Polymer compositions

Synthetic resins or natural rubbers -- part of the class 520 ser – Synthetic resins – At least one aryl ring which is part of a fused or bridged...

Reexamination Certificate

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C524S269000, C524S463000, C524S506000, C524S520000, C524S515000, C525S098000, C525S185000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06365658

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention concerns novel polymer compositions, molded articles that are at least partially made from the novel polymer compositions and processes for preparing the molded articles.
Polymeric materials find wide use in a large variety of articles, such as furniture, cars, car bumpers, boats, floor coverings, wall coverings, household machines, such as vacuum cleaners, toys, bottles or shoes, such as ski boots, skates or boots. Polymeric materials which are useful in the top layer of such articles should possess a wide variety of properties. One important property in the resistance to scuffing. “Scuffing” is a surface deformation caused by sliding contacts between two surfaces resulting in surface marks. For example, when a polymeric material used for vacuum cleaners, boats, floor coverings or shoes has a low resistance to scuffing, surface marks become visible when the vacuum cleaner or boat occasionally bumps into other objects, when people walk on the floor or upon contact of the left and right shoe. Such surface or scuff marks are highly undesirable.
For molded goods, such as boats or interior and exterior car parts, another important property is a high gloss and the fast achievement of gloss upon polishing. By “polishing” as used herein is meant the polishing of a surface, using a moist or, preferably, a dry cleaning pad.
Good polishing properties decrease the maintenance costs.
In WO-98/10160 floor and wall coverings comprising substantially random interpolymers of ethylene and styrene are described. Unfortunately, substantially random interpolymers of ethylene and styrene generally do not have a good resistance to scuffing.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide novel polymer compositions which can be molded to articles with good scuffing resistance and/or with high 10 gloss after polishing.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One aspect of the present invention is a polymer composition which comprises, based on the total weight of A), B), C) and D),
A) from about 10 to 89.99 percent of a substantially random interpolymer comprising in polymerized form i) from about 35 to about 89.5 mole percent of one or more &agr;-olefin monomers and ii) from about 65 to about 10.5 mole percent of one or more vinyl or vinylidene aromatic monomers and/or one or more sterically hindered aliphatic or cycloaliphatic vinyl or vinylidene monomers, and optionally iii) other polymerizable ethylenically unsaturated monomer(s);
B) from about 10 to about 75 percent of one or more polyolefins selected from the group consisting of I) propylene polymers and II) high density polyethylenes; and
C) from 0.01 to about 10 percent of a non-ionic lubricant; and
D) from 0 to about 60 percent of a substantially random interpolymer comprising in polymerized form i) from about 50 to about 99.5 mole percent of one or more &agr;-olefin monomers and ii) from about 50 to about 0.5 mole percent of one or more vinyl or vinylidene aromatic monomers and/or one or more sterically hindered aliphatic or cycloaliphatic vinyl or vinylidene monomers, and optionally iii) other polymerizable ethylenically unsaturated monomer(s) with the proviso that the molar percentage of the one or more &agr;-olefin monomers in the substantially random interpolymer D) is at least about 10 mole percent higher than the molar percentage of the one or more &agr;-olefin monomers in the substantially random interpolymer A).
Another aspect of the present invention is a molded article which is at least made partially made from a polymer composition of the present invention.
Yet another aspect of the present invention is the use of the polymer composition of the present invention for producing a molded article.
Yet another aspect of the present invention is process for preparing a molded article wherein the polymer composition of the present invention is processed to the molded article by calendering, compression molding, injection-molding, extrusion, extrusion-coating or blow-molding.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The polymer composition of the present invention comprises, based on the total weight of A), B), C) and D),
A) from about 10 to 89.99 percent, preferably from about 20 to 79.95 percent, more preferably from about 25 to about 79.8 percent, of the above-mentioned substantially random interpolymer A);
B) from about 10 to about 75 percent, preferably from about 20 to about 60 percent, more preferably from about 20 percent to about 45 percent, of one or more polyolefins selected from the group consisting of I) propylene polymers and II) high density polyethylenes; and
C) from 0.01 to about 10 percent, preferably from 0.05 to about 8 percent, more preferably from about 0.2 to about 6 percent, of a non-ionic lubricant; and
D) from 0 to about 60 percent, preferably from 0 to about 45 percent, more preferably from 0 to about 35 percent, of the above-mentioned substantially random interpolymer D).
The percentages of A), B), C) and D) are weight percentages.
It is understood that the polymer composition may comprise more than one type of substantially random interpolymers A), more than one type of components B), more than one type of non-ionic lubricants C) and/or more than one type of substantially random interpolymers D). In this case the total amount of interpolymers A), the total amount of components B), the total amount of lubricants C) and the total amount of interpolymers D) are within the ranges indicated above. If the polymer composition comprises two or more types of interpolymers A) and one or more types of interpolymers D), each interpolymer D) should be chosen such that its molar &agr;-olefin content is at least about 10 mole percent higher, preferably at least about 15 mole percent higher, than the molar percentage of the one or more &agr;-olefin monomers in each interpolymer A).
If the polymer composition comprises three or more substantially random interpolymers, the interpolymer with the lowest &agr;-olefin content is the interpolymer A) and the interpolymer with the highest &agr;-olefin content is the interpolymer D), provided that these polymers meet the definitions of interpolymers A) and D). If some or all of the remaining polymer(s) is/are within the definition of the interpolymer A) and within the definition of the interpolymer D), such polymer(s) is/are defined as being an interpolymer A).
The most preferred polymer composition for achieving good resistance to scuffing comprises from about 25 to about 45 percent of component A), from about 20 to about 45 percent of component B), from about 0.2 to about 6 percent of component C), and from about 25 to about 45 percent of component D), based on the total weight of A), B), C) and D).
The most preferred polymer composition for achieving good polishing properties comprises from about 40 to about 79.8 percent of component A), from about 20 to about 45 percent of component B), from about 0.2 to about 6 percent of component C), and from 0 to about 10 percent of component D), based on the total weight of A), B), C) and D).
The term “interpolymer” is used herein to indicate a polymer wherein at least two different monomers are polymerized to make the interpolymer.
The term “substantially random” in the substantially random interpolymers A) and D) as used herein generally means that the distribution of the monomers of said interpolymer can be described by the Bernoulli statistical model or by a first or second order Markovian statistical model, as described by J. C. Randall in
POLYMER SEQUENCE DETERMINATION, Carbon
-13
NMR Method
, Academic Press New York, 1977, pp. 71-78. Preferably, the substantially random interpolymer resulting from polymerizing one or more &agr;-olefin monomers and one or more vinyl or vinylidene aromatic monomers, and optionally other polymerizable ethylenically unsaturated monomer(s), does not contain more than 15 percent of the total amount of vinyl or vinylidene aromatic monomer in blocks of vinyl or vinylidene aromatic monomer of more than 3 units. More preferably, the interpolymer is not characterized b

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