Method for manufacturing a mineral wool panel
AssigneeUSG Interiors, Inc.
InventorsDavid G. Izard, Mark H. Englert
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The manufacture of sag-resistant, lightweight structural mineral panels on a foraminous support wire is accomplished by forming a dilute aqueous dispersion of mineral fiber and/or aggregate and an anionically stabilized latex binder, coupling the binder solids onto the mineral fiber materials by adding a small amount of a flocculant such as a cationic polyacrylamide, and passing the slurry onto a first flooded section of the support wire to form an open, entangled, structural mass having water in interstitial spaces of the entangled mass. Water is stripped from the mass and the mass dried without collapse of the open structure by passing heated dry air through the open entangled structure.
Claims14
A method for manufacturing a lightweight, sag-resistant structural panel on a moving foraminous support wire which comprises the steps of:
- forming a dilute aqueous furnish comprising a mineral fiber material;
- adding a binder which consists of from about 20% to 100% of an anionically stabilized resin latex and from 0% to about 80% of starch based on the dry weight of total binder solids;
- adding a cationic flocculating agent selected from guar gum and a polyacrylamide having a molecular weight of about 1-12 million and at least about 5 mole percent of a cationic component to the furnish in an amount sufficient to coat the mineral fiber material and flocculate the latex binder to coat the mineral fiber surfaces;
- after addition of the flocculating agent, providing a period of up to about one minute for a relatively quiescent flow of the furnish;
- depositing the furnish on a water flooded section of the support wire to form a self-sustaining, open structure of entangled mineral fiber material having water-filled interstices;
- and
- stripping the water from the interstices and drying the structure without collapsing it by passing air through it at a rate of from about 50 to about 350 cubic feet per minute per square foot of the surface at which the air is directed.
A method for manufacturing a structural panel, the method comprising the steps of:
- a) forming a dilute furnish including a mineral fiber material;
- b) adding to the furnish a quantity of an anionically stabilized latex resin;
- c) admixing to the furnish a quantity of a cationic flocculating agent selected from quar gum and a polyacrylamide having a molecule weight of about 1-12 million and at least about 5 mole percent of a cationic component, wherein the cationic flocculating agent coats the mineral fiber material and flocculates the anionically stabilized latex resin to coat the surface of the mineral fiber material;
- d) after addition of the flocculating agent, providing a period of up to about one minute for a relatively quiescent flow of the furnish;
- and
- e) forming a structural panel from the furnish.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.