Fiber optic cable having low thermal strain and methods of manufacturing the same according to ASTM D4065 and D638

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10131774-B2
Application number	US-201715811825-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 14, 2017
Priority date	Nov 16, 2016
Publication date	Nov 20, 2018
Grant date	Nov 20, 2018

Abstract

A polymer composition is provided. The polymer composition includes a polyolefin, at least 30% by weight of a thermoplastic elastomer, and a filler material. When the polymer composition is formed into an article having a longitudinal axis, the polymer composition has an average coefficient of thermal expansion along a longitudinal axis of less than or equal to 150×10−6 m/mK as measured from −40° C. to 25° C. Further, the polymer composition has an elastic modulus of less than 3000 MPa as measured using dynamic mechanical analysis (ASTM D4065), and the polymer composition has an elongation at break of greater than 200% along the longitudinal axis (measured according to ASTM D638). An article made from the polymer composition and a cable including the polymer composition are also provided.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A polymer composition comprising:
a polyolefin;
at least 30% by weight of a thermoplastic elastomer; and
a filler material;
wherein, when the polymer composition is formed into an article having a longitudinal axis, the polymer composition has an average coefficient of thermal expansion along a longitudinal axis of less than or equal to 150×10 −6 m/mK as measured from −40° C. to 25° C.;
the polymer composition has an elastic modulus of less than 3000 MPa as measured using dynamic mechanical analysis (ASTM D4065); and
the polymer composition has an elongation at break of greater than 200% along the longitudinal axis (measured according to ASTM D638).

2. The polymer composition of claim 1 , wherein the polyolefin is selected from the group consisting of medium-density polyethylene, high-density polyethylene, low-density polyethylene, linear low-density polyethylene, polypropylene, and combinations thereof.

3. The polymer composition of claim 1 , comprising less than 60% by weight of the thermoplastic elastomer.

4. The polymer composition of claim 1 , wherein the thermoplastic elastomer is selected from the group consisting of ethylene-propylene rubber, ethylene-propylene-diene rubber, ethylene-octene, ethylene-hexene, ethylene-butene, ethylene-vinyl acetate, styrene-ethylene-butadiene-styrene, thermoplastic vulcanizates, polyolefin elastomers, ethylene/alpha-olefin copolymers, and combinations thereof.

5. The polymer composition of claim 1 , wherein thermoplastic elastomer has a shear viscosity that is lower than or equal to the shear viscosity of the polyolefin when measured at 200° C. and 100 s −1 .

6. The polymer composition of claim 1 , comprising less than 30% by weight of the filler material.

7. The polymer composition of claim 1 , wherein the filler material is selected from the group consisting of mica, talc, montmorillonite, kaolinite, bentonite, synthetic clay, and combinations thereof.

8. The polymer composition of claim 1 , wherein the filler material is selected from the group consisting of wood flour, glass fiber, halloysite, wollastonite, magnesium oxysulfate, and combinations thereof.

9. The polymer composition of claim 1 , further comprising a block copolymer compatibilizer between the polyolefin and the thermoplastic elastomer, the block copolymer compatilizer having olefin blocks and blocks containing a monomer compatible with the thermoplastic elastomer.

10. The polymer composition of claim 1 , further comprising a compatibilizer between the polyolefin and the thermoplastic elastomer, the compatilizer having a polyolefin backbone that is grafted with a monomer that is compatible with the thermoplastic elastomer.

11. The polymer composition of claim 1 , wherein the polymer composition has a thermal contraction stress of less than 3.0 MPa as measured using dynamic mechanical analysis.

12. The polymer composition of claim 1 , wherein the thermoplastic elastomer has a glass transition temperature that is less than −20° C.

13. The polymer composition of claim 1 , comprising up to 1% of a low friction additive selected from the group consisting of a fatty acid, fatty acid amide, and combinations thereof.

14. The polymer composition of claim 1 , wherein the polyolefin and thermoplastic elastomer are oriented into microfibrils or microlayers along the longitudinal axis.

15. The polymer composition of claim 1 , comprising:
30-40% by weight of the thermoplastic elastomer; and
10-15% by weight of the filler material.

16. The polymer composition of claim 15 , wherein the thermoplastic elastomer is selected from the group consisting of ethylene-propylene rubber, ethylene-vinyl acetate, and styrene-ethylene-butadiene-styrene.

17. The polymer composition of claim 16 , wherein the filler material is montmorillonite, wood flour, or both montmorillonite and wood flour.

18. An extruded polymer article, the polymer article having a longitudinal axis generally in the direction of extrusion, the polymer article comprising:
a polymer composition, comprising:
a polyolefin;
at least 30% by weight of a thermoplastic elastomer; and
a filler material;
wherein the polymer composition has an average coefficient of thermal expansion along the longitudinal axis of less than or equal to 150×10 −6 m/mK as measured from −40° C. to 25° C.; and
wherein the polymer composition has an elastic modulus of less than 3000 MPa as measured using dynamic mechanical analysis (ASTM D4065).

19. The extruded polymer article of claim 18 , wherein the extruded polymer article is a jacket for a cable and the longitudinal axis is along the length of the cable.

20. The cable of claim 19 , wherein the polymeric jacket is coextruded with an outer layer of a material selected from the group consisting of linear low-density polyethylene, medium-density polyethylene, high-density polyelthylene, and combinations thereof, and wherein the outer layer is thinner than the polymeric jacket.

21. The extruded polymer article of claim 18 , wherein the extruded polymer article is an outer coating layer of a central strength member of a fiber optic cable.

22. A cable comprising:
at least one communication element;
a polymeric jacket that surrounds the at least one communication element;
wherein the polymeric jacket is formed at least in part from a polymer composition comprising:
a polyolefin;
at least 30% by weight of a thermoplastic elastomer; and
a high aspect ratio filler material;
wherein the polymer composition is extruded to form the polymeric jacket, the polymeric jacket defining a longitudinal axis generally in the direction of extrusion;
wherein the polymer composition has an average coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) along the longitudinal axis of less than or equal to 150×10 −6 m/mK as measured from −40° C. to 25° C.; and
wherein the polymer composition has an elastic modulus of less than 3000 MPa as measured using dynamic mechanical analysis (ASTM D4065).

23. The cable of claim 22 , wherein the at least one communication element comprises an optical fiber.

24. The cable of claim 22 , further comprising:
a central strength member that runs along at least a portion of a length of the cable;
wherein the central strength member includes a coating of the polymer composition along the length of the central strength member.

25. The cable of claim 22 , wherein a CTE in a radial direction is greater than the CTE along the longitudinal axis.

Assignees

• Corning Optical Communications LLC

Inventors

• Bringuier Anne Germaine
• Cheng Xiaole
• Williamson Brandon Robert

Classifications

• C08L2203/202

  use in electrical wires or wirecoating · CPC title

• C08L2205/03

  containing three or more polymers in a blend · CPC title

• C08L2207/04

  Thermoplastic elastomer · CPC title

• C08L2205/035

  containing four or more polymers in a blend · CPC title

• C08L97/02

  Lignocellulosic material, e.g. wood, straw or bagasse {(manufacture of articles made from lignocellulosic material by dry processes B27N)} · CPC title