Graphene polyethylene terephthalate composite for improving reheat energy consumption

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12104036-B2
Application number	US-202217936238-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 28, 2022
Priority date	Apr 1, 2019
Publication date	Oct 1, 2024
Grant date	Oct 1, 2024

Abstract

A graphene reinforced polyethylene terephthalate composition is provided for forming graphene-PET containers. The graphene reinforced polyethylene terephthalate composition includes a continuous matrix comprising polyethylene terephthalate and a dispersed reinforcement phase comprising graphene nanoplatelets. The graphene nanoplatelets range in diameter between 5 μm and 10 μm with surface areas ranging from about 15 m 2 /g to about 150 m 2 /g. In some embodiments, the graphene reinforced polyethylene terephthalate comprises a concentration of graphene nanoplatelets being substantially 3% weight fraction of the graphene reinforced polyethylene terephthalate. The graphene reinforced polyethylene terephthalate is configured to be injection molded into a graphene-PET preform suitable for forming a container. The graphene-PET preform is configured to be reheated above its glass transition temperature and blown into a mold so as to shape the graphene-PET preform into the container.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for forming a reinforced polyethylene terephthalate product, the method comprising:
forming a PET resin;
dispersing graphene nanoplatelets at 0.0015 weight percent (wt %) to 0.1 wt % into the PET resin to form graphene reinforced PET resin;
manipulating the graphene reinforced PET resin into pellets;
heating the pellets to form a molten liquid;
forming the molten liquid into a product; and
reheating the product into a final shape through blow molding, thereby generating the reinforced polyethylene terephthalate product.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming the PET resin comprises combining ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid under high temperature and low vacuum pressure to form a neat PET resin suitable for manufacturing the product.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming the PET resin comprises obtaining recycled PET to form a recycled PET resin suitable for manufacturing the product.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein manipulating the graphene reinforced PET resin into pellets further comprises distributing the pellets to one or more manufacturers of the product.

Assignees

• Niagara Bottling Llc

Inventors

• Hanan Jay Clarke
• Bandla Sudheer

Classifications

• B29C49/0005

  characterised by the material · CPC title

• C08J5/24

  Impregnating materials with prepolymers which can be polymerised in situ, e.g. manufacture of prepregs · CPC title

• C08J3/20

  Compounding polymers with additives, e.g. colouring · CPC title

• C08K2201/011

  Nanostructured additives · CPC title

• B29K2105/162

  Nanoparticles · CPC title