Stock material or miscellaneous articles – Hollow or container type article – Polymer or resin containing
Patent
1996-12-16
1998-08-11
Beck, Shrive
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
Hollow or container type article
Polymer or resin containing
428 362, 4272481, 4272553, 4272554, 156172, 156187, B29D 2200
Patent
active
057925283
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
THIS INVENTION relates to a process for the production of plastics components, eg components for containing and/or transporting fluids, wherein the components are strengthened or reinforced by a resin-impregnated fibrous material. The invention also relates to such strengthened or reinforced components, in particular pipes and tanks, particularly when produced by means of said process.
By way of background the Applicant is aware that published Japanese Patent Application JP-A-62/070 028 discloses treatment of thermoplastic resin polyolefin, with a low temperature tetrafluorocarbon plasma. This treatment, however, is for the purpose of preparing the polyolefin surface for laminating the polyolefin with a layer of thermosetting resin by heating.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the invention, in the production of a component of a plastics material which is strengthened and reinforced by a fibrous material which has been impregnated with a resin which adheres to a surface of the component by contacting said surface of the component with said fibrous material impregnated with the resin in a settable state, and effecting setting of the resin to cause said resin-impregnated fibrous material to adhere to said surface of the component, the process which comprises using as the plastics material a polyolefin material and which includes the step, prior to the contacting, of subjecting said surface of the component to activation thereof, the activation being by surface fluorination in the form of oxyfluorination by exposing the surface of the component to an activating gas consisting essentially of molecules and comprising fluorine-containing molecules and oxygen-containing molecules at a pressure of 1-500 kPa, the gas being at a temperature of above 0.degree. C., the plastics material of the component having a melting point above said gas temperature and the oxyfluorination acting to incorporate fluorine-containing substituents and oxygen-containing substituents, derived from the molecules of the activating gas, into the surface of the component.
By activation is meant that the surface of the component is brought into contact with a fluid in a fashion whereby atoms, molecules and/or radicals derived from the fluid are incorporated into the surface of the component.
The component may be tubular or hollow cylindrical, eg circular or square in cross-section, suitable for containing and/or transporting a fluid. In particular the component may be a pipe or pipe fitting, or a tank. While the polyolefin material may be any suitable hydrocarbon polymer, typically, the polyolefin material is polyethylene (PE), eg high density polyethylene (HDPE), polypropylene (PP), or polyolefinic copolymers such as copolymers of ethylene and propylene, eg ethylene-propylene-diene monomer elastomer (EPDM), or blends of such polymers. Accordingly, the polyolefin material may be selected from the group consisting of polyethylenes, polypropylenes, copolymers of ethylene and propylene and blends of such polyolefins; and the surface activation may act to provide the surface-activated component with a surface tension at 20.degree. C. of at least 40 mN/m. The polyolefins used include unmodified or modified polyolefins, eg those modified by containing ethyl vinyl acetate as an impact modifier.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
Any suitable surface fluorination technique can be used to fluorinate the surface of the component before the fibrous material is adhesively secured thereto. By fluorinated is meant that the surface of the pipe or tank is treated with a fluorine-containing gas to provide fluorine substituents bound to said surface. Examples of suitable fluorinating techniques include, for example, those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,647,613; 3,862,284; 3,865,615; 4,020,223; 4,081,574; 4,142,032; 4,296,151; 4,508,781; 4,536,266; 4,557,945; 4,764,405; and 4,869,859 as well as published European Patent Application EP 0 21 4 635, and South African Patents Nos. 85/9500 and 87/8240, at least some of which describe tec
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Boyazis Georges A. B. M. G.
Carstens Pieter A. B.
Atomic Energy Corporation of South Africa Limited
Beck Shrive
Meeks Timothy
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