US4330672A — Thermoplastic elastomer powder coatings

Claim 1

Independent Claim 223 words

A process for preparing powder particles of thermoplastic elastomer which consists essentially of: (a) forming a suspension of a thermoplastic elastomer in a poor solvent, said thermoplastic elastomer comprising a block copolymer having at least two kinds of polymer blocks wherein one polymer block is designated by A and a second polymer block is designated by B such that each A is a polymer end block of a monovinyl arene or alpha alkyl monovinyl arene and each B is a polymer mid block derived from a conjugated diene, and said poor solvent being a polar organic liquid which is non-reactive with the thermoplastic elastomer and possesses a solubility parameter (δ) of from about 110 to about 122% of the solubility parameter of the monovinyl arene or alpha alkyl monovinyl arene polymer comprising block A of said thermoplastic elastomer; and refluxing said suspension in a manner and for a time sufficient to reduce said thermoplastic elastomer to fine agglomerated particles; (b) adding said suspension to a non-solvent to form a mixture of thermoplastic elastomer particles, poor solvent, and non-solvent, and subjecting said mixture to high shear mixing for a period of time sufficient to produce particles having an average diameter of less than about 100 microns and to render said thermoplastic elastomer particles hard, discrete and non-tacky; (c) recovering said thermoplastic elastomer polymer particles.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 223 words

A process for preparing powder particles of thermoplastic elastomer which consists essentially of: (a) forming a suspension of a thermoplastic elastomer in a poor solvent, said thermoplastic elastomer comprising a block copolymer having at least two kinds of polymer blocks wherein one polymer block is designated by A and a second polymer block is designated by B such that each A is a polymer end block of a monovinyl arene or alpha alkyl monovinyl arene and each B is a polymer mid block derived from a conjugated diene, and said poor solvent being a polar organic liquid which is non-reactive with the thermoplastic elastomer and possesses a solubility parameter (δ) of from about 110 to about 122% of the solubility parameter of the monovinyl arene or alpha alkyl monovinyl arene polymer comprising block A of said thermoplastic elastomer; and refluxing said suspension in a manner and for a time sufficient to reduce said thermoplastic elastomer to fine agglomerated particles; (b) adding said suspension to a non-solvent to form a mixture of thermoplastic elastomer particles, poor solvent, and non-solvent, and subjecting said mixture to high shear mixing for a period of time sufficient to produce particles having an average diameter of less than about 100 microns and to render said thermoplastic elastomer particles hard, discrete and non-tacky; (c) recovering said thermoplastic elastomer polymer particles.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 22 words

The process of claim 1 wherein the thermoplastic elastomer is selected from the group consisting of block copolymers of styrene and butadiene.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 41 words

The process of claim 2 wherein the poor solvent is selected from the group consisting of acetone and a mixture of 96% methyl ethyl ketone and 4% water, and the non-solvent is selected from the group consisting of water and methanol.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 60 words

The process of claim 1 wherein the suspension of thermoplastic elastomer and poor solvent comprises from about 5 to about 25% thermoplastic elastomer and from about 95 to about 75% poor solvent; and said suspension is added to an amount of non-solvent which is from about 2 to about 10 times the weight of the poor solvent in said suspension.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 204 words

A process for preparing thermoplastic elastomer powder particles of a block copolymer of styrene and butadiene having an average diameter of less than about 100 microns which consists essentially of: (a) forming a suspension of from about 5 to about 25% by weight of a thermoplastic elastomer block copolymer of styrene and butadiene in a poor solvent by refluxing the thermoplastic elastomer solid in said poor solvent, which is a polar organic liquid which is non-reactive with the thermoplastic elastomer and possesses a solubility parameter (δ) of from about 110 to about 122% of the solubility parameter of styrene, for a period of from about 1 to about 60 minutes, with mild agitation at a rate of less than about 200 rotations per minute so as to break down the solid into fine agglomerated particles; (b) admixing said suspension with from about 200 to about 500% by weight, based on the weight of the poor solvent in said suspension, of water at a temperature of from about 10° to about 25° C. and at substantially atmospheric pressure in the presence of high shear mixing at a rate of more than about 500 rotations per minute; and (c) filtering said polymer particles from said liquid.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 204 words

A process for preparing thermoplastic elastomer powder particles of a block copolymer of styrene and butadiene having an average diameter of less than about 100 microns which consists essentially of: (a) forming a suspension of from about 5 to about 25% by weight of a thermoplastic elastomer block copolymer of styrene and butadiene in a poor solvent by refluxing the thermoplastic elastomer solid in said poor solvent, which is a polar organic liquid which is non-reactive with the thermoplastic elastomer and possesses a solubility parameter (δ) of from about 110 to about 122% of the solubility parameter of styrene, for a period of from about 1 to about 60 minutes, with mild agitation at a rate of less than about 200 rotations per minute so as to break down the solid into fine agglomerated particles; (b) admixing said suspension with from about 200 to about 500% by weight, based on the weight of the poor solvent in said suspension, of water at a temperature of from about 10° to about 25° C. and at substantially atmospheric pressure in the presence of high shear mixing at a rate of more than about 500 rotations per minute; and (c) filtering said polymer particles from said liquid.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 16 words

The process of claim 5 wherein the poor solvent is acetone and the non-solvent is water.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	1985-05-17	1985-11-16	1986-05-18	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	1989-05-17	1989-11-16	1990-05-18	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	1993-05-17	1993-11-16	1994-05-18	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Thermoplastic elastomer powder coatings

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