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
1997-07-08
2001-01-30
Michl, Paul R. (Department: 1714)
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...
C524S275000, C524S487000, C524S488000, C524S489000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06180708
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Recently interest had increased in thermoplastic resin systems which contain desiccants or other adsorbents, especially where the resulting system is used to deliver an adsorption and/or desiccation function to an environment. This interest is especially apparent in the insulating glass industry where recent technological developments such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,313,761 and 5,177,916 have proved to be reliant on the ability to deliver a flowable, adhesive desiccant formulation in the manufacture of insulating glass units.
Various formulations have been proposed to meet the needs of the insulating glass industry. Examples of formulations are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,510,416 and 5,632,122 as well as in PCT Published Application WO 96/08541.
While the existing formulations have significant commercial use, there is a constant desire to improve the formulations by minimizing the amount of resin component needed to deliver and maintain the necessary amount of desiccant in the desired location (e.g. adhered to a U-shaped window spacer).
In meeting the need for higher loading/more efficient formulations, it is generally desirable that the formulations are usable in existing equipment such that the implementation of the formulation would not require any additional expenditure for equipment by the user. Thus, it is highly desirable that the requirements for handling the formulation (i.e. heating, pumping, applying) do not become more severe. This presents a significant challenge in the context of flowable thermoplastic resin systems since the formulation viscosity typically increases sharply as a function of adsorbent loading just above the maximum practical loading for the specific formulation. Thus, simply increasing the amount of adsorbent even in a seemingly minor amount (or decreasing the amount of resin component) would result in a large increase in viscosity for the overall formulation at application temperature.
Additionally, it is desirable that the formulation not present any loss of performance in other aspects which may be important to the specific end use. Thus, where the formulation is to be used in an insulating glass unit such as described in the above mentioned patents, the formulation should resistant to slump and provide adequate adhesion to the window spacer.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention provides improved thermoplastic adsorbent compositions which enable reduction in the amount of resin needed to deliver a given amount of adsorbent without deterioration of viscosity/handling performance. The invention also provides improved thermoplastic adsorbent compositions which enable the delivery of a given amount of adsorbent more reliably and/or under less severe handling/application conditions.
In one aspect, the invention encompasses thermoplastic adsorbent compositions which contain (a) an adsorbent component and (b) a thermoplastic organic matrix component containing (i) wax, and (ii) thermoplastic polymer resin, wherein said wax has a weight average molecular weight of about 800-10000 and is compatible with the thermoplastic resin (i.e. not prone to phase separation or other adverse interaction when combined).
In another aspect, the invention encompasses thermoplastic adsorbent compositions which contain (a) an adsorbent component and (b) a thermoplastic organic matrix component wherein the composition contains at least 55 wt.% of adsorbent component and has an apparent viscosity of about 3×10
6
cP or less measured according to ASTM test D-
3236-88
at 124° C. and 0.125 sec−
1
shear rate. The compositions are preferably adhesive and resistant to slump.
In another aspect, the invention encompasses insulating glass units containing thermoplastic adsorbent compositions which contain (a) an adsorbent component and (b) a thermoplastic organic matrix component containing (i) wax, and (ii) thermoplastic polymer resin, wherein the wax has a weight average molecular weight of about 800-10000 and is compatible with the thermoplastic resin (i.e. not prone to phase separation or other adverse interaction when combined). Preferably, the adsorbent component contains a desiccating adsorbent and the formulation desiccates a compartment partially defined by two or more panes of the insulating glass unit.
The compositions of the invention may also be used for other adsorption applications. These and other aspects of the invention are described in further detail below.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The invention encompasses thermoplastic adsorbent compositions containing an adsorbent component dispersed in a thermoplastic organic matrix component wherein the organic matrix component contains (i) wax, and (ii) thermoplastic polymer resin. The compositions of the invention are especially useful for forming high adsorbent loading thermoplastic compositions which can be applied using conventional hot melt applicator equipment and conventional hot melt application conditions. The invention also encompasses articles such as insulating glass units which include the thermoplastic adsorbent compositions of the invention.
The adsorbent component used in the compositions of the invention may be any conventional adsorbent material such as zeolites, silica gels, activated carbons, silica aluminas, non-zeolite molecular sieves, etc. Non-reactive inorganic oxide desiccants are generally preferred. The adsorbent(s) may be selected to perform a specific function or combination of functions. Thus, adsorbents adapted to adsorb specific elements, compounds or classes thereof may be used. Preferably, the adsorbent component contains an adsorbent such as zeolite A, especially zeolite 3A, which is adapted to primarily adsorb water. The adsorbent component may also contain adsorbents designed to adsorb low molecular weight organic compounds (e.g. zeolite 13X) alone or in combination with the water-adsorbing adsorbent.
The thermoplastic organic matrix is characterized by the presence of one or more waxes wherein the wax has a weight average molecular weight of about 800-10000. The wax should also be compatible with the thermoplastic resin contained in the organic matrix. That is, the wax should not be prone to phase separate from the wax/resin combination after blending. The wax should not have any other adverse interaction with the resin or other components. The wax is preferably a polymer wax, more preferably an olefin-containing polymer wax. Most preferably, the wax is an olefin homopolymer wax such as polyethylene wax or polypropylene wax. The wax preferably has a weight average molecular weight of about 1000-6000, more preferably about 1500-5000. The wax component is believed to impart lower viscosity at application temperature for the thermoplastic adhesive composition while avoiding slump or flow of the composition at the actual use temperature. Preferred waxes are Epolene® N-14 polyethylene wax (M
w=
4000) sold by Eastman Chemical Co. and AC-1702 polyethylene wax sold by Allied Signal (M
w=
1850). The weight average molecular weights in this application are based on ASTM D3536-91 using GPC.
In addition to the wax component, the organic matrix contains one or more thermoplastic resins. The thermoplastic resin preferably comprises one or more polyolefin resins, e.g. polyethylene, polypropylene, olefin copolymers, olefin terpolymers or combinations thereof; however in some instances other thermoplastic resin systems may also be employed. The thermoplastic resin has a weight average molecular weight of greater than 10,000, preferably at least about 30,000, more preferably at least about 50,000The thermoplastic resin preferably has a softening point (ring and ball) of about 30-200° C., more preferably about 50-150° C. Where the resin is crystalline, it preferably has a melting point of about 50-250° C., more preferably about 80-200° C. The thermoplastic resin preferably has a Brookfield melt viscosity (@190° C. spindle #27) of about 150-10,000 centipoise, more preferably about 1500-8,000 cP. All Brookfield
Cross Charles A.
Michl Paul R.
W. R. Grace & Co.,-Conn.
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