Flexible elastic rubber compounds with improved dielectric and tear strength for cold shrink splices and preparation method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10407568-B2
Application number	US-201815967766-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 1, 2018
Priority date	Jun 27, 2014
Publication date	Sep 10, 2019
Grant date	Sep 10, 2019

Abstract

A cold shrink article made from a composition comprising (A) an ethylene/α-olefin interpolymer; (B) a filler; and (C) an α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acid. The composition may optionally include additives selected from the group consisting of plasticizer, peroxide curing agent, antioxidant, process additives, flame retardant and combinations thereof.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of splicing a cable comprising:
(1) providing a cold shrink article comprising a flexible sleeve made from a composition consisting essentially of (A) 100 parts by weight of an ethylene/α-olefin interpolymer, (B) 20-80 phr of a filler, (C) 1-20 phr of an α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acid, (D) 1-20 phr of a plasticizer, (E) 1-5 phr of a peroxide curing agent, (F) 0-5 phr of an antioxidant, (G) 0-5 phr of a process additive, and (H) 0-50 phr of a flame retardant, wherein the flexible sleeve is held in radially expanded condition on a support core;
(2) inserting at least a portion of a cable inside the support core;
(3) removing the support core from the cold shrink article; and
(4) allowing the cold shrink article to contract onto the at least a portion of the cable.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ethylene/α-olefin interpolymer (A) comprises EPDM, the filler (B) is a metal-containing filler, and the α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acid is selected from the group consisting of methyl acrylic acid, acrylic acid, and combinations thereof.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cold shrink article has at least one of (a) a tensile set of less than 20%, (b) an alternating current break down strength of greater than 20 KV/mm, and (c) a tear resistance of greater than 40 N/mm.

4. A method of splicing a cable comprising:
(1) providing a cold shrink article comprising a flexible sleeve is made from a composition consisting essentially of:
(A) 100 parts by weight EPDM;
(B) 20-80 phr MgO;
(C) 1-20 phr MAA;
(D) 1-20 phr plasticizer;
(E) 1-5 phr peroxide curing agent;
(F) 0-5 phr antioxidant;
(G) 0-5 phr process additive; and
(H) 0-50 phr flame retardant,

wherein the flexible sleeve is held in radially expanded condition on a support core;
(2) inserting at least a portion of a cable inside the support core;
(3) removing the support core from the cold shrink article; and
(4) allowing the cold shrink article to contract onto the at least a portion of the cable.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the cold shrink article has at least one of (a) a tensile set of less than 20%, (b) an alternating current break down strength of greater than 20 KV/mm, and (c) a tear resistance of greater than 40 N/mm.

Assignees

• Dow Global Technologies Llc

Inventors

• Yu Haiyang
• Huo Yanli
• Esseghir Mohamed
• Sengupta Saurav S
• Cogen Jeffrey M

Classifications

• H01B3/441

  from alkenes · CPC title

• H02G15/18

  protected by sleeves, e.g. for communication cable (two-part covers H02G15/10 {; preforms having internal stresses B29C61/00}) · CPC title

• C08K5/14

  Peroxides · CPC title

• H02G15/182

  held in expanded condition in radial direction prior to installation · CPC title

• C08K2003/222

  Magnesia, i.e. magnesium oxide · CPC title