Chemically treated shapes, fillers and reinforcement for polymer matrices

Claim 2

Chemically treated glass shapes having a moisture-reduced residue as a thin surface film where the moisture-containing chemical composition, comprises: a. a first water soluble, dispersible or emulsifiable film forming polymer selected from the group consisting of thermoplastic epoxidized, essentially saturated polyester polymers and mixtures of this polymer with epoxy polymers, b. a second water soluble, dispersible or emulsifiable film forming polymer that is a copolymer formed by addition polymerization from an acrylic-type monomer and at least one monomer that is matrix-resin compatible, where the second film forming polymer is compatible with the first film forming polymer and where the ratio of the first to the second film forming polymer is in the range of around 1:1 to around 99:1 on a solids basis, c. one or more organo silane coupling agents selected from the group consisting of: epoxy-containing organo functional silane coupling agents and amino-containing organo functional coupling agents and mixtures thereof in an effective coupling amount, d. cationic lubricant in an effective lubricating amount, and e. carrier in an effective amount to allow for treatment of the glass shapes.

Claim 3

Chemically treated glass shapes of Claim 1, wherein in the chemical treating composition, the acrylic monomer is selected from the group consisting of acrylics, acrylates, alkyl acrylics, alkyl acrylates, alkylmethacrylates, hydroxyalkyl acrylates, hydroxyalkyl methacrylates and mixtures there of and the polar matrix resin-reactable monomer is selected from the group consisting of epoxy-containing monomers and nitrile-containing monomers.

Claim 4

Chemically treated glass shapes of Claim 1, wherein in the chemical treating composition the copolymer is an acrylic-acrylonitrile copolymer having a ratio of acrylic to acrylonitrile in the range of at least one acrylonitrile monomer per polymer molecule.

Claim 5

Chemically treated glass shapes of Claim 1, wherein in the chemical treating composition the carrier is water in a predominant amount of the chemical treating composition.

Claim 6

Chemically treated glass shapes of Claim 1, wherein the glass shapes are glass fiber strands in the form of a mat that is a bonded mat selected from the group consisting of mechanically bonded mats, needled mats, and chemically bonded mats.

Claim 7

Chemically treated glass shapes of Claim 1, wherein the glass shapes having the chemical residue have in the residue the bisphenol A polyester film forming polymer that has the NMR curve of Figure 1.

Claim 8

Chemically treated glass shapes of Claim 1, wherein the glass shapes with the chemical residue have in the residue an amount of organo coupling agent resulting from the aqueous chemical treating composition having an amount of the organo coupling agent in the range of about 0.1 to about 1 weight percent of the aqueous chemical treating composition.

Claim 9

Chemically treated glass shapes of Claim 1, wherein the cationic lubricant in the aqueous chemical treating composition is a polyamino amide lubricant made with pelargonic acid, where the lubricant is present in an amount in the range of about 0.05 to about 0.5 weight percent of the aqueous chemical treating composition.

Claim 10

Chemically treated glass shapes of Claim 1, wherein the glass shapes are a plurality of continuous fibers in the form of at least one strand or bundle.

Claim 11

Chemically treated glass shapes of Claim 1, wherein the moisture-reduced residue is in the form of a non-coalesced film on coarse fibers resulting from removal of moisture at a temperature in the range of 130-170°F for 4 to 7 hours.

Claim 12

Chemically treated glass shapes of Claim 1, wherein the ratio of amounts of thermoplastic polyester film forming polymer to the acrylic-type copolymer is in the range of around 75 to 25 to around 99 to 1 based on the solids of the total amount of both polymers in the composition.

Claim 13

Chemically treated glass shapes of Claim 1, wherein the acrylic-type copolymer has the infrared spectrophotometric curve of Figure 2.

Claim 14

Chemically treated glass shapes of claim 1 wherein the shapes are glass fibers having a moisture-reduced residue of the chemical treating composition comprising: a. an aqueous emulsion or dispersion of a bisphenol A polyester film forming polymer having internal emulsification through ethoxylation and having a weight average molecular weight in the range of 30,000 to 45,000, b. an aqueous emulsion or dispersion of a self-crosslinking acrylic-type copolymer of at least one addition polymerizable acrylic-type monomer and at least one matrix-resin miscible monomer selected from the group consisting of nitrile-containing monomer and addition polymerizable epoxy-containing monomer selected from acrylonitrile and methacrylonitrile and C₂-C₄ nitrile containing groups, where the ratio of amounts of the polyester film forming polymer to the acrylic-type copolymer is in the range of around 75 to 25 to around 99 to 1 based on the solids of the total amount of these two film forming polymers present in the chemical treating composition and wherein the total amount of film forming polymer present in the composition is in the range of 65 to 90 weight percent of the total solids of the aqueous chemical treating composition, c. organosilane coupling agents selected from epoxy-functional, organosilane coupling agents and a mixture of epoxy-functional and amino-functional organosilane coupling agents present in an amount of 2 to 35 weight percent of the solids of the aqueous chemical treating composition, d. polyamino amide cationic lubricant which is a partially amidated polyalkylene amine prepared through condensation with fatty acids where at least one of the fatty acids is pelargonic acid present in an amount of 1 to 6 weight percent of the solids of the aqueous chemical treating composition, e. water in an amount to give a total solids of the aqueous chemical treating composition in the range of 1 to 20 weight percent, wherein the dried residue is present on the glass fibers in an amount of 0.1 to 2 weight percent LOI.

Claim 15

Chemically treated glass shapes of claim 13, wherein the moisture-reduced residue is present as a non-coalesced film on coarser fibers resulting from moisture-reduction of the aqueous chemical treating composition on the fibers at a temperature in the range of 130-170°F for 4 to 6 hours.

Claim 16

Chemically treated glass shapes of Claim 13, wherein the fibers are present in the form of continuous glass fibers, strands, bundles and continuous glass fiber strand mats, bonded mats and needled mats.

Claim 17

Chemically treated glass shapes of Claim 13, wherein the aqueous emulsion or dispersion of the bisphenol A polyester film forming polymer is present in an amount of 55 to 70 percent of the aqueous chemical treating composition and the amount of the self-crosslinking acrylic-type copolymer is present in an amount in the range of about 10 to 20 of the aqueous chemical treating composition.

Claim 18

Chemically treated glass shapes of Claim 1-6, wherein the chemical treating composition also has a defoaming agent present in an effective amount to retard foaming of the chemical treating composition.

Claim 19

Chemically treated glass shapes of Claim 1 wherein the shapes are continuous glass fibers in the form of needled mat wherein the chemical treatment on the glass fibers is a moisture-reduced residue of a chemical treating composition, comprising: a. an aqueous emulsion or dispersion of a bisphenol A polyester film forming polymer having the NMR curve of Figure 1 and having internal emulsification and having a weight average molecular weight in the range of 30,000 to 45,000, constituting the major portion of the solids of the aqueous chemical treating composition, b. an aqueous emulsion or dispersion of a self-crosslinking acrylic-type copolymer of at least one addition polymerizable acrylic-type monomer selected from the group consisting of acrylics, acrylates, alkyl acrylics, alkylacrylates, alkylmethacrylates, hydroxy alkylacrylates, hydroxy alkylmethacrylates, and mixtures thereof and at least one matrix resin miscible monomer selected from the group consisting of nitrile-containing monomer and addition polymerizable epoxy-containing monomer selected from acrylonitrile and methacrylonitrile and C₂-C₄ nitrile containing groups including the copolymer as depicted in Figure 2 wherein the ratio amounts of the polyester film forming polymer to the acrylic-type copolymer is in the range of 70 to 30 to 95 to 5 based on the solids of the total amount of the two film forming polymers present in the chemical treating composition, and wherein the total amount of the film forming polymer present in the composition is in the range of 70 to 85 percent of the aqueous chemical treating composition, c. gammaglycidoxypropyltrimethoxy silane coupling agent present in an amount of 2 to 35 weight percent of the solids of the aqueous chemical treating composition, d. polyamino amide cationic lubricant which is a partially amidated polyalkylene amine prepared through condensation with fatty acids, where at least one of the fatty acids is pelargonic acid in an amount of around 1 to around 6 weight percent of the solids of the aqueous chemical treating composition, and e. water in an amount to give a total solids of the aqueous chemical treating composition in the range of about 1 to about 20 weight percent wherein the amount of the dried residue of the aqueous chemical treating composition is in the range of about 0.1 to about 2 weight percent LOI of the glass strands, and f. an effective amount of antifoaming agent.

Claim 20

Use of chemically treated glass fibers of Claims 13 or 18 for reincorcing thermoplastic polyester polymers.