Polymer compatible heat fused retroreflective bead

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11860388-B2
Application number	US-201917288083-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 25, 2019
Priority date	Oct 26, 2018
Publication date	Jan 2, 2024
Grant date	Jan 2, 2024

Abstract

A polymer compatible retroreflective bead. The bead can be used in typical retroreflective uses such as paints tapes and films in highway marking and signs having high retroreflectivity both when initially installed and over the bead lifetime, allowing vehicle drivers to see highway marking lines at night and in adverse conditions during nighttime. When installed the retroreflective beads essentially retroreflect the base color of the highway marking material in which the retroreflective beads are embedded.

First claim

We claim:

1. A retroreflective bead object comprising coated and sintered central and peripheral component free of any adhesive component comprising:
(i) a central glass bead component; and
(ii) a plurality of peripheral glass microsphere components, wherein the plurality of the peripheral glass components forms an array on the surface of glass central component forming the retroreflective bead object;
wherein the central and peripheral components are bonded, and volatile components are removed, leaving a substantially complete coating of a residue of an interfacial modifier.

2. The object of claim 1 in which the central component is in the range of from about 500 microns to about 2 mm and the peripheral components are in the range of from about 1μ to 300μ.

3. The object of claim 1 wherein the central component is spherical.

4. The object of claim 3 wherein the peripheral components are of a generally spherical configuration.

5. The object of claim 1 wherein a ratio of diameter of microsphere central component to the peripheral microsphere glass components is greater than 200:1.

6. The object of claim 1 , wherein a ratio of diameter of microsphere central component to the peripheral microsphere glass components is greater than 100:1.

7. The object of claim 6 wherein the microsphere glass central component has an average diameter of less than about 2 mm.

8. The object of claim 6 wherein the microsphere glass central component has an average diameter of less than about 1 mm.

9. A retroreflective bead object comprising a polymer layer and the retroreflective bead object of claim 1 .

10. A method of making a retroreflective bead object free of any adhesive component comprising making a bead comprising:
a. Coating a plurality of glass bead central components with an interfacial modifier;
b. Mixing a plurality of peripheral glass microsphere components with the interfacially modified coated central component to form an initial array of peripheral components on the larger component;
c. Heat bonding the glass central component to the peripheral glass members to make the retroreflective object wherein the central and peripheral components are bonded, and volatile components are removed, leaving a substantially complete coating of residue of an interfacial modifier; and
d. Combining it with a polymer.

11. A film comprising the polymer and the object of claim 1 dispersed in the polymer.

12. A liquid coating composition comprising a liquid carrier, the polymer, and the retroreflective bead of the object of claim 1 .

Assignees

• Tundra Composites Llc

Inventors

• Heikkila Kurt
• Kroll John

Classifications

• G02B5/13 Primary

  plural curved refracting elements forming part of a unitary body · CPC title

• E01F9/524

  Reflecting elements specially adapted for incorporation in or application to road surface markings · CPC title

• C03C12/02

  Reflective beads · CPC title

• C03C17/008

  comprising a mixture of materials covered by two or more of the groups C03C17/02, C03C17/06, C03C17/22 and C03C17/28 · CPC title

• C03C2217/465

  having a specific shape · CPC title