Fibrous plastic ceiling tile

Abstract

The multi-purpose tile is formed solely of randomly arranged and uniformly distributed non-woven plastic fibers. The non-woven plastic fibers are fused together without a binder and compressed while in a heated state to establish a predetermined thickness of the tile. The tile is flexible, self-supporting and non-collapsible, and can be installed as a lay-in ceiling tile on a grid for use as a suspended ceiling, or bonded directly to a ceiling, or bonded directly to a wall.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A multi-purpose the comprising:
 a) a tile member unit having a polygonal shape with a top planar surface, a bottom planar surface and a peripheral edge that is beveled or straight;   b) said tile member unit being formed solely of randomly arranged and uniformly distributed non-woven plastic fibers having a denier of about 2 denier to about 20 denier and a length of about 20 mm to about 80 mm;   c) said non-woven plastic fibers of said tile member unit to being fused together without a binder, and said tile member unit having a thickness of about 2 mm to about 18 mm, and a density of about 0.0025 to about 0.005 pounds/cubic inch, whereby the tile member unit is flexible, self-supporting, binder free and non-collapsible.   
     
     
         2 . The multi-purpose tile of  claim 1 , wherein the non-woven plastic fibers are selected from the group consisting of polyester, polypropylene, nylon, PBT, polyacrylonitrile, polybenzimidazole, and blends thereof. 
     
     
         3 . The multi-purpose tile of  claim 2 , wherein the non-woven plastic fibers are polyester. 
     
     
         4 . The multi-purpose tile of  claim 1 , wherein the tile member unit is in the form of a geometric shape selected from the group consisting of square, rectangle, triangle, trapezoid, and polygon with at least five sides. 
     
     
         5 . The multi-purpose the of  claim 4 , wherein the tile member unit is in the form of a square or rectangle. 
     
     
         6 . The multi-purpose tile of  claim 1 , wherein the tile member unit is beveled at the peripheral edges with a bevel angle of about 25 degrees to about 45 degrees. 
     
     
         7 . The multi-purpose tile of  claim 3 , wherein the polyester fibers are hollow conjugated silicon polyester staple fiber. 
     
     
         8 . The multi-purpose tile of  claim 1 , having nominal dimensions of about 2 feet by 2 feet, a thickness of about 9 mm and a total weight of about 11 to 12 ounces. 
     
     
         9 . The multi-purpose tile of  claim 1 , having a at least one color selected from the group consisting of white, gray, marble, slate gray, black, sky blue, royal blue, beige, brown, yellow, purple, indigo, violet, green, orange, red and blends thereof. 
     
     
         10 . The multi-purpose tile of  claim 9 , wherein the color is solution dyed into the fibers. 
     
     
         11 . The multi-purpose tile of  claim 1 , wherein the tile member unit is a ceiling tile. 
     
     
         12 . The multi-purpose tile of  claim 1 , wherein the tile member unit is a wall tile. 
     
     
         13 . The multi-purpose tile of  claim 1 , wherein the tile member unit has the following burn resistant characteristics in accordance with ASTM E84:
 a) Class A   b) Flame Spread Index/ FSI: 0   c) Smoke Developed Index/SDI 10   
     
     
         14 . The tile member unit of  claim 1 , having the following sound absorption characteristics in accordance with ASTM C423:
 a) Lay-In/Ceiling Grid Installation System: NRC 0.75   b) Stuck-On/Ceiling Adhesive Installation System: NRC 0.30   
     
     
         15 . The multi-purpose tile of  claim 1  wherein tile member unit is resistant to mold and microbial growth in accordance with ASTM D6329. 
     
     
         16 . A method for covering a ceiling or wall, comprising:
 (a) preparing a preliminary layer of selected predetermined thickness of randomly arranged, uniformly distributed, unbound, non-woven plastic fibers having a denier of about 2 denier to about 20 denier and a length of about 20 mm to about 80 mm;   (b) heating the preliminary layer of non-woven plastic fibers, without a binder, to a temperature of about 225° C. to about 260° C. for a time sufficient to melt a preselected amount of fibers that bond the non-woven fibers together;   (c) compressing the heated layer of bonded non-woven plastic fibers at a pressure of about 500 to 1000 kg/cm 2  to produce a heat stabilized compressed layer of the bonded non-woven fibers, the thickness of the preliminary layer of the unbound non-woven plastic fibers being selected such that the heat stabilized compressed layer of the bonded non-woven plastic fibers has a thickness in the range of about 2 mm to about 20 mm and a density in the range of about 0.005 to about 0.025 pounds/cubic inch;   (d) dividing the compressed layer of the bonded non-woven plastic fibers into one or more self-supporting tile member units of selected size and shape and formed solely of the bonded non-woven plastic fibers; and   (e) installing the tile member units on a ceiling or wall.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , including forming the tile member unit with a peripheral edge that is beveled or straight. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16 , including forming the tile member unit into a polygonal shape with a top planar surface and a bottom planar surface and placing the tile member unit on a grid for use as a suspended ceiling. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 16 , including forming the tile member unit into a polygonal shape with a top planar surface and a bottom planar surface and bonding the tile member unit directly to a ceiling. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 16 , including forming the tile member unit into a polygonal shape with a top planar surface and a bottom planar surface and bonding the tile member unit directly to a wall.