Fiber coatings with low young's modulus and high tear strength

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9810838-B2
Application number	US-201414461685-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 18, 2014
Priority date	Sep 12, 2013
Publication date	Nov 7, 2017
Grant date	Nov 7, 2017

Abstract

Fiber coatings with low Young's modulus and high tear strength are realized with coating compositions that include an oligomeric material formed from an isocyanate, a hydroxy acrylate compound and a polyol. The oligomeric material includes a polyether urethane acrylate and a di-adduct compound, where the di-adduct compound is present in an amount of at least 2.35 wt %. The reaction mixture used to form the oligomeric material may include a molar ratio of isocyanate:hydroxy acrylate:polyol of n:m:p, where n may be greater than 3.0, m may be between n−1 and 2n−4, and p may be 2. Young's modulus and tear strength of coatings made from the compositions increase with increasing n. Coatings formed from the present oligomers feature high tear strength for a given Young's modulus.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A composition comprising an oligomeric material comprising a polyether urethane acrylate compound having the molecular formula:

and a di-adduct compound having the molecular formula:

wherein
R 1 , R 2 and R 3 are independently selected from linear alkyl groups, branched alkyl groups,
or cyclic alkyl groups;
y is 1, 2, 3, or 4;
x is between 40 and 100; and
said di-adduct compound is present in an amount of at least 2.35 wt %.

2. The composition of claim 1 , wherein R 1 comprises a 4,4′-methylenebis(cyclohexyl) group, R 2 comprises a propylene group and R 3 comprises a linear alkyl group.

3. The compositions of claim 1 , wherein said di-adduct compound is present in an amount of at least 2.6 wt %.

4. The composition of claim 1 , further comprising:
one or more monomers with a radiation-curable group;
and one or more photoinitiators.

5. The fiber coating composition of claim 4 , wherein R 1 is a 4,4′-methylene bis(cyclohexyl) group, R 2 is a propylene group, R 3 is a linear alkyl group, y is 1, and x is between 60 and 80.

6. The fiber coating composition of claim 4 , wherein said di-adduct compound is present in said oligomeric material in an amount of at least 2.6 wt %.

7. The fiber coating composition of claim 4 , wherein said fiber coating composition includes said oligomeric material in an amount ranging from 35 wt % to 65 wt %.

8. A cured product formed from a coating composition, wherein the coating composition comprises:
one or more monomers with a radiation-curable group;
an oligomeric material comprising:
a polyether urethane acrylate compound having the molecular formula:

and a di-adduct compound having the molecular formula:

wherein
R 1 , R 2 and R 3 are independently selected from linear alkyl groups,
branched alkyl groups, or cyclic alkyl groups;
y is 1, 2, 3, or 4;
x is between 40 and 100; and
said di-adduct compound is present in an amount of at least 2.35 wt %;

and one or more photoinitiators.

9. The cured product of claim 8 , wherein said cured product has a Young's modulus of less than 0.8 MPa.

10. The cured product of claim 8 , wherein said cured product has a Young's modulus less than 0.8 MPa and a tear strength of at least 20 J/m 2 .

11. An optical fiber comprising a glass waveguide and a coating, said coating surrounding said glass waveguide and comprising the cured product of claim 8 , wherein said fiber is able to withstand screening at a level of at least 200 kpsi or two or more screenings of at least 100 kpsi without formation of defects in said cured product.

12. A method of making a composition comprising:
reacting a diisocyanate compound with a hydroxy acrylate compound and a polyol compound, said diisocyanate compound having the molecular formula
O═C═N—R 1 —N═C═O

said hydroxy acrylate compound having the molecular formula

and said polyol compound having the molecular formula

said reacting forming a composition comprising a polyether urethane acrylate compound and a di-adduct compound, said polyether urethane acrylate compound having a molecular formula

and said di-adduct compound having the molecular formula:

wherein
R 1 , R 2 and R 3 are independently selected from linear alkyl groups, branched alkyl groups, or cyclic alkyl groups;
y is 1, 2, 3, or 4;
x is between 40 and 100;
said di-adduct compound is present in an amount of at least 2.35 wt %; and
said diisocyanate compound, said hydroxy acrylate compound and said polyol compound are provided in the molar ratio n:m:p, respectively, where n is 3.0 or greater, m is between n−1 and 2n−4, and p is 2.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein said di-adduct compound is present in said composition in an amount of at least 2.6 wt %.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein said diisocyanate compound is

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein said polyol compound is polypropylene glycol, said polypropylene glycol has a number average molecular weight in the range from 3000 g/mol to 5000 g/mol and said, hydroxy acrylate compound is 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein n is less than or equal to 4.0.

17. The method of claim 12 , wherein said composition further includes-a polyether urethane isocyanate compound having the molecular formula:

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein after reacting said diisocyanate compound with said hydroxy acrylate compound and said polyol compound, said composition comprises unreacted isocyanate groups, said unreacted isocyanate groups being present in said diisocyanate compound or said polyether urethane isocyanate compound, said method further comprising providing a supplemental amount of said hydroxy acrylate compound to said composition, said supplemental hydroxy acrylate compound reacting with said unreacted isocyanate groups.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein said supplemental amount of said hydroxy acrylate compound is sufficient to react with essentially all of said unreacted isocyanate groups.

20. The method of claim 18 , wherein said reacting of said diisocyanate compound with said hydroxy acrylate compound and said polyol compound depletes said hydroxy acrylate compound to provide said composition comprising said unreacted isocyanate groups and said supplemental amount of hydroxy acrylate compound is provided after said reacting.

21. The method of claim 12 , wherein said diisocyanate compound and said polyol compound are combined in the absence of said hydroxy acrylate compound, said diisocyanate compound and said polyol compound reacting to form a polyether urethane isocyanate compound having the molecular formula:

said method further including adding said hydroxy acrylate compound to said polyether urethane isocyanate compound, said hydroxy acrylate compound reacting with said polyether urethane isocyanate compound to form said polyether urethane acrylate compound.

Assignees

• Corning Inc

Inventors

• Chen Yangbin
• Ocampo Manuela
• Tandon Ruchi

Classifications

• G02B1/14

  Protective coatings, e.g. hard coatings · CPC title

• C09D175/16

  having terminal carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bonds · CPC title

• C03C25/106

  Single coatings · CPC title

• C08G18/758

  containing two or more cycloaliphatic rings · CPC title

• C08G18/48

  Polyethers · CPC title