylate, hydroxypropyl methacrylate, hydroxypropyl acrylate and/or mixtures of two or more of the above-stated compounds as the hydroxyalkyl (meth)acrylic acid esters.  
     
     
         6 . Sanitaryware according to  claim 4  or  5 ,  
       characterised in that the urethane (meth)acrylates a5) are obtainable by reacting 2,4-toluene diisocyanate, 
 2,6-toluene diisocyanate, 4,4′-diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI), 4,4′-dicyclohexyl diisocyanate, meta- and para-tetramethylxylylene diisocyanate, 3-isocyanatomethyl-3,5,5-trimethylcyclohexyl isocyanate (isophorone diisocyanate), hexamethylene diisocyanate,  
 1,5-naphthylene diisocyanate, dianisidine diisocyanate, di-(2-isocyanatoethyl)bicyclo[2.2.1]hept-5-ene 2,3-dicarboxylate, 2,2,4- and 2,4,4-trimethylenehexamethylene diisocyanate, triphenylmethane 4,4′,4″-triisocyanate, tris-(4-isocyanatophenyl) thiophosphate and mixtures thereof as the polyisocyanate.  
 
     
     
         7 . Sanitaryware according to one or more of the preceding  claims 4  to  6 ,  
       characterised in that urethane (meth)acrylates are obtainable by reacting polyoxypropylene and/or polytetramethylene oxides, which each have at least three reactive, terminal hydroxyl functionalities, as the polyoxyalkylene.  
     
     
         8 . Sanitaryware according to one or more of the preceding  claims 4  to  7 , characterised in that the urethane (meth)acrylates have three or four reactive, terminal, ethylenically unsaturated functionalities.  
     
     
         9 . Sanitaryware according to one or more of the preceding  claims 4  to  8 , characterised in that the urethane (meth)acrylates are obtainable by reacting polyoxyalkylenes which have a weight average molecular weight in the range from 2000 to 20000.  
     
     
         10 . Sanitaryware according to one or more of the preceding claims,  
       characterised in that 
 the fillers E) inert under the depolymerisation conditions of acrylic polymer are ultra-finely divided fillers having a fineness of <100 μm.  
 
     
     
         11 . Sanitaryware according to  claim 10 ,  
       characterised in that 
 the fillers E) are mica, aluminium hydroxide, calcium carbonate, chalk, marble, quartzite, wollastonite and/or cristobalite.  
 
     
     
         12 . Sanitaryware according to  claim 10 ,  
       characterised in that 
 the filler E) in the (meth)acrylate system is mica.  
 
     
     
         13 . Sanitaryware according to one or more of the preceding claims,  
       characterised in that 
 the fillers E) comprise hollow microparticles filled with inert gas.  
 
     
     
         14 . Sanitaryware according to  claim 12 ,  
       characterised in that 
 the microparticles are gas filled, hollow expanded microspheres of plastic.  
 
     
     
         15 . Sanitaryware according to  claim 13 ,  
       characterised in that 
 the hollow microspheres are coated with calcium carbonate.  
 
     
     
         16 . Sanitaryware according to one or more of the preceding claims,  
       characterised in that 
 the fillers E) are present in the (meth)acrylate system in a quantity of 40-65 wt. %, preferably of 50-60 wt. %, relative to the sum of A)-E).  
 
     
     
         17 . Sanitaryware according to one or more of the preceding claims,  
       characterised in that 
 the (meth)acrylate system comprises components B):A) in a ratio by weight in the range from 0.1:1 to 2:1.  
 
     
     
         18 . Sanitaryware according to  claim 17 ,  
       characterised in that 
 the ratio by weight of B):A) is in the range from 0.2:1 to 1:1.  
 
     
     
         19 . Sanitaryware according to one of the preceding claims,  
       characterised in that 
 B) comprises PMMA lacquer beads obtainable by suspension polymerisation, an emulsion polymer and/or ground material from a recycling process having an average particle diameter of up to 0.8 mm.  
 
     
     
         20 . Sanitaryware according to one of the preceding claims,  
       characterised in that 
 the reinforcing material consists of a first and a second layer, wherein each of the layers is obtainable by curing a polymerisable, cold-curing, reactive, (meth)acrylate system according to the preceding claims which is applied, preferably sprayed, onto the reverse of the acrylic polymer moulding, and the (meth)acrylate systems used to produce each layer differ from one another at least with regard to one component.  
 
     
     
         21 . Sanitaryware according to  claim 20 ,  
       characterised in that 
 the (pre)polymer of the first reinforcing layer has a comonomer content of between 30 and 80 wt. %, while that of the second reinforcing layer is between 0 and <30 wt. %.  
 
     
     
         22 . Sanitaryware according to  claim 21 ,  
       characterised in that 
 the comonomer is methyl acrylate, ethyl acrylate, butyl acrylate, 2′-ethylhexyl acrylate, ethyl methacrylate, n-butyl methacrylate, i-butyl methacrylate, 2-ethylhexyl methacrylate, propyl acrylate, propyl methacrylate, methacrylic acid, triethylene glycol ethyl ether methacrylate, hydroxypropyl methacrylate.  
 
     
     
         23 . Sanitaryware according to one or more of the preceding  claims 20  to  22 ,  
       characterised in that, 
 in the presence of two reinforcing layers, the first layer has a thickness of 0.5-2.5 mm and the second layer a thickness in the range from 2.5-<5.5 mm.  
 
     
     
         24 . Process for the production of sanitaryware according to the preceding claims, characterised in that at least one reactive resin system is sprayed onto the reverse of an acrylic polymer moulding, wherein the resin system cures in contact with the acrylic polymer moulding, so durably bonding itself to the acrylic polymer moulding without additional coupling agents.  
     
     
         25 . Process according to  claim 24 ,  
       characterised in that 
 two different resin systems predominantly based on (meth)acrylates are used, wherein a first resin system is initially sprayed onto the acrylic polymer moulding, which resin system imparts the requisite impact strength, and, after curing thereof, a second resin system is sprayed thereon, which second system imparts the requisite rigidity.  
 
     
     
         26 . Process according to  claim 24  or  25 ,  
       characterised in that 
 the fillers E) are incorporated into the first and/or second binder system A)-D) before use of the reactive resin system using a homogenising apparatus with addition of a thixotroping agent in a quantity of 0.01-0.5 parts relative to 1 part of E).