Nanocomposite elastomers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10716877-B2
Application number	US-201515533622-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 7, 2015
Priority date	Dec 8, 2014
Publication date	Jul 21, 2020
Grant date	Jul 21, 2020

Abstract

A composite material comprising an elastomer and nanocellulose. The nanocellulose may comprise a nanocellulose material derived from plants having C4 leaf anatomy, or a nanocellulose material derived from a plant material having a lesser amount of lignin than hemicellulose, or a nanocellulose having a hemicellulose content of from 25% to 55% by weight of the nanocellulose material, or a nanocellulose comprising nanofibrils having a diameter of up to 5 nm, or a nanocellulose comprising nanocellulose material of plant origin comprising nanocellulose particles or fibres having an aspect ratio of at least 250, or the composite material having a stiffness of not greater than 2.5 times the stiffness of the elastomer without the nanocellulose material being present, or the nanocellulose particles or fibres being derived from a plant material having a hemicellulose content of 30% or higher (w/w). The nanocellulose may be derived from arid Spinifex.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A composite material comprising an elastomer and a nanocellulose material, the nanocellulose material having a hemicellulose content of from 25% to 55% by weight of the nanocellulose material, wherein the nanocellulose material is derived from plants having C4 leaf anatomy, or derived from a drought-tolerant grass species, or derived from an arid grass species.

2. A composite material as claimed in claim 1 wherein the nanocellulose material is derived from plant material and the plant material has a hemicellulose content of from 30 to 55% w/w.

3. A composite material as claimed in claim 1 wherein the nanocellulose material comprises nanocellulose particles or fibres having an aspect ratio of between 250 to 10,000.

4. A composite material as claimed in claim 1 wherein the nanocellulose material is derived from Australian native arid grass known as “ spinifex ” from the genera comprising Triodia, Monodia , or from Digitaria sanguinalis (L.) Scopoli, Panicum coloratum L. var makarikariense Goossens, Brachiaria brizantha (Hochst. Ex A. Rich) Stapf, D. violascens Link, P. dichotomiflorum Michaux, B. decumbens Stapf, Echinochloa crus - galli P. Beauv., P. miliaceum L., B. humidicola (Rendle) Schweick., Paspalum distichum L., B. mutica (Forsk.) Stapf, Setaria glauca (L.) P. Beauv, Cynodon dactylon (L.) Persoon, Panicum maximum Jacq., S. viridis (L.) P. Beauv, Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertner, Urochloa texana (Buckley) Webster, Sorghum sudanense Stapf, E. indica (L.) Gaertner, Spodiopogon cotulifer (Thunb.) Hackel, Eragrostis cilianensis (Allioni) Vignolo-Lutati, Chloris gayana Kunth, Eragrostis curvula, Leptochloa dubia, Muhlenbergia wrightii, E. ferruginea (Thunb.) P. Beauv., Sporobolus indicus R. Br . var. purpureo - suffusus (Ohwi) T. Koyama, Andropogon gerardii, Leptochloa chinensis (L.) Nees and Zoysia tenuifolia Willd, or from Anigozanthos, Austrodanthonia, Austrostipa, Baloskion pallens, Baumea juncea, Bolboschoenus, Capillipedium, Carex bichenoviana, Carec gaudichaudiana, Carex appressa, C. tereticaulis, Caustis, Centrolepis, Chloris truncate, Chorizandra, Conostylis, Cymbopogon, Cyperus, Desmocladus flexuosa, Dichanthium sericeum, Dichelachne, Eragrostis, Eurychorda complanata, Evandra aristata, Ficinia nodosa, Gahnia, Gymnoschoenus sphaerocephalus, Hemarthria uncinata, Hypolaeana, Imperata cylindrical, Johnsonia, Joycea pallid, Juncus, Kingia australis, Lepidosperma, Lepironia articulate, Leptocarpus, Lomandra, Meeboldina, Mesomelaena, Neurachne alopecuroidea, Notodanthonia, Patersonia, Poa, Spinifex, Themedo triandra, Tremulina tremula, Triglochin, Triodia and Zanthorrhoea, Aristida pallens (Wire grass), Andropogon gerardii (Big bluestem), Bouteloua eriopoda (Black grama), Chloris roxburghiana (Horsetail grass), Themeda triandra (Red grass), Panicum virgatum (Switch grass), Pennisetum ciliaris (Buffel grass), Schizachyrium scoparium (Little bluestem), Sorghatrum nutans (Indian grass) and Stipa tenacissima (Needle grass), wheat straw, or Esparto (provided by Stipa tenacissima and Lygeum spartum , both Poaceae family), Oyat (which is the French common name for Ammophila arenaria , also from the Poaceae family), Miscanthus and plants that form tumbleweeds, tumbleweed forming plants from the families Amaranthaceae and Chenopodiaceae), Amaryllidaceae, Apiaceae, Asphodelaceae, Asteraceae, Brassicaceae, Boraginaceae, Caryophyllaceae, Fabaceae, Lamiaceae and Poaceae.

5. A composite material as claimed in claim 4 wherein the nanocellulose material is derived from T. pungens, T. shinzii, T. basedowii , or T. longiceps.

6. A composite material as claimed in claim 1 wherein the amount of nanocellulose material that is present in the composite material ranges from 0.05% wt to 25% wt (calculated as a weight percentage of the total weight of the nanocellulose material and elastomer components but excluding other chemicals added during compounding.

7. A composite material as claimed in claim 1 wherein the elastomer comprises natural rubber or a polyurethane or polyisoprene (synthetic natural rubber), polybutadiene, polychloroprene, butyl rubber, styrene-butadiene rubber, nitrile rubber, hydrogentated nitrile rubber (HNBR), ethylene propylene rubber, ethylene propylene diene rubber (EPDM), chlorosulphonated polyethylene (CSM), chlorinated polyethylene, polysulphide rubber, ethylene acrylic rubber, fluorocarbon rubber, polytetrafluoroethylene-propylene, epichlorohydrin rubber, polyacrylic rubber, silicone rubber, fluorosilicone rubber, polyphosphazene rubber, polyoctenylene, polypropylene oxide rubber, polynorbornene, polyether block amides, EVA rubber, styrenic block copolymers, SEBS (styrene, ethylene-co-butylene, styrene blocks), SEPS (styrene, ethylene-co-propylene, styrene blocks), SIS (styrene, isoprene, styrene blocks) or segmented elastomers, or copolyester thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs), or any combination of the above elastomers.

8. A composite material as claimed in claim 1 wherein the nanocellulose material comprises nanocellulose particles or fibres having a diameter of up to 20 nm.

9. A composite material as claimed in claim 1 wherein the nanocellulose material comprises nanocellulose particles or fibres comprising primary nanofibrils having a diameter of 3-4 nm.

10. A composite material as claimed in claim 1 wherein the nanocellulose material comprises nanocellulose particles or fibres including essentially no particles or fibres having a diameter of greater than 20 nm.

11. A composite material as claimed in claim 1 wherein the nanocellulose material comprises nanocellulose particles or fibres having a length that falls within the range of from 200 nm up to 10 μm.

12. An article made from the composite material as claimed in claim 1 wherein the article comprises a condom, a pair of gloves, a catheter balloon, a vehicle tire, a component for shoes, a conveyor belt, a wear liner, a component for furniture, a suspension bush, or a blade for windscreen wipers.

13. An article as claimed in claim 12 wherein the article comprises a condom and the elastomer comprises natural rubber latex or polyisoprene and the condom has a tensile strength greater than 31 MPa and a maximum tensile strength of up to 60 Mpa, with a normalised air burst pressure of greater than 0.036 kPa/μm and a maximum normalised air burst pressure of up to 0.007 kPa/μm.

14. A composite material as claimed in claim 1 wherein the nanocellulose material is derived from plant material and the plant material has a hemicellulose content of from 30 to 50% w/w.

15. A composite material as claimed in claim 14 wherein the plant material has a hemicellulose content of from 36 to 48% w/w.

16. A composite material as claimed in claim 14 wherein the plant material has a hemicellulose content of from 40 to 48% w/w.

17. A composite material as claimed in claim 14 wherein the plant material has a hemicellulose content of from 42 to 47% w/w.

18. A composite material as claimed in claim 1 wherein the nanocellulose material comprises nanocellulose particles or fibres having an aspect ratio of between 250 to 5000.

19. A composite material as claimed in claim 1 wherein the nanocellulose material comprises nanocellulose particles or fibres having an aspect ratio of between 250 to 1000.

20. A composite material as claimed in claim 1 wherein the amount of nanocellulose material that is present in the composite material ranges from 0.1% wt to 25% wt (calculated as a weight

Assignees

• Univ Queensland

Inventors

• Amiralian Nasim
• Martin Darren James

Classifications

• A61F6/04 Primary

  Condoms, sheaths or the like {, e.g. combined with devices protecting against contagion} · CPC title

• C08G18/4081

  Mixtures of compounds of group C08G18/64 with other macromolecular compounds · CPC title

• C09J105/14

  Hemicellulose; Derivatives thereof · CPC title

• C08G18/6484

  Polysaccharides and derivatives thereof · CPC title

• C08L5/14

  Hemicellulose; Derivatives thereof · CPC title