The ceramic bead wear layer

Topshell is a new type of protective wear layer foil, providing superior wear resistance without increasing the thickness of the wear layer.

Areas like offices, cafés, restaurants and public hallways are often exposed to large number of visitors. This means high stress and wear on the flooring, and in all probability a change of floor much earlier than necessary. Hallways and playrooms in residential homes are other examples of areas exposed to a lot of wear and tear. With Topshell, the lifespan of the floor is increased. And with true wear resistance the visual appearance of the flooring will last longer, compared to floors with traditional wear layers.

Without adding thickness

Topshell also enables the use of thinner wear layers with maintained, or increased wear properties. The thickness of a traditional wear layer is typically in the range of 0.3 - 1 mm. With Topshell technology, the layer thickness can be reduced to 0.2 - 0.3 mm while achieving wear protection comparable to a 0.5 mm conventional wear layer. The result is material savings and improved clarity.

Topshell is easy to implement

Replace your conventional wear layer with Topshell. By using the same lamination process & coating as with a conventional wear layer, the technology can be applied to the product – without impacting your current floor production process.

Produced using various polymers

A wear layer featuring Topshell technology can be made from PVC or other thermoplastic materials. The wear layer can be prepared in-house by the floor producer, or be provided by a third-party supplier.

Change material not the process

Topshell replaces conventional wear layer without changing anything in the existing LVT/SPC floor
production process. Ready to use Topshell can be supplied from a wear layer manufacturer. Alternatively the production of Topshell can be set up inhouse in a stand alone lamination process.

True wear resistance
 

Commercial reference product (left) vs product with Topshell™ (right) - wear after
4000 revolutions in Taber tester.

Sample with Topshell (right) - initial wear after 400 revolutions in Taber tester.