Solid anti-friction devices – materials therefor – lubricant or se – Lubricants or separants for moving solid surfaces and... – Organic -co- compound
Reexamination Certificate
2001-02-27
2003-07-22
Howard, Jacqueline V. (Department: 1764)
Solid anti-friction devices, materials therefor, lubricant or se
Lubricants or separants for moving solid surfaces and...
Organic -co- compound
C508S485000, C508S512000, C508S516000, C508S517000, C508S518000, C508S525000, C508S579000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06596674
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The technical field to which the invention relates is a liquid composition of matter that is useful as a metal working lubricant. The composition comprises a primary lubricity component and one or more dissolved salts of carboxylic acids.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A variety of useful processes that cut, drill, or substantially deform metals require the use of a lubricant during the metal working process in order to make the process practical. Although they may be water based, essentially all practical lubricants contain organic chemical substances. Such chemical substances traditionally have included substances that contain at least one of the following heteroatom types: halogen, sulfur, nitrogen, and phosphorus. One of the major reasons for the presence of substances including these heteroatoms is to inhibit corrosion of the metals being worked. Such lubricants may also contain boron as part of at least one of their constituent chemical substances, either organic or, more often, inorganic amine borates.
Many chemical substances that include at least one of halogen, sulfur, nitrogen, phosphorus, and boron atoms are now recognized as environmentally suspect. Even if the specific chemical substances containing such atoms in a compounded metal working lubricant are not themselves suspect, the heat, mechanical force, and generation of highly reactive freshly cut metal surfaces inherent to the metal working process can convert chemical substances initially present into other substances that are environmentally undesirable. If halogen, sulfur, nitrogen, phosphorus, and boron atoms are not present in the lubricant at all, no chemical reaction of the lubricant constituents can generate environmentally undesirable substances containing these atoms unless the atoms are supplied from some outside source. In practical metal working environments, the only prevalent outside source of these atoms is atmospheric elemental nitrogen gas, which is difficult to cause to react chemically. Therefore, a lubricant free from these atoms has less pollution potential than conventional lubricants that contain these atoms.
Furthermore, many conventional metal working lubricants can cause dermatitis after human skin comes into contact with the lubricants. Lubricants free from halogen, sulfur, nitrogen, phosphorus, and boron are believed less likely to have this undesirable characteristic.
It would be desirable to provide a practically effective metal working lubricant that is substantially free from boron and from organic halogen, sulfur, nitrogen, and phosphorus. It would be further desirable to reduce the risk of dermatitis from contact of metal working lubricants with human skin.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It has surprisingly been found that a combination of a primary lubricity component selected from the group consisting of polyethers and polyether esters, and salts of carboxylic acids, and, optionally, one or more of alkalinizing agents, neutral organic polymers that are water-soluble and are not polyethers or polyether esters, and antimicrobial agents constitute a metal working lubricant that can satisfactorily replace existing metal working lubricants that contain the above noted undesirable constituents in most metal working operations.
Embodiments of the invention include liquid, working compositions suitable to serve directly as metal working lubricants; concentrate compositions from which working compositions can be prepared by mixing the concentrate compositions and optionally other materials, with water; and processes for metal working in which a composition according to the invention as defined above is utilized as a lubricant.
It will be appreciated that most working compositions may also be considered to be concentrate compositions, inasmuch as all working compositions other than the most dilute ones that are satisfactory can by definition be diluted and still be suitable as working compositions.
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION CLAIMED
One necessary ingredient of a composition according to this invention is its primary lubricity component. A suitable class of materials to constitute all or part of this component is a polyether. Preferably, such a molecule is made by polymerizing one or more alkylene oxides, either by themselves or together with one or more types of alcohol molecules. If desired, some or all of the free hydroxyl groups are capped with alkyl moieties. Preferably, any capping moieties, and any monoalcohols included as chain terminators in an elimination polymerization, contain not more than, with increasing preference in the order given, 4, 3, 2, or 1 carbon atoms.
The polyether may be made from one or more types of predominantly polyfunctional alcohol molecules by an elimination polymerization. In that process, two hydroxyl moieties, one in each of two distinct molecules, react to eliminate one water molecule and join the two distinct molecules into a single molecule. An ether oxygen moiety replaces both of the reacted hydroxyl moieties. The remainder of said two molecules remain in place in the newly formed molecule. In order to prepare a polymer of reasonably high molecular weight, most of the alcohol molecules so reacted contain at least two hydroxyl moieties before the elimination polymerization reaction, but small amounts of monofunctional alcohols could be included as chain terminators if desired.
Various suitable polyoxyalkylene polyethers are commercially available. Most are made by addition polymerization of at least one of ethylene, propylene and butene oxides and/or elimination polymerization of at least one of ethylene, propylene and butylene glycols, optionally followed by capping one or both of the terminal hydroxy moieties that result from such polymerizations. Alcohols containing one or more hydroxy groups may be used as initiators in such addition polymerizations, thereby providing polyoxyalkylene polyethers containing residues derived from said alcohol initiators. Such materials are satisfactory for some uses according to this invention, but in many instances these “simple” polyethers result in a working composition with a strong foaming tendency. Therefore, the polyether component for this invention is preferably selected from polyethers that are prepared by reaction of:
a) polyalcohol molecules, each of which contains at least three hydroxyl moieties and at least three carbon atoms and preferably contains not more than, with increasing preference in the order given, 10, 8, 6, 4, or 3 hydroxyl moieties and further preferably contains not more than, with increasing preference in the order given, 10, 8, 6, 4, or 3 carbon atoms;
with
b) at least one type of alkylene oxide (alternatively called oxirane), each of which preferably, at least for economy, contains not more than, with increasing preference in the order given, 4, 3, 2, or 1 oxirane moiety and preferably contains not more than, with increasing preference in the order given, 8, 6, 4, 3, or 2 carbon atoms.
Still more preferably, this type of polyether material for the primary lubricity component of a metal working lubricant composition according to this invention constitutes molecules that are made by reacting glycerine with at least one of ethylene and propylene oxides. Most preferably, both ethylene and propylene oxides are present in a molar ratio of propylene oxide to ethylene oxide that is at least, with increasing preference in the order given, 1.0:1.00, 1.5:1.00, 2.0:1.00, 2.5:1.00, 2.7:1.00, or 2.9:1.00, and preferably is not more than, with increasing preference in the order given, 10:1.00, 8:1.00, 6.0:1.00, 5.0:1.00, 4.5:1.00, 4.0:1.00, 3.5:1.00, or 3.1:1.00.
The molar ratio of total alkylene oxides to the glycerine with which the alkylene oxides are reacted is at least, with increasing preference in the order given, 6:1.00, 12:1.00, 18:1.00, 24:1.00, 30:1.00, 36:1.00, 42:1.00, or 46:1.00, and preferably is not more than, with increasing preference in the order given, 400:1.00, 300:1.00, 200:1.00, 150:1.00, 125:1.00, 100:1.00, 80:1.00, 60:1.00, 55:1.00, or 50:1.00.
Th
Cameron Mary K.
Harper Stephen D.
Henkel Corporation
Howard Jacqueline V.
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