Tray tables comprising plant fibers and methods for manufacturing tray tables comprising plant fibers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12454084-B2
Application number	US-202318345172-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 30, 2023
Priority date	May 18, 2023
Publication date	Oct 28, 2025
Grant date	Oct 28, 2025

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a method for manufacturing a tray table containing plant fiber and a tray table made therefrom. The manufacturing method comprises: a) homogenizing a halogen-free flame retardant to obtain a homogeneous halogen-free flame retardant; b) melting a thermoplastic resin and uniformly blending the molten thermoplastic resin with a plant fiber, the homogeneous halogen-free flame retardant, and a compatibilizer to obtain a plant fiber composite material; c) extruding and granulating the plant fiber composite material to obtain a granular composite material; and d) mixing the granular composite material with a foaming agent and injection molding to obtain the tray table. The tray table manufactured according to the method herein is green and environmentally friendly, non-toxic and harmless, and also has high flame-retardant effect and weight reduction effect.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for manufacturing a tray table comprising:
homogenizing a halogen-free flame retardant to obtain a homogeneous halogen-free flame retardant; blending a molten thermoplastic resin with plant fibers, the homogeneous halogen-free flame retardant, and a compatibilizer to obtain a plant fiber composite material; extruding the plant fiber composite material to obtain a granular composite material; mixing the granular composite material with a foaming agent to obtain a foamable granular mixture; and injection molding the foamable granular mixture to obtain the tray table.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the blending is performed in an internal mixer.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the blending is performed:
at a rotational speed of about 30 to about 60 revolutions per minute, at an internal mixing temperature of about 160 to about 180° C., and for a mixing time of about 10 to about 15 minutes.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the extruding is performed in a single screw extruder.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the single screw extruder has a first zone temperature of about 140 to about 160° C., a second zone temperature of about 150 to about 175° C., a third zone temperature of about 150 to about 170° C., and a head temperature of about 140 to about 165° C., and a residence time of about 1 to about 2 minutes for the plant fiber composite material in the single screw extruder.

6 . The method of claim 1 wherein the injection molding is carried out in a micro-foaming injection molding machine.

7 . The method of claim 6 wherein the micro-foaming injection molding machine has a blanking port temperature of about 20 to about 45° C., a feeding section temperature of about 160 to about 175° C., a compression section temperature of about 175 to about 195° C., and a metering section temperature of about 170 to about 195° C.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the foaming agent is a gas foaming agent and comprises at least one of CO 2 and N 2 .

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plant fibers comprise at least one of ramie, flax, jute, sisal, kenaf, and bamboo fiber.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plant fibers are chopped and have an average length between about 4 mm and about 10 mm.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the molten thermoplastic resin comprises at least one of polyethylene, polypropylene, polyamide, and polylactic acid.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the halogen-free flame retardant is a single flame retardant of aluminum diethyl hypophosphite or melamine urate.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the halogen-free flame retardant is a binary compounding flame retardant comprising aluminum diethyl hypophosphite and melamine urate.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein a weight ratio of the aluminum diethyl hypophosphite to the melamine urate is about 1:1.

15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the halogen-free flame retardant is a ternary compounding flame retardant comprising aluminum diethyl hypophosphite, melamine urate and nanometer silicon dioxide.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein a weight ratio of the aluminum diethyl hypophosphite, the melamine urate, and the nanometer silicon dioxide is about 1:1:1.

17 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the compatibilizer comprises triglycidyl isocyanurate.

18 . A method of manufacturing a foamed article comprising:
blending a molten thermoplastic resin with plant fibers, a homogeneous halogen-free flame retardant, and a compatibilizer to obtain a plant fiber composite material; extruding the plant fiber composite material to obtain a granular composite material; mixing the granular composite material with a foaming agent to form a foamable granular mixture; and injection molding the foamable granular mixture to obtain the foamed article.

19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the foaming agent comprises at least one of CO 2 and N 2 .

20 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the foamed article is a tray table.

Assignees

• Boeing Co
• Beijing Aircraft Tech Research Institute Batri Of Comac Ltd

Inventors

• Lin Jun
• Li Xiaoling
• Wang Zhao
• Shengcheng Ji
• Jiang Xin
• Dongsheng Li

Classifications

• B29L2031/3076

  Aircrafts (blades, propellers B29L2031/08) · CPC title

• B29K2505/02

  Aluminium · CPC title

• B29K2101/12

  Thermoplastic materials · CPC title

• B29C44/04

  consisting of at least two parts of chemically or physically different materials, e.g. having different densities · CPC title

• B64D11/0638

  with foldable tables, trays or cup holders · CPC title