Selective cooling of sheet to be embossed

摘要

A mechanical embossing process wherein a web of material composed of a composite structure having at least a carrier and a thick foam layer to be embossed is heated in an oven to a temperature of 250 DEG F. to 350 DEG F. and thereafter cooled by wetting the carrier, which is the back surface of the web, to approximately 100 DEG F. below the top surface of the web prior to embossing of the foam. In certain areas of the web, hot spots may occur resulting in a top surface-back surface temperature of less than approximately 100 DEG F. Just prior to embossing, these hot spots are eliminated by selectively and intermittently cooling the back surfaces of the hot spot areas to obtain a top surface-back surface temperature difference of approximately 100 DEG F. The process is used for achieving multilevel mechanical embossing of a fused or cured wear layer in register with a print-on and expanded foam.