Flooding compounds for telecommunication cables

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10563147-B2
Application number	US-201615557710-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 14, 2016
Priority date	Mar 31, 2015
Publication date	Feb 18, 2020
Grant date	Feb 18, 2020

Abstract

Flooding compounds for telecommunications cables. Such flooding compounds contain a polyolefin elastomer and a hydrocarbon oil. The polyolefin elastomer has a crystallinity ranging from 10 less than 50 weight percent and a dynamic viscosity of 50,000 centipoise or less at 177° C. The hydrocarbon oil has a kinematic viscosity of 200 centistokes or less at 40° C.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A flooding compound for a telecommunications cable, said flooding compound comprising:
(a) a polyolefin elastomer; and
(b) a hydrocarbon oil,
wherein said polyolefin elastomer has a crystallinity in the range of from 10 to less than 50 weight percent,
wherein said polyolefin elastomer has a dynamic viscosity of 50,000 centipoise or less at 177° C.,
wherein said hydrocarbon oil has a kinematic viscosity of 200 centistokes or less at 40° C.,
wherein said polyolefin elastomer consists of only α-olefin monomer residues,
wherein said flooding compound has an apparent viscosity in the range of from 20 to 400 centipoise at 150° C., as determined according to ASTM D3236.

2. The flooding compound of claim 1 , wherein said polyolefin elastomer has an Mn of greater than 5,000 g/mol; wherein said polyolefin elastomer has a weight-average molecular weight (“Mw”) in the range of from 5,000 to 50,000 g/mol; wherein said polyolefin elastomer has a polydispersity index (“Mw/Mn”) in the range of from 1 to 5.

3. The flooding compound of claim 1 , wherein said polyolefin elastomer has a density of less than 0.910 g/cm 3 ; wherein said polyolefin elastomer has a melting point of at least 70° C.

4. The flooding compound of claim 1 , wherein said polyolefin elastomer is selected from the group consisting of an ethylene-based polyolefin elastomer, a propylene-based polyolefin elastomer, and combinations thereof.

5. The flooding compound of claim 4 , wherein said ethylene-based polyolefin elastomer is an ethylene/octene copolymer, wherein said propylene-based polyolefin elastomer is a propylene/ethylene copolymer.

6. The flooding compound of claim 1 , wherein said flooding compound has a drop point of at least 65° C., as determined according to ASTM D127.

7. The flooding compound of claim 1 further comprising one or more additives selected from the group consisting of antioxidants, rheology modifiers, mineral fillers, polymer fillers, and stabilizers.

8. The flooding compound of claim 1 , wherein said hydrocarbon oil is selected from the group consisting of a paraffinic oil and a polybutene oil.

9. An optical fiber cable comprising:
(a) at least one optical fiber;
(b) a plurality of buffer tubes; and
(c) the flooding compound of claim 1 .

10. A flooding compound for a telecommunications cable, said flooding compound consisting of:
(a) a polyolefin elastomer;
(b) a hydrocarbon oil; and
(c) optionally, one or more additives selected from the group consisting of antioxidants, rheology modifiers, mineral fillers, polymer fillers, and stabilizers,
wherein said polyolefin elastomer has a crystallinity in the range of from 10 to less than 50 weight percent,
wherein said polyolefin elastomer has a dynamic viscosity of 50,000 centipoise or less at 177° C.,
wherein said hydrocarbon oil has a kinematic viscosity of 200 centistokes or less at 40° C.,
wherein said polyolefin elastomer consists of only α-olefin monomer residues,
wherein said flooding compound has an apparent viscosity in the range of from 20 to 400 centipoise at 150° C., as determined according to ASTM D3236.

11. The flooding compound of claim 10 , wherein said flooding compound has a drop point of at least 65° C., as determined according to ASTM D127.

12. The flooding compound of claim 10 , wherein said polyolefin elastomer has an Mn of greater than 5,000 g/mol, wherein said polyolefin elastomer has a weight-average molecular weight (“Mw”) in the range of from 5,000 to 500,000 g/mol, wherein said polyolefin elastomer has a polydispersity index (“Mw/Mn”) in the range of from 1 to 5, wherein said polyolefin elastomer has a density of less than 0.910 g/cm 3 ; wherein said polyolefin elastomer has a melting point of at least 70° C.

13. The flooding compound of claim 10 , wherein said polyolefin elastomer is selected from the group consisting of an ethylene-based polyolefin elastomer, a propylene-based polyolefin elastomer, and combinations thereof.

14. A fiber optic cable comprising:
(a) at least one optical fiber;
(b) a plurality of buffer tubes; and
(c) the flooding compound of claim 10 .

Assignees

• Dow Global Technologies Llc

Inventors

• Zhang Yichi
• Esseghir Mohamed
• Kmiec Chester J
• Jin Yi
• Yalvac Selim

Classifications

• C10M143/02

  Polyethylene · CPC title

• C10N2040/32

  Wires, ropes or cables lubricants · CPC title

• G02B6/4434

  Central member to take up tensile loads · CPC title

• C10M2205/028

  containing aliphatic monomers having more than four carbon atoms · CPC title

• C10M105/04

  aliphatic · CPC title