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AssigneeE. Khashoggi Industries
InventorsPer J. Andersen, Simon K. Hodson
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Compositions, methods, and apparatus for manufacturing sheets having a highly inorganically filled matrix. Suitable inorganically filled mixtures are prepared by mixing together an organic polymer binder, water, one or more aggregate materials, fibers, and optional admixtures in the correct proportions in order to form a sheet which has the desired performance criteria. The inorganically filled mixtures are formed into sheets by first extruding the mixtures and then passing the extruded materials between a set of rollers. The rolled sheets are dried in an accelerated manner to form a substantially hardened sheet, such as by heated rollers and/or a drying chamber. The inorganically filled sheets may have properties substantially similar to sheets presently made from traditional materials like paper, paperboard, polystyrene, plastic, or metal. Such sheets can be cut, rolled, pressed, scored, perforated, folded, and glued to fashion articles from the sheets. They have especial utility in the mass production of containers, particularly food and beverage containers.
An article of manufacture comprising a sheet having a matrix reinforced with fibers, the matrix comprising a substantially homogeneous mixture of aggregate and organic binder, the sheet formed by removing a substantial quantity of water by evaporation from an inorganically filled mixture including water, a water-dispersible organic polymer binder selected from the group consisting of polysaccharides, proteins, and mixtures or derivatives thereof, a fibrous material, and an inorganic aggregate material, the aggregate material being present in a concentration in a range from about 40% to about 98% by volume of total solids in the inorganically filled mixture, the fibrous material being substantially homogeneously dispersed throughout the matrix of aggregate and organic binder, the sheet having a thickness in a range from about 0.01 mm to about 3 mm, wherein the matrix degrades after prolonged exposure to water.
An article of manufacture as defined in claim 1204, wherein the cover includes a plastic skin cover.
An article of manufacture comprising a sheet having a matrix reinforced with fibers, the matrix comprising a substantially homogeneous mixture of aggregate and organic binder, the sheet formed by removing a substantial quantity of water by evaporation from an inorganically filled mixture including water, a water-dispersible organic polymer binder selected from the group consisting of polysaccharides, proteins, and mixtures or derivatives thereof, an organic fibrous material, and an inorganic aggregate material, the aggregate material being included in a concentration in a range from about 40% to about 95% by volume of solids in the inorganically filled mixture, the water-dispersible organic polymer binder and the organic fibrous material having a combined concentration in a range from about 5% to about 60% by volume of total solids in the inorganically filled mixture, the sheet having a thickness in the range from about 0.01 mm to about 3 mm, the fibrous material being substantially homogeneously dispersed throughout the matrix of aggregate and organic binder.
A container comprising a sheet having a matrix reinforced with fibers, the matrix comprising a substantially homogeneous mixture of aggregate and organic binder, the sheet formed by removing a substantial quantity of water by evaporation from an inorganically filled mixture including water, a water-dispersible organic polymer binder selected from the group consisting of polysaccharides, proteins, and mixtures or derivatives thereof, a fibrous material, and an inorganic aggregate material, the aggregate material being present in a concentration in a range from about 40% to about 98% by volume of total solids in the inorganically filled mixture, the fibrous material being substantially homogeneously dispersed throughout the matrix of aggregate and organic binder, the sheet having a thickness in a range from about 0.01 mm to about 3 mm and a density less than about 2 g/cm.sup.3, wherein the matrix degrades after prolonged exposure to water.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.