Synthetic resins or natural rubbers -- part of the class 520 ser – Synthetic resins – Mixing of two or more solid polymers; mixing of solid...
Patent
1998-08-12
2000-11-14
Nutter, Nathan M.
Synthetic resins or natural rubbers -- part of the class 520 ser
Synthetic resins
Mixing of two or more solid polymers; mixing of solid...
525227, 525228, 525240, 525241, C08L 3304, C08L 3306, C08L 3502
Patent
active
061471623
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an acrylic film or sheet (henceforth referred to collectively as film) suitable for simultaneous injection molding and lamination, and to a molded article comprising the same.
PRIOR ART
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,639,341 (JP-B-63-6339), JP-B-4-9647 and JP-A-7-9484, simultaneous injection molding and lamination methods are such that a film inserted into a cavity in between the male and female metal molds is unified with a molten resin injected into the mold cavity at the time of injection molding so as to apply decorations or patterns to the surface of a molded material. Such molding methods may be referred to as lamination or transfer printing methods according to the different types of films used.
Namely, in a lamination method, a whole layer of a patterned film made from a substrate film and a design layer is used as a patterned film for lamination (laminate film) to give an adhesively unified decorative layer on the surface of the molded material. In a transfer printing method, a transfer film is used, and only the base film of the unified transfer film is peeled off from the surface of the molded article, while the transfer layer such as the design layer, etc., remains on the side of the molded material and forms a decoratively printed layer.
Conventionally, using these kinds of methods, for example, vinyl chloride, polyester and polystyrene films and the like, with printed designs were applied to the surface of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resins or polystyrene resins by the lamination or transfer printing methods, to obtain molded articles.
Furthermore, molded articles with a printed design such as a woodgrain, etc., for use in interior appliances for automobiles have been produced by printing a design on the molded materials by a hydraulic transfer method, in which the design is printed on the surface of ABS resin molded materials (Curlfit method) and the like, and a coating of a transparent resin such as a urethane resin is applied on the surface of the molded materials to give added depth.
The aim of coating the resin surface in this way may mainly be to provide functionality such as protection of the substrate, surface functionality, transmission-preventing functionality, or to improve designing properties such as adjustment of gloss on the surface, creation of a stereoscopic effect (depth), application of a design, and moreover, to provide added structural strength.
The coating resin is a thermoplastic or thermosetting resin selected for its cost, functionality, appearance, and post-processability. The following are examples of thermoplastic resin films: polyvinyl chloride film (PVC film), polyolefin films, polyester films, acrylic resin films, fluororesin films and the like.
The acrylic resin films can be heat-fused with and fixed to PVC films, and the coating of the surface of the PVC film with the acrylic resin film is characterized in that the underneath PVC film can be protected because of good weather-resistance and ultraviolet (UV)-radiation shielding properties of the acrylic resin, so that the acrylic resin films can be used as coating materials for exterior building materials.
As this type of an acrylic film, JP-B-56-27378 describes a film made from a resin composition comprising an alkyl methacrylate as the main component, a UV-radiation absorber and the like.
As a multilayer-structured polymer composition, U.S. Pat. No. 4,052,525 (JP-A-51-129449) describes an acrylic resin film which has a multilayered structure and possesses excellent transparency and anti-stress-whitening characteristics, and in which the content of the alkyl methacrylate increases monotonously from the center to the outer layer.
As commercially available acrylic resin films, there are those acrylic films traded under the names of ACRYPREN or SUNDUREN.
Generally used PVC films have problems in that the above-mentioned weather-resistance is poor and also they pollute the atmosphere when they are incinerated as waste.
Furthermore, commercially
REFERENCES:
patent: 3793402 (1974-02-01), Owens et al.
patent: 5169903 (1992-12-01), Toritani et al.
patent: 5777034 (1998-07-01), Shah et al.
Tadokoro Yoshio
Tsukuda Yousuke
Nutter Nathan M.
Sumitomo Chemical Company Limited
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