Propylene/alpha-olefin copolymer and uses thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9606465-B2
Application number	US-201314387090-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 22, 2013
Priority date	Mar 28, 2012
Publication date	Mar 28, 2017
Grant date	Mar 28, 2017

Abstract

Provided are a propylene-based polymer useful for providing a toner that is excellent in offset resistance, can be fixed by using a low-temperature heating element and hardly has stickiness even after stored for a long period of time; and a toner including said propylene-based polymer. The present invention is directed to a propylene/α-olefin copolymer (A) which includes 60 to 90 mol % of structural units derived from propylene (a) and 10 to 40 mol % of structural units derived from α-olefins having 4 or more carbon atom (b) wherein (a)+(b)=100 mol % and which satisfies: (i) a weight average molecular weight (Mw) as measured by GPC of 3,000 to 40,000; (ii) a melting point (Tm) as measured by DSC of 60 to 90° C.; and (iii) a half width of a crystalline melting point peak as measured by DSC of 1 to 20° C.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A propylene/α-olefin copolymer (A) comprising 60 to 90 mol % of structural units derived from propylene (a) and 10 to 40 mol % of structural units derived from α-olefins having 4 or more carbon atom (b) wherein (a)+(b)=100 mol %, the propylene/α-olefin copolymer (A) satisfying the following requirements (i) to (iv):
(i) A weight average molecular weight (Mw) as measured by GPC is 3,000 to 40,000;
(ii) A melting point (Tm) as measured by DSC is 60 to 90° C.;
(iii) A half width of a melting point peak as measured by DSC is 1 to 20° C.; and
(iv) A number of vinylidene groups per 1000 carbon atoms as measured by 1 H-NMR is 0.5 to 5/1000 carbons.

2. The propylene/α-olefin copolymer (A) according to claim 1 , which has (iv) ΔH of a melting peak as measured by DSC that is in the range of 40 to 100 J/g.

3. The propylene/α-olefin copolymer (A) according to claim 1 , wherein the number of vinylidene group per 1000 carbon atoms as measured by 1 H-NMR (v) is 1 to 5/1000 carbons.

4. The propylene/α-olefin copolymer (A) according to claim 1 , which has a ratio of a peak width A (° C.) at a ¼ position of the height from the base line to a peak width B (° C.) at a ¾ position of the height from the base line of a melting point peak as measured by DSC that is in the range of 2 to 5.5.

5. The propylene/α-olefin copolymer (A) according to claim 1 , which has a crystallinity as measured by X-ray diffraction that is in the range of 40 to 70%.

6. The propylene/α-olefin copolymer (A) according to claim 1 , which has a peak intensity ratio as determined by small-angle X-ray diffraction that is in the range of 0.5 to 10, wherein the peak intensity ratio is a ratio of a scattering intensity observed when 2θ is 0.25° and a scattering intensity observed when 2θ is 0.75°.

7. The propylene/α-olefin copolymer (A) according to claim 1 , which has a peak intensity ratio as determined by wide-angle X-ray diffraction that is in the range of 1.5 to 4,
wherein the peak intensity ratio is a ratio of
a peak intensity attributed to polypropylene (110) surface observed when 2θ is in the range of from 11 to 15°, and
the lowest intensity observed at a valley between the peak attributed to polypropylene (110) surface and a peak attributed to polypropylene (040) surface observed when 2θ is in the range of from 15 to 18°.

8. The propylene/α-olefin copolymer (A) according to claim 1 , wherein the propylene/α-olefin copolymer (A) is a copolymer obtained by pyrolyzing a copolymer (A-1) of propylene and an α-olefin having 4 or more carbon atoms.

9. The propylene/α-olefin copolymer (A) according to claim 8 , wherein the propylene/α-olefin copolymer (A-1) comprises structural units derived from propylene (a′) in an amount of 60 to 90 mol % and structural units derived from α-olefins having 4 or more carbon atom (b′) in an amount of 10 to 40 mol % wherein (a′)+(b′)=100 mol %, the propylene/α-olefin copolymer (A-1) satisfying the following requirements (i′) to (iii′):
(i′) A weight average molecular weight (Mw) as measured by GPC is 50,000 to 1,000,000;
(ii′) A melting point (Tm) as measured by DSC is 60 to 120° C.; and
(iii′) A half width of a melting point peak as measured by DSC is 1 to 20° C.

10. An additive for a toner comprising the propylene/α-olefin copolymer (A) according to claim 1 .

11. A toner comprising the propylene/α-olefin copolymer (A) according to claim 1 .

12. A process for producing a propylene/α-olefin copolymer (A) according to claim 1 , comprising pyrolyzing a copolymer (A-1) of propylene and an α-olefin having 4 or more carbon atoms, to give the propylene/α-olefin copolymer (A).

13. The process according to claim 12 , wherein the copolymer (A-1) comprises structural units derived from propylene (a′) in an amount of 60 to 90 mol % and structural units derived from α-olefins having 4 or more carbon atom (b′) in an amount of 10 to 40 mol % wherein (a′)+(b′)=100 mol %, the propylene/α-olefin copolymer (A-1) satisfying the following requirements (i′) to (iii′);
(i′) a weight average molecular weight (Mw) as measured by GPC is 50,000 to 1,000,000;
(ii′) A melting point (Tm) as measured by DSC is 60 to 120° C.; and
(iii′) A half width of a melting point peak as measured by DSC to 1 to 20° C.

Assignees

• Mitsui Chemicals Inc

Inventors

• Kawabe Kuniaki
• Kanaya Hirotaka
• Ito Toshiyuki
• Komiya Kan

Classifications

• C08F210/06

  Propene · CPC title

• G03G9/08795

  characterised by their chemical properties, e.g. acidity, molecular weight, sensitivity to reactants · CPC title

• C08F2500/20

  Activation energy or enthalpy · CPC title

• C08F210/08

  Butenes · CPC title

• G03G9/0904 Primary

  Carbon black · CPC title