Hospitals need to be clean. Acrylicon with Microban is proven to be the most hygienic floor on the market. With ease of maintenance coupled with its remakable long life, Acrylicon is the best solution for your flooring needs.

• Longevity
• Cleanability
• Aesthetic
• Combustion Risk
• Maintenance
• Spiked Drug Recovery
• MRSA – Hospitals
• Heavy Footfall
• Termination to other floors
• Down Time
• UV Resistance

Longevity

Most conventional floor systems rely upon a mechanical bond to the substrate surface, ultimately risking bond failure and resulting in delamination. The result can be constant and expensive repair work. Acrylicon has an unbreakable chemical bond to the special primers that have penetrated the substrate. This results in a seamless surface without holes, voids or cold joints. The whole topping is truly monolithic and it is impossible to separate the individual layers that make up the system. To remove Acrylicon from a concrete surface you will break into the top zone of the concrete not delaminate it at the Bond Line.

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.

MRSA – Hospitals

It is acknowledged that thorough cleaning of working surfaces is one of the main areas that has to be addressed in controlling bacteria. The cleanability of Acrylicon floors, even after years of wear (see spiked drug recovery test) makes it the ideal floor system. Providing Acrylicon with the further anti-microbial protection of Microban produces floors with optimum resistance to bacteria including MRSA (superbug).

Heavy Footfall

Constant footfall inevitably causes wear and tear. Flooring systems that fall short in terms of wear resistance, result in unsightly environments and the need for costly ongoing maintenance and refurbishment coupled with high cleaning costs. Acrylicon has demonstrated over many years high levels of wear resistance and ease of cleaning over the expected life of the floor, not just when new.

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.