• Food Industry
• Catering and Restaurants
• Drinks
• Engineering
• Health and Pharmaceutical
  • Drug Production and Packaging
  • Hospitals
  • Laboratories
  • Plant Rooms
• Leisure and Retail
• Paper and Print

Cleanability

The Floor must be non-porous and free of pinholes, and be capable of withstanding the chemical abuse caused by spillages and cleaning. If the surface breaks down, delaminates or becomes porous the outcome can be slippery or uneven areas, with added hygiene hazards. The floor system must retain its cleanability for life, not just for the first year or two. Acrylicon is 100% solid, resin saturated acrylic. The non-porous, monolithic, impervious Acrylicon surface does not allow penetration by liquids and dirt, or the proliferation of fungi or bacteria. Acrylicon Systems are highly resistant to chemical attack, cleaning agents, liquids and foodstuffs. Chemical bonding ensures that the wearing surface remains locked into place for the life of the floor.

Aesthetic

Creating an environment that is conducive to high productivity and which reflect corporate values and quality standards is always important. Acrylicon provides a dynamic range of colours that can be blended to meet any requirement of the designer or architect.

Combustion Risk

When cured, Acrylicon resins have very little combustion risk. Even when burnt they have little risk with the by-product being carbon and water, as opposed to Epoxy and PU which have an extremely high risk and can prove lethal if the fumes are inhaled.

Maintenance

When a conventional resin system becomes ready for overhauling it is necessary to completely remove it from the substrate before starting again, creating disruption, noise and dust. Alternatively the existing system is abraded to create a mechanical key for the new coating, a practice that generally fails and on some systems can be highly dangerous to health. Acrylicon is a special thermo-elastic resin that ensures each layer chemically fuses to the previous one, no matter how old. It is not possible to separate the individual layers that make up the system. Allied to a cure time of just 2 hours, this ensures that maintenance work is both more economic and less disruptive than is the case with other systems.

Spiked Drug Recovery

In order to determine the clean ability of Acrylicon compared with other systems, a spiked drug recovery test was carried out. First the floor surface samples were abraded to simulate 5 years wear, and then a solution with a known amount of the drug Zydis was applied. The samples were then swabbed to see how much of the drug could be recovered – in effect how much would be removed by cleaning. Recovery from Linoleum was just 28.5% and epoxy 45.6%. From the Acrylicon sample, however, they managed to recover 91.3% of the drug. This recovery value compares favourably with other surfaces like stainless steel and Teflon.

Environmental leakage

Providing a floor that is impervious and resists the passage of contaminants to the subsoil (e.g. hydrocarbons) is relatively easy. However the weak point is usually the joints (either structural or day joints) which are created whilst the floor topping is laid. Any movement in the structure tends to open up on these joint lines. Acrylicon systems which possess chemical bonding, ensures that there are no cold joints and the floor topping is truly seamless. If structural cracking occurs, repairs are equally chemically bonded and therefore impervious. In very critical situations Acrylicon can also provide additional flexible membrane layers under the floor system to give added security and confidence.

Termination to other floors

Acrylicon is nominally laid at 4mm thick and “toe-ins” are created at junctions to other finishes to ensure there are no steps or abrupt changes in level to disturb passing traffic. There are some occasions when Acrylicon need to be thickened at these abutments and again this is done in a manner which will not cause problems.

Down Time

Most resins must be applied in moderate temperatures and traditional resin systems can take days to fully cure. Often other commercial pressures mean that the floor is used too soon after installation, jeopardising the system, resulting in premature damage, bacterial growth and other complications. Acrylicon fully cures, even at temperatures below zero, and can be put into use within two hours of installation. This avoids costly down time and eliminates the pressures to start using the floor too soon with the resulting damage that all too often accompanies the installation of conventional systems with long cure times. Let alone the saving to the company of shutting down production for a shorter time.

UV Resistance

Most new floors look good in terms of colour, but many flooring systems show the ageing effect of UV light very quickly, both fading and discolouration. Acrylicon Systems are highly resistant to the ageing and discolouration effects of UV attack, ensuring that the aesthetic qualities of the floor are guaranteed for the long term.

Warranties

Material manufactures will usually only guarantee their products. Installers usually restrict their guarantee to the installation and align it with the Manufacturers guarantee. This inevitably means that there is not a full guarantee on the system. If it fails the divided responsibilities leave the client exposed, particularly where the manufacturer and installer blame each other for the problem. Most guarantees do not:

Provide Design and “Fit for purpose” warranties.

Mention the “life expectancy of the system”.

Specify the “period to first maintenance”.

Acrylicon provides a full and detailed warranty with no split responsibilities because we manufacture the resins, design the system and install it. Acrylicon provides a meaningful warranty that highlights the main areas of guarantee and backs it up with reference locations that are as old as the length of warranty Acrylicon provides. Note: The “life expectancy” of a floor depends upon installing a floor that is correctly specified for the purpose to which it is to be put. The only true guarantee is to select a floor in the first instance which can demonstrate a proven track record in other, similar locations and environments. Invariably the costs of rectifying a defective floor will far exceed the initial cost even excluding any losses associated with production shutdowns to accommodate the repairs. “Life expectancy” means the period for which all of the original design criteria are still functioning e.g. if the floor cannot be cleaned then it has failed even if it is still adhering to the substrate.