Formaldehyde-free binder compositions and methods of making the binders

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10233367-B2
Application number	US-201715435073-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 16, 2017
Priority date	Jul 27, 2012
Publication date	Mar 19, 2019
Grant date	Mar 19, 2019

Abstract

Formaldehyde-free binder compositions are described that include an aldehyde or ketone, an organic anhydride, an alkanol amine, and a nitrogen-containing salt of an inorganic acid. The binder compositions may be applied to fibers, such as glass fibers, to make formaldehyde-free, fiber-reinforced composites. Methods of making fiber-reinforced composites are also described, where such methods may include mixing an alkanol amine with an organic anhydride to make a first mixture, and adding a reducing sugar to the first mixture to make a second mixture. A nitrogen-containing salt may be added to the second mixture to make a binder composition, which may be applied to fibers to form a binder-fiber amalgam. The amalgam may be heated to cure the binder composition and form the fiber-reinforced composite.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of making a binder composition, the method comprising:
forming a mixture from an alkanol amine and a monomeric organic anhydride;
adding an aldehyde or ketone to the mixture;
adding a nitrogen-containing salt to the mixture; and
forming the mixture into the binder composition, wherein the binder composition has a pH between 2 and 4.5.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mixture is heated to a temperature ranging from 40° C. to 250° C. to make an alkanol amine-anhydride reaction product.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the alkanol amine is chosen from monoethanol amine, diethanol amine, and triethanol amine.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the monomeric organic anhydride is chosen from maleic anhydride, phthalic anhydride, tetrahydrophthalic anhydride, perhydrophthalic anhydride, itaconic anhydride, and succinic anhydride.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the aldehyde or ketone comprises a reducing sugar.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the reducing sugar comprises dextrose.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the nitrogen-containing salt is made by:
combining a nitrogen-containing compound with a solution of an inorganic acid; and
stirring the combination of the nitrogen-containing compound and the inorganic acid to form the nitrogen-containing salt.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the nitrogen-containing salt is an ammonium phosphate salt.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the nitrogen-containing salt is an amine-acid salt.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the binder composition has a pH ranging from 3 to 4.2.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises adding an acid or base to adjust the pH of the mixture.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the acid is chosen from maleic acid, citric acid, and phosphoric acid.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the base is chosen from hydroxide compounds and ammonium containing compounds.

14. A method of making a fiber-reinforced composite, the method comprising:
mixing an alkanol amine with a monomeric organic anhydride to make a first mixture;
adding a reducing sugar to the first mixture to make a second mixture;
adding a nitrogen-containing salt to the second mixture to make a binder composition, wherein the nitrogen containing salt comprises a reaction product of a nitrogen-containing compound with an inorganic acid, and wherein the binder composition has a pH between 2 and 4.5;
applying the binder composition to a plurality of fibers to form a binder-fiber amalgam; and
heating the binder-fiber amalgam to cure the binder composition and form the fiber-reinforced composite.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the alkanol amine is chosen from monoethanol amine, diethanol amine, and triethanol amine.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the monomeric organic anhydride is chosen from maleic anhydride, phthalic anhydride, tetrahydrophthalic anhydride, perhydrophthalic anhydride, itaconic anhydride, and succinic anhydride.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein the reducing sugar is dextrose.

18. The method of claim 14 , wherein the nitrogen-containing compound is a diamine and the inorganic acid comprises phosphoric acid.

19. The method of claim 14 , wherein a molar ratio of the reducing sugar to the nitrogen-containing salt is 1:50 to 50:1.

20. The method of claim 14 , wherein a molar ratio of the reducing sugar to the nitrogen-containing salt is 1:10 to 10:1.

21. The method of claim 14 , wherein the pH of the binder composition ranges from 3 to 4.2.

22. The method of claim 14 , wherein the plurality of fibers comprises a woven or non-woven fiberglass mat.

23. The method of claim 14 , wherein the fiber-reinforced composite comprises fiberglass insulation.

24. The method of claim 14 , wherein the fibers comprise organic polymer fibers.

25. The method of claim 14 , wherein the binder-fiber amalgam is heated to a temperature from 100° C. to 250° C. to cure the binder composition.

26. The method of claim 1 , wherein the binder-fiber amalgam is heated for 1 minute to 100 minutes to cure the binder composition.

27. The method of claim 1 , wherein the applying of the binder composition to a plurality of fibers is done by an application technique chosen from spraying, spin-curtain coating, curtain coating, and dipping-roll coating.

Assignees

• Johns Manville

Inventors

• Alavi Kiarash
• Lester Uranchimeg
• Asrar Jawed

Classifications

• C08J5/24

  Impregnating materials with prepolymers which can be polymerised in situ, e.g. manufacture of prepregs · CPC title

• B05D3/108

  Curing · CPC title

• C08J5/04

  Reinforcing macromolecular compounds with loose or coherent fibrous material · CPC title

• C09J161/00 Primary

  Adhesives based on condensation polymers of aldehydes or ketones (with polyalcohols C09J159/00; with polynitriles C09J177/00); Adhesives based on derivatives of such polymers · CPC title

• C08J5/043

  with glass fibres · CPC title