# US 8,999,199 B2 · Artificial marble having natural textures and luminescent patterns and method of preparing the same

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- Number: US 8,999,199 B2
- Document ID: US8999199B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 13/728,208
- Filed: 2012-12-27
- Published: 2013-07-04
- Granted: 2015-04-07
- Earliest claimed: 2011-12-29
- Assignees: Cheil Industries Inc.
- Applicants: Cheil Industries Inc.
- Inventors: Hee Cheol Lee; Chang Ho Son; Sung Jin An; Su Sun Jeong; Cheol Yeon Hwang; Han Ju Kang
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US8999199B2

## CPC

- C04B 14/00: Use of inorganic materials as fillers, e.g. pigments, for mortars, concrete or artificial stone; Treatment of inorganic materials specially adapted to enhance their filling properties in mortars, concrete or artificial stone (expanding or defibrillating materials C04B20/00)
- B44F 1/08: characterised by colour effects
- B44F 9/04: of stone surfaces, e.g. marble
- C04B 26/18: Polyesters; Polycarbonates
- C08K 3/34: Silicon-containing compounds
- C08K 3/36: Silica
- C08K 9/10: Encapsulated ingredients
- C08K 13/02: Organic and inorganic ingredients
- C08K 13/04: Ingredients characterised by their shape and organic or inorganic ingredients
- C09K 11/025: {non-luminescent particle coatings or suspension media}
- C09K 11/08: containing inorganic luminescent materials
- C04B 2111/545: {Artificial marble}
- C04B 2111/80: Optical properties, e.g. transparency or reflexibility
- C04B 2111/807: {Luminescent or fluorescent materials}
- C08K 2201/005: Additives being defined by their particle size in general
- C04B: LIME, MAGNESIA; SLAG; CEMENTS; COMPOSITIONS THEREOF, e.g. MORTARS, CONCRETE OR LIKE BUILDING MATERIALS; ARTIFICIAL STONE {(roofing granules E04D7/005)}; CERAMICS (devitrified glass-ceramics C03C10/00); REFRACTORIES; TREATMENT OF NATURAL STONE
- B44F: SPECIAL DESIGNS OR PICTURES
- C08K: Use of inorganic or non-macromolecular organic substances as compounding ingredients (paints, inks, varnishes, dyes, polishes, adhesives C09)
- C09K: MATERIALS FOR MISCELLANEOUS APPLICATIONS, NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE

## Abstract

An artificial marble includes unsaturated polyester resin (A), compound including silica (B), and luminescent pigment (C). An artificial marble according to a second embodiment includes about 70 to about 95% by weight of a non-luminescent base material (I) comprising unsaturated polyester resin (A), compound including silica (B), and organic/inorganic pigment (C) and about 5 to about 30% by weight of a luminescent amorphous pattern part (II) comprising unsaturated polyester resin (A), compound including silica (B), and luminescent pigment (D). An artificial marble according to a third embodiment includes unsaturated polyester resin (A), compound including silica (B), and amorphous luminescent chip (C).

## Claims

### Claim 1

An artificial marble comprising (A) about 7 to about 10% by weight unsaturated polyester resin, (B) about 85 to about 91% by weight compound including silica, and (C) about 2 to about 5% by weight luminescent pigment,
wherein the compound including silica (B) comprises natural stone particle (B1) in an amount of about 50 to about 80% by weight and inorganic filler (B2) in an amount of about 20 to about 50% by weight,
wherein the average particle diameter of the natural stone particle (B1) is from about 0.1 to about 9.0 mm,
wherein the average particle size of the inorganic filler (B2) is less than about 20 μm,
wherein the natural stone particle (B1) comprises silica sand (b1) in an amount of about 15 to about 93% by weight and quartz chip (b12) in an amount of about 7 to about 85% by weight,
wherein the artificial marble has a maximum brightness of more than about 110 mcd/m2, and wherein the artificial marble maintains a brightness of more than about 7 mcd/m2 for more than one hour.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The artificial marble of claim 1, wherein the average particle size of the silica sand (b11) is about 0.1 to about 1.2 mm and wherein the average particle size of the quartz chip (b12) is about 1.2 to about 9.0 mm.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The artificial marble of claim 1, wherein the average particle size of the luminescent pigment (C) is about 6 to about 150 μm, and wherein the artificial marble further comprises organic pigment, inorganic pigment, or a combination thereof (D) in an amount of about 0.1 to about 1 parts by weight based on about 100 parts by weight of the unsaturated polyester resin (A), the compound including silica (B), and the luminescent pigment (C).

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The artificial marble of claim 1, wherein the artificial marble further includes hardening agent (E1) in an amount of about 0.1 to about 0.2 parts by weight and hardening accelerator (E2) in an amount of about 0.01 to about 0.02 parts by weight, each based on about 100 parts by weight of the unsaturated polyester resin (A), the compound containing silica (B), and the luminescent pigment (C), and wherein the hardening agent (E1) is t-butylperoxy benzoate (TBPB) and the hardening accelerator (E2) is 6% cobalt octoate.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The artificial marble of claim 1, wherein the artificial marble further includes silane cross-linking agent (E3) in an amount of about 0.05 to about 0.1 parts by weight based on about 100 parts by weight of the unsaturated polyester resin (A), the compound containing silica (B), and the luminescent pigment (C).

### Claim 6

An artificial marble comprising about 70 to about 95% by weight of a non-luminescent base material (I) comprising unsaturated polyester resin (A), compound including silica (B), and organic pigment, inorganic pigment, or a combination thereof (C); and about 5 to about 30% by weight of a luminescent amorphous pattern part (II) comprising unsaturated polyester resin (A), compound including silica (B), and luminescent pigment (D); wherein the artificial marble has a total surface area and wherein the amorphous pattern part (II) comprises about 5 to about 30% of the total surface area of the artificial marble.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The artificial marble of claim 6, wherein the non-luminescent base material (I) includes the unsaturated polyester resin (A) in an amount of about 7 to about 10% by weight and the compound including silica (B) in an amount of about 90 to about 93% by weight, based on the total weight of the unsaturated polyester resin (A) and the compound including silica (B), and wherein the non-luminescent base material (I) comprises organic pigment, inorganic pigment, or a combination thereof (C) in an amount of about 0.1 to about 1 parts by weight, based on about 100 parts by weight of the unsaturated polyester resin (A) and the compound including silica (B).

### Claim 8 (depends on 6)

The artificial marble of claim 6, wherein the luminescent amorphous pattern part (II) comprises the unsaturated polyester resin (A) in an amount of about 7 to about 10% by weight, the compound including silica (B) in an amount of about 85 to about 91% by weight, and the luminescent pigment (D) in an amount of about 2 to about 5% by weight.

### Claim 9 (depends on 6)

The artificial marble of claim 6, wherein the compound including silica (B) includes natural stone particle (B1) in an amount of about 50 to about 80% by weight and inorganic filler (B2) in an amount of about 20 to about 50% by weight, wherein the average particle diameter of the natural stone particle (B1) is from about 0.1 to about 9.0 mm, wherein the natural stone particle (B1) comprises silica sand (b11) in an amount of about 15 to about 93% by weight and quartz chip (b12) in an amount of about 7 to about 85% by weight, wherein the average particle diameter of the silica sand (b11) is from about 0.1 to about 1.2 mm and the average particle diameter of the quartz chip (b12) is from about 1.2 to about 9.0 mm, and wherein the average particle diameter of the inorganic filler (B2) is less than about 20μm.

### Claim 10 (depends on 6)

The artificial marble of claim 6, wherein the average particle diameter of the luminescent pigment (D) is from about 6 to about 150 μm, wherein the maximum brightness of the artificial marble is more than about 110 mcd/m2, and wherein artificial marble maintains a brightness higher than about 7 mcd/m2 after about one hour.

### Claim 11

A method of preparing artificial marble comprising the steps of:
preparing a non-luminescent resin composition (I″) by mixing unsaturated polyester resin (A), compound including silica (B), and organic pigment, inorganic pigment, or a combination thereof (C);
preparing a luminescent resin composition (II′) by mixing unsaturated polyester resin (A), compound including silica (B), and luminescent pigment (D);
preparing a composition (III) by mixing about 70 to about 95% by weight of the non-luminescent resin composition (I″) and about 5 to about 30% by weight of the luminescent resin composition (II′); and
compression molding the composition (III) to form the artificial marble.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, wherein the non-luminescent resin composition (I″) comprises a non-luminescent base material (I′) including the unsaturated polyester resin (A) in an amount of about 7 to about 10% by weight and the compound including silica (B) in an amount of about 90 to about 93% by weight and wherein the non-luminescent resin composition (I″) further comprises the organic pigment, the inorganic pigment, or combination thereof (C) in an amount of about 0.1 to about 1 parts by weight, based on about 100 parts by weight of the non-luminescent base material including the unsaturated polyester resin (A) and the compound including silica (B), and wherein the luminescent resin composition (II′) comprises the unsaturated polyester resin (A) in an amount of about 7 to about 10% by weight, the compound including silica (B) in an amount of about 85 to about 91% by weight, and the luminescent pigment (D) in an amount of about 2 to about 5% by weight.

### Claim 13 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, wherein the compound including silica (B) comprises natural stone particle (B1) in an amount of about 50 to about 80% by weight and inorganic filler (B2) in an amount of about 20 to about 50% by weight, wherein the natural stone particles (B1) comprises silica sand (b11) in an amount of about 15 to about 93% by weight and quartz chip (b12) in an amount of about 7 to 85% by about weight, and wherein the non-luminescent resin composition (I′) further includes hardening agent (E1) in an amount of about 0.1 to about 0.2 parts by weight, hardening accelerator (E2) in an amount of about 0.01 to about 0.02 parts by weight and silane cross-linking agent (E3) in an amount of about 0.05 to about 0.1 parts by weight, each based on about 100 parts by weight of the non-luminescent base material including the unsaturated polyester resin (A) and the compound including silica (B).

### Claim 14 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, wherein the luminescent resin composition (II′) further includes hardening agent (E1) in an amount of about 0.1 to about 0.2 parts by weight, hardening accelerator (E2) in an amount of about 0.01 to about 0.02 parts by weight, and silane cross-linking agent (E3) in an amount of about 0.05 to about 0.1 parts by weight, each based on about 100 parts by weight of the luminescent resin composition (II′) including the unsaturated polyester resin (A), the compound containing silica (B) and the luminescent pigment (C).

### Claim 15

An artificial marble comprising unsaturated polyester resin (A), compound including silica (B) and amorphous luminescent chips (C), wherein the artificial marble has a total cross-sectional area and wherein the luminescent chips (C) are distributed in the artificial marble in an area comprising about 3 to about 10% of the total cross-sectional area of the artificial marble.

### Claim 16

A method of preparing an artificial marble, comprising the steps of:
preparing an amorphous luminescent chip (C);
preparing an artificial marble composition by mixing unsaturated polyester resin (A), compound including silica (B), the amorphous luminescent chip (C), and organic pigment, inorganic pigment, or a combination thereof (D);
forming the artificial marble composition into a shape; and
subjecting the artificial marble composition to vacuum-vibration-compression to uniformly distribute the amorphous luminescent chip (C) in the artificial marble composition and form an artificial marble.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The method of claim 16, wherein the amorphous luminescent chip (C) is prepared by the steps of:
mixing unsaturated polyester resin (A), compound including silica (B), and luminescent pigment (E) to form an amorphous luminescent chip composition;
forming the amorphous luminescent chip composition into a shape;
molding the amorphous luminescent chip composition by vacuum-vibration-compression to uniformly distribute the luminescent pigment (E) in the amorphous luminescent chip composition to form an article of the amorphous luminescent chip composition having a luminescence effect; and
crushing the article to form the chips having a luminescent effect.