Polymeric-inorganic particles useful as lubricant additives

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10954466-B2
Application number	US-201716319947-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 24, 2017
Priority date	Jul 25, 2016
Publication date	Mar 23, 2021
Grant date	Mar 23, 2021

Abstract

The invention relates to polymeric-inorganic nanoparticles and preparation processes thereof. The invention also relates to a powder, concentrate and lubricating composition comprising these polymeric-inorganic nanoparticles, to a method of dispersing nanoparticles in lubricating oil, as well as the use of these polymeric-inorganic particles in an oil lubricant formulation to reduce pour point, friction and wear.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A polymeric-inorganic nanoparticle, comprising one inorganic nanoparticle covalently bonded to one or more polymers, each polymer comprising:
a) units derived from at least one compound of formula (I):

and
b) units derived from at least one alkyl (meth)acrylate, wherein the alkyl group of the alkyl (meth)acrylate comprises from 1 to 40 carbon atoms,
wherein:
at least two units a) of each polymer are covalently bonded to the inorganic nanoparticle;
R is H or CH 3 ;
Si(A) h (X) 3−h is a silane functional group, where 0≤h≤2;
A is a branched or unbranched C1 to C4 alkyl residue;
B is a branched or unbranched, aliphatic, aromatic or mixed aliphatic-aromatic C1 to C30 carbon-based group;
X is selected from H, Cl or a group OY, wherein Y is H or a C to C30 branched or unbranched alkyl-, alkenyl-, aryl-, or aralkyl- group, branched or unbranched C2 to C30 alkylether-group or branched or unbranched C2 to C30 alkylpolyether-group or a mixture thereof; and
the units b) derived from the at least one alkyl (meth)acrylate are selected from the group consisting of:
(b1) 0 to 30% by weight of units derived from at least one alkyl (meth)acrylate monomer of formula (II), based on the total weight of the monomer composition:

where R is hydrogen or methyl, and R 1 is a linear, branched or cyclic alkyl residue with 1 to 8 carbon atoms,

(b2) 0 to 99.9% by weight of units derived from at least one alkyl (meth)acrylate monomer of formula based on the total weight of the monomer composition:

where R is hydrogen or methyl, and R 2 is a linear, branched or cyclic alkyl residue with 9 to 15 carbon atoms, and

(b3) 0 to 99.9% by weight of units derived from at least one alkyl (meth)acrylate monomer of formula (IV), based on the total weight of the monomer composition:

where R is hydrogen or methyl, and R 3 is a linear, branched or cyclic alkyl residue with 16 to 40 carbon atoms,
wherein:
each polymer comprises at least 10% by weight of either monomer units b2) or b3) or a mixture of both, based on the total weight of the monomer composition; and
the amounts of monomers a), b1), b2) and b3) are selected to sum up to 100% by weight of the mixture of monomers a), b1), b2) and b3).

2. The polymeric-inorganic nanoparticle according to claim 1 , wherein the compound of formula (I) is selected from the group consisting of 3-(triethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate, 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate, and 3-(trichlorosilyl)propyl methacrylate.

3. The polymeric-inorganic nanoparticle according to claim 1 , wherein each polymer consists of the units a) and the units b).

4. The polymeric-inorganic nanoparticle according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one polymer further comprises comonomer units.

5. The polymeric-inorganic nanoparticle according to claim 1 , wherein the inorganic nanoparticle is selected from the group consisting of a metal oxide nanoparticle, an oxidized metal nitride nanoparticle, an oxidized metal carbide nanoparticle, a non-metal oxide nanoparticle, and mixtures thereof.

6. The polymeric-inorganic nanoparticle according to claim 1 , wherein the inorganic nanoparticle is selected from the group consisting of SiO 2 and TiO 2 .

7. The polymeric-inorganic nanoparticle according to claim 1 , wherein each polymer comprises 0.1% by weight to 50% by weight of the units a), based on the total weight of the monomer composition.

8. The polymeric-inorganic nanoparticle according to claim 1 , wherein each polymer comprises:
a) 0.1 to 50% by weight of the units a) derived from one or more compounds of formula (I), based on the total weight of the monomer composition;
b2) 0 to 99.9% by weight of units derived from at least one alkyl (meth)acrylate monomer of formula (III), based on the total weight of the monomer composition:

where R is hydrogen or methyl, and R 2 is a linear, branched or cyclic alkyl residue with 9 to 15 carbon atoms; and

b3) 0 to 99.9% by weight of units derived from at least one alkyl (meth)acrylate monomer of formula (IV), based on the total weight of the monomer composition:

where R is hydrogen or methyl, and R 3 is a linear, branched or cyclic alkyl residue with 16 to 40 carbon atoms,

wherein:
the at least one polymer comprises at least 10% by weight of either monomer units b2) or b3) or a mixture of both, based on the total weight of the monomer composition; and
the amounts of monomers a), b2) and b3) are selected to sum up to 100% by weight of the mixture of monomer units a), b2) and b3).

9. The polymeric-inorganic nanoparticle according to claim 1 , wherein each polymer comprises at least 50% by weight of either monomer units b2) or b3) or a mixture of both, based on the total weight of the monomer composition.

10. The polymeric-inorganic nanoparticle according to claim 9 , wherein the units derived from one or more alkyl (meth)acrylate monomers of Formula (II), (III) and (IV) comprise:
(b1) 0 to 5% by weight of units derived from at least one alkyl (meth)acrylate monomer of formula (II), based on the total weight of the monomer composition;
(b2) 40 to 75% by weight of units derived from at least one alkyl (meth)acrylate monomer of formula (III), based on the total weight of the monomer composition; and
(b3) 5 to 50% by weight of units derived from at least one alkyl (meth)acrylate monomer of formula (IV), based on the total weight of the monomer composition.

11. The polymeric-inorganic nanoparticle according to claim 1 , wherein each polymer comprises a terminal polymer chain end derived from silane-containing chain transfer agent.

12. The polymeric-inorganic nanoparticle according to claim 1 , wherein each polymer has a weight average molecular weight of 5 000 g/mol to 200 000 g/mol.

13. The polymeric-inorganic nanoparticle according to claim 1 , wherein a weight ratio between the nanoparticle and the one or more polymers covalently bonded to the inorganic nanoparticle is from 1:0.02 to 1:1.

14. A process for preparing the polymeric-inorganic nanoparticle of claim 1 , the process comprising:
(i) polymerizing a monomer composition comprising the at least one compound a) of formula (I) and the at least one alkyl (meth)acrylate b), to obtain the polymer; and
(ii) covalently bonding the polymer with the inorganic nanoparticles.

15. The process of claim 14 , wherein the covalently bonding step (ii) is conducted in a base oil or an organic solvent.

16. The process of claim 14 , wherein the covalently bonding step (ii) occurs with mixing at high speed greater than 4000 RPM, and optionally with an ultrasonic treatment.

17. The process of claim 14 , wherein the polymerizing step (i) occurs in the presence of a reactive silane containing chain transfer agent.

Assignees

• Evonik Operations Gmbh

Inventors

• Sirak Sofia
• Turhan Can Metehan
• Ness Daniel
• Holtzinger Jennifer
• Cornelius Maximilian

Classifications

• C10N2070/00

  Specific manufacturing methods for lubricant compositions · CPC title

• C10N2050/015

  Dispersions of solid lubricants · CPC title

• C10M2229/043

  containing carbon-to-carbon double bonds · CPC title

• C10N2040/045

  for continuous variable transmission [CVT] · CPC title

• C08F220/68

  Esters · CPC title