Conductive fire-retardant thermoplastic elastomer mixture

Details Conductive fire-retardant thermoplastic elastomer mixture Conductive fire-retardant thermoplastic elastomer mixture

1999-10-22

2001-07-31

Michl, Paul R. (Department: 1714)

Synthetic resins or natural rubbers -- part of the class 520 ser

Synthetic resins

Processes of preparing a desired or intentional composition...

Reexamination Certificate

active

06268408

ABSTRACT:

TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to plastic materials and, more particularly, to a conductive, fire-retardant, thermoplastic elastomer mixture.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In a variety of applications of practical importance, conductive plastic parts are utilized in electronic assemblies. Thus, for example, conductive plastic parts are often employed for grounding, static discharge and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding purposes. Typical parts made of conductive plastic in electronic assemblies include grounding grommets, conductive gaskets, flexible grounding straps, protective boots and face-plate panels for circuit packages. A specific illustrative example of such a face-plate panel is described in a copending commonly assigned U.S. patent application (Ser. No. 08/988,517, filed Dec. 10, 1997).
In the cited application, a two-part unitary panel comprises an electrically non-conductive rigid plastic part combined with an electrically conductive plastic part that serves as a flexible gasket. The panel is utilized to seal an opening in an electronic assembly to reduce the passage of EMI through the enclosure opening.
For the above-specified and other applications, workers skilled in the art have continued to try to develop improved conductive soft-durometer plastic materials. In particular, these attempts have been focused on developing improved conductive plastic materials that can be molded into complex geometries, that are relatively economical and that are recyclable. It was recognized that these efforts, if successful, could reduce the cost and improve the performance of electronic assemblies that include plastic parts made of such materials.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the principles of the present invention, a conductive soft-durometer fire-retardant thermoplastic mixture comprises a base thermoplastic elastomer material combined with a fire-retardant material and a matrix of small-diameter conductive fibers. In one specific illustrative example, the mixture includes a styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene (SEBS) plastic material combined with antimony trioxide and metal-coated graphite fibers. In one particular formulation, antimony trioxide comprises about 10-to-20 percent by volume of the mixture and the metal-coated graphite fibers comprise approximately 5-to-25 percent by volume of the mixture, with the base elastomer material comprising the remaining volume of the mixture.


REFERENCES:
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patent: 4596670 (1986-06-01), Liu
patent: 4728461 (1988-03-01), Fujii
patent: 5294654 (1994-03-01), Hellstern-Burnell
patent: 5569877 (1996-10-01), Yumi
patent: 5656371 (1997-08-01), Kawahigashi

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