Shrinkable thermoplastic vulcanizate and method and article

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11186753-B2
Application number	US-201716334107-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 1, 2017
Priority date	Sep 23, 2016
Publication date	Nov 30, 2021
Grant date	Nov 30, 2021

Abstract

A process of heat shrinking an article is provided. The process includes shaping a thermoplastic vulcanizate (TPV) into an article, the TPV having: a partially vulcanized rubber dispersed in a continuous thermoplastic phase, wherein more than 5 wt % of the rubber is extractable in boiling xylene, and wherein the thermoplastic phase comprises a thermoplastic resin having a Tm>110° C. and a propylene-based elastomer (PBE) having a Tm<110° C.; and heating the article to a temperature between about 100° C. and 250° C. to shrink the article.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A process of heat shrinking an article, the process comprising:
shaping a thermoplastic vulcanizate (TPV) into an article, the TPV comprising:
a partially vulcanized rubber dispersed in a continuous thermoplastic phase,
wherein more than 5 wt % of the rubber is extractable in boiling xylene, and
wherein the thermoplastic phase comprises a thermoplastic resin having a Tm>110° C. and a propylene-based elastomer (PBE) having a Tm<110° C.; and

heating the article to a temperature between about 100° C. and 250° C. to shrink the article.

2. A process of heat shrinking an article, the method comprising:
shaping a thermoplastic vulcanizate (TPV) into an article, the TPV comprising:
an at least partially vulcanized rubber dispersed in a continuous thermoplastic phase,
wherein the thermoplastic phase comprises a thermoplastic resin having a Tm>110° C. and a propylene-based elastomer (PBE) having a TM<110° C.; and

heating the article to a temperature between about 100° C. and 250° C. to shrink the article.

3. A process according to claim 1 , wherein the heating shrinks the article in a machine direction (MD) by at least 20%.

4. A process according to claim 3 , wherein the article is a tube, and the MD is an axial direction of the tube.

5. A process according to claim 1 , wherein the heating shrinks the article in a cross direction (CD) by no more than 5%.

6. A process according to claim 5 , wherein the article is a tube, and the cross direction is a radial or circumferential direction of the tube.

7. A process according to claim 1 , wherein the thermoplastic resin has a Tm>130° C.

8. A process according to claim 1 , wherein the PBE has a Tm<100° C., and further wherein the PBE comprises 70 to 95 wt % units derived from propylene and 5 to 30 wt % units derived from ethylene, said wt % s on the basis of the monomer-derived content of the PBE.

9. The process according to claim 1 , wherein heating the article comprises heating the article to a temperature between about 110° C. and 150° C.

10. A process according to claim 1 , wherein the heating the article comprises heating the article to the temperature for 120 seconds.

11. A process according to claim 1 , wherein more than 10 wt % of the rubber is extractable in boiling xylene.

12. A process according to claim 1 , wherein more than 15 wt % of the rubber is extractable in boiling xylene.

13. A process according to claim 1 , wherein the shaping comprises molding or extruding the TPV.

14. A process of securing two parts by heat shrinking an article, the process comprising:
disposing the article at least partially about each of the two parts to be secured, and heating the article to a temperature between 100° C. and 250° C. so as to shrink the article, thereby securing the two parts;
wherein the article comprises a TPV, the TPV comprising:
a partially vulcanized rubber dispersed in a continuous thermoplastic phase,
wherein more than 5 wt % of the rubber is extractable in boiling xylene, and
wherein the thermoplastic phase comprises a thermoplastic resin having a Tm>110° C. and a propylene-based elastomer (PBE) having a Tm<110° C.

15. A process according to claim 1 , wherein the thermoplastic resin comprises a random propylene, ethylene, butene terpolymer.

16. A process according to claim 1 , wherein the rubber is an ethylene propylene diene rubber (EPDM).

Assignees

• Exxonmobil Chemical Patents Inc

Inventors

• Wang Wanli
• Bednarik Michael W
• Bao Peite
• Ni Yi Ping
• Sun ying ying

Classifications

• C09J2491/00

  Presence of oils, fats or waxes · CPC title

• C08J3/226

  using a polymer as a carrier · CPC title

• B29C61/025

  for the production of hollow or tubular articles · 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

• C09J123/16 Primary

  Elastomeric} ethylene-propylene or ethylene-propylene-diene copolymers {, e.g. EPR and EPDM rubbers · CPC title