Synthetic resins or natural rubbers -- part of the class 520 ser – Synthetic resins – Mixing of two or more solid polymers; mixing of solid...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-15
2002-05-21
Wilson, D. R. (Department: 1713)
Synthetic resins or natural rubbers -- part of the class 520 ser
Synthetic resins
Mixing of two or more solid polymers; mixing of solid...
C525S330500, C525S375000, C525S452000, C525S509000, C525S374000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06391968
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The instant invention relates to coating compositions comprising carbamate functional polymers and reactive additives. In particular, the invention provides coating compositions comprising a reactive additive comprising at least one compound having a molecular weight of from 131 to 2000 and at least one primary carbamate group and at least one alkyl group selected from the group consisting of straight chain alkyl groups of more than 10 carbons, branched alkyl group of from 5 to 30 carbons, and mixtures thereof.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Curable coating compositions such as thermoset coatings are widely used in the coatings art. They are often used for topcoats in the automotive and industrial coatings industry. Color-plus-clear composite coatings are particularly useful as topcoats where exceptional gloss, depth of color, distinctness of image, or special metallic effects is desired. The automotive industry has made extensive use of these coatings for automotive body panels. Color-plus-clear composite coatings, however, require an extremely high degree of clarity in the clearcoat to achieve the desired visual effect. High-gloss coatings also require a low degree of visual aberrations at the surface of the coating in order to achieve the desired visual effect such as high distinctness of image (DOI).
As such, these coatings are especially susceptible to a phenomenon known as environmental etch. Environmental etch manifests itself as spots or marks on or in the finish of the coating that often cannot be rubbed out.
It is often difficult to predict the degree of resistance to environmental etch that a high gloss or color-plus-clear composite coating will exhibit. Many coating compositions known for their durability and/or weatherability when used in exterior paints, such as high-solids enamels, do not provide the desired level of resistance to environmental etch when used in high gloss coatings such as the clearcoat of a color-plus-clear composite coating.
Many compositions have been proposed for use as the clearcoat of a color-plus-clear composite coating, such as polyurethanes, acid-epoxy systems and the like. However, many prior art systems suffer from disadvantages such as coatability problems, compatibility problems with the pigmented basecoat, solubility problems. Moreover, very few one-pack coating compositions have been found that provide satisfactory resistance to environmental etch, especially in the demanding environment of automotive coatings.
There is also a continuing desire to reduce the volatile organic content (VOC) of coating compositions. This must be done without sacrificing the Theological properties of the coating composition required for trouble-free application of the composition while maintaining the desired level of appearance. In addition, it is desirable to provide coatings with a good combination of properties such as durability, hardness, flexibility, and resistance to scratching, marring, solvents, and acids.
Curable coating compositions utilizing carbamate-functional resins are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,356,669. These coating compositions can provide significant etch advantages over other coating compositions, such as hydroxy-functional acrylic/melamine coating compositions. It may often be desirable, however, to provide still further improvements in the above described coating properties.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,814,382, 5,114,015, and 5,158,808 describe the use of certain N-alkyl carbamate compounds as reactive diluents in coating compositions having OH-functional curable polymer resins. These compounds, however, may require excessively high catalyst or temperature levels in order to fully react into the crosslink matrix during cure of the film.
WO 87/00851 describes the use of certain reactive carbamate derivatives in an effort to minimize the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOC). U.S. Pat. No. 5,744,550 describes the use of primary carbamate additives. However, further reductions in VOC are desirable without loss of desirable performance properties such as etch resistance and the like.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It has been surprisingly discovered that certain primary carbamate reactive additives provide advantages over the prior art. In particular, it has been found that the incorporation of a particular reactive additive provides improved sprayability at a given nonvolatile level and advantageous resistance to environmental etch, even with respect to compositions containing carbamate functional polymers. The reactive additive comprises at least one compound having a molecular weight of from 131 to 2000 and comprising at least one primary carbamate group and at least one alkyl group selected from the group consisting of straight chain alkyl groups of more than 10 carbons, branched alkyl groups of from 5 to 30 carbons, and mixtures thereof.
The invention thus provides a curable coating composition comprising (A) a polymer resin comprising at least one primary carbamate group, (B) a curing agent having groups that are reactive with said carbamate groups on (A), and (C) a reactive additive comprising at least one compound having a molecular weight of from 131 to 2000 and comprising at least one primary carbamate group and at least one alkyl group selected from the group consisting of straight chain alkyl groups of more than 10 carbons, branched alkyl groups of from 5 to 30 carbons, and mixtures thereof, wherein one or both of (A) and (B) comprise groups that are reactive with the primary carbamate group of (C).
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The polymer component (A) used in the composition of the invention can be prepared in a variety of ways. One way to prepare such polymers is to prepare an acrylic monomer having carbamate functionality in the ester portion of the monomer. Such monomers are well known in the art and are described, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 3,479,328, 3,674,838, 4,126,747, 4,279,833, and 4,340,497, 5,356,669, and WO 94/10211, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. One method of synthesis involves reaction of a hydroxy ester with urea to form the carbamyloxy carboxylate (i.e., carbamate-modified acrylic). Another method of synthesis reacts an &agr;,&bgr;-unsaturated acid ester with a hydroxy carbamate ester to form the carbamyloxy carboxylate. Yet another technique involves formation of a hydroxyalkyl carbamate by reacting a primary or secondary amine or diamine with a cyclic carbonate such as ethylene carbonate. The hydroxyl group on the hydroxyalkyl carbamate is then esterified by reaction with acrylic or methacrylic acid to form the monomer. Other methods of preparing carbamate-modified acrylic monomers are described in the art, and can be utilized as well. The acrylic monomer can then be polymerized along with other ethylenically unsaturated monomers, if desired, by techniques well known in the art.
An alternative route for preparing the polymer (A) used in the composition of the invention is to react an already-formed polymer such as an acrylic polymer with another component to form a carbamate-functional group appended to the polymer backbone, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,758,632, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. One technique for preparing polymers useful as component (A) involves thermally decomposing urea (to give off ammonia and HNCO) in the presence of a hydroxy-functional acrylic polymer to form a carbamate-functional acrylic polymer. Another technique involves reacting the hydroxyl group of a hydroxyalkyl carbamate with the isocyanate group of an isocyanate-functional acrylic or vinyl monomer to form the carbamate-functional acrylic. Isocyanate-functional acrylics are known in the art and are described, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,301,257, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Isocyanate vinyl monomers are well known in the art and include unsaturated
m
-tetramethyl xylene isocyanate (sold by American Cyanamid as TMI®). Yet another technique is to react the cyclic carbonate group on a cyclic carb
Harris Paul J.
Ohrbom Walter H
BASF Corporation
Golota Mary E.
Wilson D. R.
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