Translucent fibre composite materials comprising chemically modified polymers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11441014-B2
Application number	US-202016741829-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 14, 2020
Priority date	Apr 22, 2015
Publication date	Sep 13, 2022
Grant date	Sep 13, 2022

Abstract

The present invention relates to a fibre composite material W of increased translucency and/or mechanical strength, comprising a copolymer C encompassing monomers A-1, where A-1 form covalent bonds with functional groups B-1 on the surface of fibres B embedded in the fibre composite material W, and this fibre composite material W has greater translucency and/or mechanical strength than a fibre composite material Win which the copolymer C contains no A-1. The present invention further embraces a method for producing a fibre composite material W of increased translucency and/or mechanical strength.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A fiber composite material W consisting of:
(A) 20-99.5 wt % of a polymer matrix in the form of a thermoplastic polymer composition A comprising:
(A1) at least one copolymer C comprising monomers A-I and monomers A-II and optionally further monomers;
(A2) optionally one or more dyes F; and
(A3) optionally one or more assistants H; and

(B) 0.5-80 wt % of fibers B whose surface displays functional groups B-I which form a covalent bond with said monomers A-I, but not with said monomers A-II,
(C) 0-79.5 wt % of polymer D, and
(D) optionally one or more adhesion promoters,
wherein optionally the light transmission through said fiber composite material W is not less than 10% higher than with a comparable fiber composite material that is the same as the fiber composite material W except that monomers A-II fully replace said monomers A-I, and
wherein the flexural strength of said fiber composite material W is not less than 20% higher than with a comparable fiber composite material that is the same as the fiber composite material W except that monomers A-II fully replace said monomers A-I.

2. The fiber composite material W as claimed in claim 1 wherein said copolymer C has a construction comprising not less than 0.1 wt of monomers A-I.

3. The fiber composite material W as claimed in claim 1 wherein said thermoplastic polymer composition A comprises 90-99.5 wt % of said copolymer C.

4. The fiber composite material W as claimed in claim 1 wherein said monomers A-I are selected from the group consisting of maleic anhydride (MA), N-phenylmaleimide (PM), tert-butyl (meth)acrylate, and glycidyl (meth)acrylate (GM).

5. The fiber composite material W as claimed in claim 1 wherein said copolymer C is a styrene copolymer C comprising styrene (S) as monomers A-II.

6. The fiber composite material W as claimed in claim 1 wherein said functional groups B-I at the surface of said fibers B are selected from the group consisting of hydroxyl groups, ester groups, and amino groups.

7. The fiber composite material W as claimed in claim 1 wherein said fibers B embed into said fiber composite material W layerwise.

8. The fiber composite material W as claimed in claim 1 wherein:
(A) said polymer matrix A comprises not less than 75 wt % of styrene copolymer C, maleic anhydride (MA) as monomers A-I, styrene (S) as monomers A-II; and
(B) said fibers B are glass fibers displaying hydroxyl groups in the form of silanol groups as functional groups B-I on the surface,
wherein the MA moieties are at least partly esterified with the silanol groups on the surface of said fibers B.

9. The fiber composite material W as claimed in claim 1 wherein the light transmission through said fiber composite material W is not less than 15% higher than with a comparable fiber composite material that is the same as the fiber composite material W except that monomers A-II fully replace said monomers A-I.

10. The fiber composite material W as claimed in claim 1 wherein the flexural strength of said fiber composite material W is not less than 50% higher than with a comparable fiber composite material that is the same as the fiber composite material W except that monomers A-II fully replace said monomers A-I.

11. The fiber composite material W as claimed in claim 1 wherein no adhesion promoter from the group consisting of aminosilanes and epoxy compounds was used in the production of said fiber composite material W.

12. A fiber composite material W obtained by a method comprising the steps of:
(i) providing:
(A) 20-99.5 wt % of a polymer matrix in the form of a thermoplastic polymer composition A comprising:
(A1) at least one copolymer C comprising monomers A-I and monomers A-II and optionally further monomers;
(A2) optionally one or more dyes F; and
(A3) optionally one or more assistants H; and

(B) 0.5-80 wt % of fibers B whose surface displays functional groups B-I which are capable of forming a covalent bond with said monomers A-I, but not with said monomers A-II;
(C) 0-79.5 wt % of polymer D, and
(D) optionally one or more adhesion promoters,
(ii) melting said thermoplastic polymer composition A and contacting same with said fibers B from step (i); and
(iii) reacting at least some of said monomers A-I of said copolymer C and at least some of said functional groups B-I of said fibers B from step (ii) to form covalent bonds,
wherein optionally the light transmission through said obtained fiber composite material W is not less than 10% higher than with a comparable fiber composite material that is the same as the fiber composite material W except that monomers A-II fully replace said monomers A-I, and
wherein the flexural strength of said fiber composite material W is not less than 20% higher than with a comparable fiber composite material that is the same as the fiber composite material W except that monomers A-II fully replace said monomers A-I.

13. The fiber composite material W as claimed in claim 1 wherein said fibers B are embed layerwise as wovens into said fiber composite material W and wherein no adhesion promoter from the group consisting of aminosilanes and epoxy compounds was used in the production of said fiber composite material W.

Assignees

• Ineos Styrolution Group Gmbh
• Ensinger Gmbh

Inventors

• Niessner Norbert
• Deitmerg Philipp
• Jahnke Eike
• Blinzler Marko
• Bernhardt Achim
• Schulz Tobias

Classifications

• C08L2207/04

  Thermoplastic elastomer · CPC title

• C08L35/06

  Copolymers with vinyl aromatic monomers · CPC title

• C08L25/14

  with unsaturated esters · CPC title

• C08L25/12

  with unsaturated nitriles · CPC title

• C08L25/08

  Copolymers of styrene (C08L29/08, C08L35/06, C08L55/02 take precedence) · CPC title