Caps and closures

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10329412-B2
Application number	US-201715434089-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 16, 2017
Priority date	Feb 16, 2017
Publication date	Jun 25, 2019
Grant date	Jun 25, 2019

Abstract

This disclosure relates to caps and closures manufactured from an ethylene interpolymer product, or a blend containing an ethylene interpolymer product.

First claim

What is claims is:

1. A cap or a closure comprising at least one layer comprising an ethylene interpolymer product comprising:
(I) a first ethylene interpolymer;
(II) a second ethylene interpolymer; and
(III) optionally a third ethylene interpolymer;
wherein said first ethylene interpolymer is produced using a single site catalyst formulation comprising a component (i) defined by the formula
(L A ) a M(PI) b (Q) n

wherein L A is selected from unsubstituted cyclopentadienyl, substituted cyclopentadienyl, unsubstituted indenyl, substituted indenyl, unsubstituted fluorenyl and substituted fluorenyl;
M is a metal selected from titanium, hafnium and zirconium;
PI is a phosphinimine ligand;
Q is independently selected from a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, a C 1-10 hydrocarbyl radical, a C 1-10 alkoxy radical and a C 5-10 aryl oxide radical; wherein each of said hydrocarbyl, alkoxy, and aryl oxide radicals may be unsubstituted or further substituted by a halogen atom, a C 1-18 alkyl radical, a C 1-8 alkoxy radical, a C 6-10 aryl or aryloxy radical, an amido radical which is unsubstituted or substituted by up to two C 1-8 alkyl radicals or a phosphido radical which is unsubstituted or substituted by up to two C1-s alkyl radicals;
wherein a is 1; b is 1; n is 1 or 2; and (a+b+n) is equivalent to the valence of the metal M;

wherein said second ethylene interpolymer is produced using a first in-line Ziegler-Natta catalyst formulation;
wherein said third ethylene interpolymer is produced using said first in-line Ziegler-Natta catalyst formulation or a second in-line Ziegler-Natta catalyst formulation;
wherein said ethylene interpolymer product has a Dilution Index, Y d , having values from ≥−8.57 to ≤−7.41; and wherein said ethylene interpolymer product has a melt index from about 0.3 to about 7 dg/min, where the melt index is measured according to ASTM D1238 (2.16 kg load and 190° C.); and
wherein said ethylene interpolymer product has a G′ [@G″=500 Pa] from 80 Pa to 120 Pa.

2. The cap or closure of claim 1 , wherein said single site catalyst formulation further comprises an alumoxane co-catalyst; a boron ionic activator; and optionally a hindered phenol.

3. The cap or closure of claim 2 , wherein said alumoxane co-catalyst is methylalumoxane (MAO) and said boron ionic activator is trityl tetrakis (pentafluorophenyl) borate.

4. The cap or closure of claim 1 , wherein said ethylene interpolymer product has a Dimensionless Modulus, X d , having values from ≥−0.73 to ≤−0.42.

5. The cap or closure of claim 1 , wherein said ethylene interpolymer product has a melt index from about 0.3 to about 5 dg/minute.

6. The cap or closure of claim 1 , wherein said ethylene interpolymer product has a density from about 0.948 to about 0.968 g/cc, wherein density is measured according to ASTM D792.

7. The cap or closure of claim 1 , wherein said ethylene interpolymer product has a M w /M n from about 2 to about 25.

8. The cap or closure of claim 1 , wherein said ethylene interpolymer product has a CDBI 50 from about 54% to about 98%.

9. The cap or closure of claim 1 , wherein
(I) said first ethylene interpolymer constitutes from about 15 to about 60 weight percent of said ethylene interpolymer product and has a melt index from about 0.01 to about 200 dg/min and a density from about 0.855 to about 0.975 g/cc;
(II) said second ethylene interpolymer constitutes from about 30 to about 85 weight percent of said ethylene interpolymer product and has a melt index from about 0.3 to about 1000 dg/min and a density from about 0.89 to about 0.975 g/cc;
(III) said third ethylene interpolymer constitutes from about 0 to about 30 weight percent of said ethylene interpolymer product and has a melt index from about 0.5 to about 2000 dg/min and a density from about 0.89 to about 0.975 g/cc;

wherein weight percent is the weight of said first, said second or said third ethylene interpolymer, individually, divided by the weight of said ethylene interpolymer product; and wherein density is measured according to ASTM D792.

10. The cap or closure of claim 1 , wherein said ethylene interpolymer product is synthesized using a solution polymerization process.

11. The cap or closure of claim 1 , wherein said ethylene interpolymer product further comprises from 0 to about 1.0 mole percent of one or more C 3 to C 10 α-olefins.

12. The cap or closure of claim 11 , wherein said one or more α-olefins is 1-hexene, 1-octene or a mixture of 1-hexene and 1-octene.

13. The cap or closure of claim 1 , wherein
(I) said first ethylene interpolymer has a first CDBI 50 from about 70 to about 98%;
(II) said second ethylene interpolymer has a second CDBI 50 from about 45 to about 98%, and;
(III) said third ethylene interpolymer has a third CDBI 50 from about 35 to about 98%, if present.

14. The cap or closure of claim 13 , wherein said first CDBI 50 is higher than said second CDBI 50 and said first CDBI 50 is higher than said third CDBI 50 .

15. The cap or closure of claim 1 , wherein
(I) said first ethylene interpolymer has a first M w /M n from about 1.7 to about 2.8;
(II) said second ethylene interpolymer has a second M w /M n from about 2.2 to about 4.4; and
(III) said third ethylene interpolymer has a third M w /M n from about 2.2 to about 5.0;
wherein said first M w /M n is lower than said second M w /M n and said third M w /M n .

16. The cap or closure of claim 15 , comprising a heterogeneous ethylene interpolymer blend of said second ethylene interpolymer and said third ethylene interpolymer having a fourth M w /M n , wherein said fourth M w /M n is not broader than said second M w /M n .

17. The cap or closure of claim 1 , having a G′ [@G″=500 Pa] from 90 Pa to 120 Pa.

18. The cap or closure of claim 1 , having a G′ [@G″=500 Pa] from 100 Pa to 120 Pa.

19. The cap or closure of claim 1 , further comprising a nucleating agent or a mixture of more than one nucleating agent.

20. A process to manufacture the cap or closure of claim 1 , wherein said process comprises at least one compression molding step or one injection molding step.

Assignees

• Nova Chem Int Sa

Inventors

• Wang Xiaochuan
• Li Tieqi
• Sibtain Fazle
• Dobbin Christopher
• Taylor Kenneth
• Khakdaman Hamidreza
• Molloy Brian

Classifications

• B29L2031/56

  Stoppers or lids for bottles, jars, or the like {, e.g. closures} · CPC title

• C08L2205/025

  containing two or more polymers of the same hierarchy C08L, and differing only in parameters such as density, comonomer content, molecular weight, structure · CPC title

• C08L2314/06

  Metallocene or single site catalysts · CPC title

• B29C43/003

  characterised by the choice of material · CPC title

• C08L23/0815 Primary

  with aliphatic 1-olefins containing one carbon-to-carbon double bond · CPC title