Low creep fiber

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018355515-A1
Application number	US-201615781789-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 12, 2016
Priority date	Dec 15, 2015
Publication date	Dec 13, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

The invention relates to a process for the preparation of a gel spun UHMWPE fiber comprising the steps of providing an ultra high molecular weight polyethylene composition having an intrinsic viscosity (IV) of at least 8 dl/g, a co-monomer content (CBR) of a least 0.05 SCB/1000TC, a mass averaged distribution of the co-monomer (CMAD) of at least 0.05, wherein the co-monomer has at least 4 carbon atoms, dissolving the composition in a solvent to form a polymer solution having a UHMWPE concentration of between 2 and 40 wt %, spinning the polymer solution through a multi orifice die plate to form a solution fibers, cooling the solution fiber to below 80° C. to form a gel fiber, drawing the fiber in at least one step to form a drawn fiber, removing at least a portion of the solvent before, during or after the drawing, wherein the ratio CMAD to CBR is greater than 1.0. The invention further relates to a gel-spun UHMWPE fiber obtainable by the process and products comprising said gel-spun UHMWPE fiber.

First claim

1 . A process for the preparation of a gel spun UHMWPE fiber comprising the steps of
providing an ultra high molecular weight polyethylene composition having
an intrinsic viscosity (IV) of at least 8 dl/g,
a co-monomer content (C BR ) of a least 0.05 SCB/1000TC,
a mass averaged distribution of the co-monomer (C MAD ) of at least 0.05, wherein the co-monomer has at least 4 carbon atoms,
dissolving the composition in a solvent to form a polymer solution having a UHMWPE concentration of between 2 and 40 wt % spinning the polymer solution through a multi orifice die plate to form a solution fibers cooling the solution fiber to below 80° C. to form a gel fiber drawing the fiber in at least one step to form a drawn fiber removing at least a portion of the solvent before, during or after the drawing,
wherein the ratio C MAD to C BR is greater than 1.0.

2 . The process of claim 1 wherein C MAD to C BR is greater than 1.05, preferably greater than 1.1.

3 . The process according to claim 1 wherein the UHMWPE composition comprises at least 2 different UHMWPE polymers A and B.

4 . The process according to claim 3 wherein UHMWPE polymer A has an IV of 8-40 dl/g, and a C BR of less than 0.1 SCB/1000TC and/or
UHMWPE polymer B has an IV of 8-40 dl/g, and a C BR from 0.1 to 5.0 SCB/1000TC.

5 . The process according to claim 3 wherein the ratio of the IV of polymer A to the IV of polymer B is less than 1, preferably at most 0.9, more preferably at most 0.8.

6 . The process according to claim 3 whereby the weight ratio of polymer A to polymer B is between 0.02 and 50, preferably between 0.1 and 10.

7 . The process according to claim 3 wherein polymer A is a Ziegler catalyzed polymer and polymer B is molecular catalyst polymer.

8 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein the co-monomer is one or more monomers selected from the group consisting of alpha-olefins with at least 4 carbon atoms, cyclic olefins having 5 to 20 carbon atoms and linear, branched or cyclic dienes having 4 to 20 carbon atoms, preferably the co-monomer is one or more monomers selected from the group consisting of 1-butene, 1-pentene, 1-hexene, 1-octene.

9 . A gel spun UHMWPE fiber obtainable by claim 1 .

10 . The gel spun UHMWPE fiber of claim 9 wherein the UHMWPE of the fiber has an intrinsic viscosity (IV) of at least 4 dl/g,
a co-monomer content (C BR ) of a least 0.05 SCB/1000TC,
a mass averaged distribution of the co-monomer (C MAD ) of at least 0.05,
whereby the ratio C MAD to C BR is greater than 1.

11 . The gel spun UHMWPE fiber of claim 10 wherein C MAD to C BR is greater than 1.05, preferably greater than 1.1.

12 . A product comprising the gel spun article according to claim 9 , preferably the product is selected from the group consisting of yarns, ropes, cables, nets, fabrics, and protective appliances such as ballistic resistant articles.

Assignees

• Dsm Ip Assets Bv

Inventors

• Engels Tom Antonius Philomena
• De Cremer Gert
• Berthoud Romain
• Stepanyan Roman
• Roozemond Peter
• Oosterlinck Filip Stefan Emiel
• Severn John Richard

Classifications

• D01F6/30

  comprising olefins as the major constituent · CPC title

• D10B2321/0211

  high-strength or high-molecular-weight polyethylene, e.g. ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene [UHMWPE] · CPC title

• D01D5/06

  Wet spinning methods {(D01D5/0046 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• D10B2401/062

  stiff, shape retention · CPC title

• D01F6/46

  of polyolefins · CPC title