Energy absorbing nanocomposite materials and methods thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016200882-A1
Application number	US-201514676257-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 1, 2015
Priority date	Apr 1, 2014
Publication date	Jul 14, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Composite materials capable of absorbing and dissipating high energy forces such as ballistic impacts and explosive blasts. Composites of elastomers and reinforcing nanoparticle materials are configured to absorb and dissipates high energy forces. Composites can be configured as nonwoven webs, and can be layered. Methods of making a ballistic resistant composite material capable of absorbing and dissipating high energy forces.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A composite material capable of absorbing and dissipating high energy forces comprising:
an elastomer; and a reinforcing nanoparticle material, wherein the composite material absorbs and dissipates high energy forces more than the elastomer alone or the reinforcing nanoparticle material alone.

2 . The composite material of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of layers of a web, wherein the web comprises the elastomer and the reinforcing nanoparticle material.

3 . The composite material of claim 2 , wherein the web is a nonwoven web.

4 . The composite material of claim 1 , wherein the elastomer is selected from the group consisting of a thermoplastic polyurethane polymer, a non-thermoplastic polyurethane, a polyolefin polyamide and copolyester based elastomers.

5 . The composite material of claim 4 , wherein the elastomer comprises a thermoplastic polyurethane polymer.

6 . The composite material of claim 5 , wherein the polyurethane polymer comprises an aromatic based hard segment and an ether or ester based soft segment.

7 . The composite material of claim 1 , wherein the elastomer has a shore A hardness of about 30-100.

8 . The composite material of claim 7 , wherein the elastomer has a shore A hardness of 90.

9 . The composite material of claim 1 , wherein the elastomer has a shore D hardness of about 5-70.

10 . The composite material of claim 1 , wherein the elastomer has a glass transition temperature of about −20° C. to about 100° C.

11 . The composite material of claim 10 , wherein the glass transition temperature occurs at a frequency of about 1 hertz to about 1000 hertz.

12 . The composite material of claim 1 , wherein the elastomer has a glass transition temperature of about −15° C. to about 30° C.

13 . The composite material of claim 12 , wherein the glass transition temperature occurs at a frequency of about 1 hertz to about 1000 hertz.

14 . The composite material of claim 1 , wherein the storage modulus and loss modulus of the elastomer increases as the shore hardness increases.

15 . The composite material of claim 1 , wherein the reinforcing nanoparticle material is selected from the group consisting of graphite, nanoclay, carbon 60 , methacrylate isooctyl polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane, and inorganic disulfide nanotubes.

16 . The composite material of claim 1 , wherein the reinforcing nanoparticle material is present in a total weight percent from about 0.1% to about 6%.

17 . The composite material of claim 1 , wherein the composite material comprises from about 2 to 30 layers.

18 . The composite material of claim 1 , wherein the reinforcing nanoparticle material is incorporated by a method selected from the group consisting of dip coating, ultrasonic spray coating and melt blowing.

19 . The composite material of claim 1 , wherein the composite material is capable of enhancing the ballistic resistance of an article.

20 . A method of making a composite material capable of absorbing and dissipating high energy, the method comprising contacting an elastomer and a reinforcing nanoparticle material under conditions suitable to form a composite, wherein the composite material absorbs and dissipates high energy forces more than the elastomer alone or the reinforcing nanoparticle material alone.

21 . The method of claim 20 , comprising layering two or more webs comprising an elastomer and a reinforcing nanoparticle material; and pressing the layered webs.

22 . The method of claim 21 , wherein the web is a nonwoven web.

23 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the elastomer is a thermoplastic polyurethane polymer.

24 . The method of claim 23 , wherein the polyurethane polymer comprises an aromatic based hard segment and an ether or ester based soft segment.

25 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the elastomer has a shore A hardness of about 30-100.

26 . The method of claim 25 , wherein the elastomer has a shore A hardness of 90.

27 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the elastomer has a shore D hardness of about 5 to about 70.

28 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the elastomer has a glass transition temperature of about −20° C. to about 100° C.

29 . The method of claim 28 , wherein the glass transition temperature occurs at a frequency of about 1 hertz to about 1000 hertz.

30 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the glass transition temperature is from about −15° C. to about 30° C.

31 . The method of claim 30 , wherein the glass transition temperature occurs at a frequency of about 1 hertz to about 1000 hertz.

32 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the storage modulus and loss modulus of the elastomer increases as the shore hardness increases.

33 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the reinforcing nanoparticle material is selected from the group consisting of graphite, nanoclay, carbon 60 , methacrylate isooctyl polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane, and inorganic disulfide nanotubes.

34 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the reinforcing nanoparticle material is present in the web at a total weight percent from about 0.1% to about 6%.

35 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the layers comprises from about 2 to 30 layers.

36 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the reinforcing nanoparticle material is contacted with the elastomer by a method selected from the group consisting of dip coating, ultrasonic spray coating and melt blowing.

37 . The method of claim 21 , comprising hot pressing at a temperature from about 85° C. to about 200° C.

38 . The method of claim 22 , comprising:
melt blowing a thermoplastic polyurethane polymer into a web; contacting the thermoplastic polyurethane polymer with a nanoparticle material under temperature and pressure; and fabricating the nanoparticle reinforced thermoplastic polyurethane polymer into a layered composite by hot press.

39 . The method of claim 38 , wherein the nanoparticle-reinforced thermoplastic polyurethane polymer is fabricated into a layered composite material by hot pressing at a temperature from about 85° C. to about 200° C.

40 . An article capable of absorbing and dissipating high energy forces comprising:
the composite material of claim 1 ; and an article, wherein the article, when paired with the composite material, absorbs and dissipates high energy forces more than the article alone.

41 . The article of claim 40 , wherein the article is ballistic resistant.

Assignees

• Univ Tennessee Res Foundation

Inventors

• Bhat Gajanan
• Fogle Josh
• Mays Jimmy W
• Srivastava Vikram

Classifications

• C08J5/005 Primary

  Reinforced macromolecular compounds with nanosized materials, e.g. nanoparticles, nanofibres, nanotubes, nanowires, nanorods or nanolayered materials · CPC title

• C08J2375/04

  Polyurethanes · CPC title

• F41H1/02 Primary

  Armoured or projectile- or missile-resistant garments; Composite protection fabrics {(F41H5/04 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• F41H5/0471 Primary

  Layered armour containing fibre- or fabric-reinforced layers (in combination with ceramic layers F41H5/0428, with metal layers F41H5/0457) · CPC title

• B32B2264/10

  Inorganic particles · CPC title