Stock material or miscellaneous articles – Hollow or container type article – Polymer or resin containing
Patent
1995-05-09
1998-02-17
Nold, Charles
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
Hollow or container type article
Polymer or resin containing
428 345, 428 347, 428 362, 4284758, 427536, 427539, 1381181, 1381257, B29D 2300
Patent
active
057189579
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to a fuel hose for use in the fuel system of a motor vehicle or other equipment, particularly a fuel hose consisting of a tubular fluororesin inner ply and a thermoplastic resin or rubber outer ply with a high inter-ply bond strength, a method of producing it, and a vacuum plasma apparatus for use in said method.
PRIOR ART
Generally the fuel hoses used in the fuel systems of cars and other equipment have multi-ply structures consisting of various rubber and resin plies or layers. Among such multi-ply fuel hoses, the two-ply fuel hose consisting of a tubular fluororesin inner ply and a thermoplastic resin or rubber outer ply laminated on the peripheral surface of said tubular inner ply is in prevalent use. The rationale is that, being not only resistant to the common corrosive agents such as chemicals and gasoline but also resistant to the sour gasoline which forms on oxidation of gasoline (sour gasoline resistance), fluororesin is generally regarded as the optimal molding material for the inner ply of the hose which is directly exposed to the fuel. The thermoplastic resin or other outer ply mentioned above is provided as a reinforcing member of the hose for imparting wear resistance and other dynamic characteristics to the fuel hose.
In the manufacture of a fuel hose of the above-mentioned structure, an inner ply made of a special fluororesin, rather than a ply of ordinary fluororesin, which has a modified surface for lamination with said thermoplastic resin or other outer ply is employed. The reason for this is that because the bonding affinity of ordinary fluororesin for other structural materials is very low, said two plies cannot be firmly bonded using an adhesive alone. The fuel hose, in particular, is required to have an initial bond strength (bond strength prior to use) value of not less than 1.2 N/mm which is higher than the bond strength required of the ordinary resin hose. This is because, as far as the fuel hose for use typically in the fuel system of a motor vehicle is concerned, unless it has an initial bond strength value not below the above-mentioned level under the service conditions where a fuel such as gasoline flows down it, there is the risk of partial delamination of the tubular fluororesin inner ply from the outer ply. In the event such a partial exfoliation of the tubular fluororesin inner ply takes place, the tubular fluororesin inner ply may collapse in the vicinity of delamination so that its tubular (hollow) structure is no longer preserved but is occluded to prevent a smooth flow of gasoline or other fuel.
As examples of said surface-modified fluorine-containing resins, the following three (two) fluororesins are known. metal complex (e.g. one described in Ind. Eng. Chem., 50, 329, 1958) (e.g. one described in JP Publication S-58-25742).
However, the above surface-modified fluororesin materials have various disadvantages. Thus, the fuel hose fabricated using the first-mentioned fluororesin (1) having a sodium metal complex-modified surface suffers aging in adhesion. This loss of adhesion is particularly remarkable when the hose is exposed to ultraviolet radiation. Moreover, since the above surface modification with a sodium metal complex requires the step of immersing fluororesin in a solution of the sodium metal complex and subsequently washing it, this technology has the drawback of being a time-consuming, complicated process. Moreover, the sodium metal complex solution is hazardous to health.
The latter fluororesin having a sputtered surface (2) does not provide for sufficient adhesion when the flowability of the adhesive is low and has the additional disadvantage that the recesses and projections formed by sputtering are easily evened out by friction. Therefore, in the manufacture of a fuel hose using the sputtered fluororesin material, its handling calls for sufficient care and this consideration detracts from the efficiency of production of the fuel hose.
Furthermore, these prior art fluororesins have the common problem that they p
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Daikai Eiichi
Ito Hiroaki
Kato Kazuhiro
Murakami Koyo
Yokoe Katsuhiko
Nold Charles
Tokai Rubber Industries Ltd.
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