Foamed molded articles of polypropylene resin.

0001This invention relates to a foamed and molded article of a polypropylene resin.

0002A molded article obtained by filling preliminarily-foamed particles into a mold capable of enclosing the particles but allowing escape of gases therefrom, and heating the particles to expand them to the configuration of the mold has been known. This so-called bead molded article has found a wide range of applications as cushioning, packaging, thermal insulating and building materials, etc. because of its inherent properties, and a demand for it has greatly increased in recent years.

0003In particular, molded articles of this kind made of foamed polystyrene have been in commercial use heretofore as, for example, cushioning materials because of their excellent compression hardness. Since, however, they are susceptible to buckling and have a high compression set, their cushioning property shows a marked degradation upon application of repeating impacts or they undergo considerable dimensional change after exertion of loads. In an attempt to remedy this defect, molded articles composed of crosslinked polyethylene foam were proposed. These molded articles have the advantage of possessing a low compression set but because of their low compression hardness, a clear yield point is not observed when a compression stress is exerted. Thus, they have the defect of being susceptible to deformation even under a slight stress. In order to eliminate the defects of the foamed polystyrene and the crosslinked polyethylene foam, various attempts have been made to obtain foamed articles based on a polypropylene resin by making use of its superior properties. The technique of manufacturing such foamed articles, however, is difficult, and bead molded articles having a high expansion ratio have not yet been obtained although low-expansion sheet-like products have in fact been successfully manufactured.

0004It is an object of this invention to provide a foamed and molded article of a polypropylene resin free from the aforesaid defects of the prior art.

0005We have made extensive investigations in order to achieve this object, and found that in order to obtain a foamed molded article of a polypropylene resin having excellent heat resistance, flexibility, compression hardness, cushioning properties and mechanical strength and a low compression set, it is necessary to specify its latent heat of crystallization and density and the number of cells per mm² of its cross section. It has been consequently found that a foamed molded article of a polypropylene resin having good properties mentioned above can be obtained when it has a latent heat of crystallization of from 9 to 28 cal/g and a density of from 0.026 to 0.060 g/cm³ and contains not more than 300 cells per mm 2 of its cross section.

0006Thus, according to this invention, there is provided a foamed and molded article of a polypropylene resin characterized by having a latent heat of crystallization of from 9 to 28 cal/g, a density of from 0.026 to 0.060 g/cm and such a cellular structure that the number of cells per mm² of its cross section is not more than 300, said article being obtained by filling preliminarily-foamed particles of the polypropylene resin in a mold capable of enclosing the particles but allowing escape of gases therefrom, and heating said particles to expand them to the configuration of the mold.

0007Examples of the polypropylene resins which can be used in this invention include a homopolymer of propylene, an ethylene/propylene copolymer, a mixture of the homopolymer of propylene and the ethylene/propylene copolymer, and a mixture of the ethylene/propylene copolymer and low-density polyethylene and/or an ethylene/vinyl acetate copolymer. The ethylene/propylene copolymer includes a block copolymer, a random copolymer, and a mixture of these. An ethylene/propylene random copolymer having an ethylene content of 1 to 5 % by weight is preferred. The polypropylene resin may be in the crosslinked or non-crosslinked state, but a crosslinked one is preferred because it can be re-utilized.

0008The polypropylene foam constituting the molded article of this invention should have a latent heat of crystallization of from 9 to 28 cal/g, preferably from 9 to 25 cal/g. If the latent heat of crystallization is less than 9 cal/g, the polypropylene resin does not have sufficient heat resistance, and has reduced compression hardness and mechanical strength. If it exceeds 28 cal/g, the melt-adhesion of the foamed particles to each other is poor, and the mechanical strength characteristics, such as tensile strength, of the foamed article are reduced. The latent heat of crystallization denotes latent heat generated during crystallization, and can be measured by differential scanning calorimetry. Specifically, a test specimen of the resin is heated to 200 °C at a rate of 10°C/min. and then its temperature is lowered at a rate of 10°C/min. The amount of heat which is generated during temperature lowering is measured, and the latent heat of crystallization is determined.

0009The polypropylene resin foam constituting the molded article of this invention should also have a density of from 0.026 to 0.060 g/cm³. If it is less than 0.026 g/cm³, the compression hardness of the foamed article is too low and the foamed article is liable to be compressed when a stress is exerted thereon. If, on the other hand, it exceeds 0.060 g/cm³, the compression hardness of the foamed article is so high that its cushioning property is not sufficient.

0010The polypropylene resin foam constituting the molded article of this invention should further have such a cellular structure that the number of cells per mm of its cross section is not more than 300, preferably not more than 150. If it exceeds 300, the flexibility of the foamed article is reduced and its flexural strength is weak.

0011The molded article of this invention can be produced, for example, by the following method.

0012In a closed vessel, particles of a polypropylene resin and a volatile blowing agent are dispersed in water in the presence of a dispersing agent, and heated to a temperature above the temperature at which the resin particles are softened, thereby impregnating the blowing agent in the particles. Thereafter, one end of the vessel is opened, and while the inside of the vessel is maintained at a predetermined pressure, the resin particles and water are simultaneously released from the vessel into an atmosphere kept at a lower pressure than the vessel. Thus, preliminarily-foamed articles are prepared. Examples of the volatile blowing agent used for this purpose include aliphatic hydrocarbons such as propane and butane, alicyclic hydrocarbons such as cyclobutane and cyclopentane, and halogenated hydrocarbons such as trichlorofluoromethane and dichlorodifluoromethane. The blowing agent is used in an amount of usually 10 to 40 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the resin particles. Examples of the dispersing agent are finely divided aluminum oxide and titanium oxide. The dispersing agent is used in an amount of usually 0.04 to 2.0 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the resin particles. In the preliminary foaming step the heating temperature is selected from temperatures which favorably lead to the foaming of the resin particles without breakage. The pressure of the inside of the vessel is approximately the vapor pressure of the blowing agent.

0013Then, the preliminarily-foamed particles are aged under pressure in a pressure vessel usually under a pressure of 2 to 5 kg/cm^2·G for 20 to 100 hours using an inorganic gas such as air and nitrogen or a mixture of the inorganic gas and a volatile blowing agent.

0014After aging under pressure, the preliminarily-foamed particles are filled in a mold capable of enclosing the particles but allowing escape of gases therefrom, and heated with pressurized steam under a pressure of 2 to 5 kg/cm²·G, thereby expanding the particles and melt- adhering the particles to each other. As a result, the molded article of this invention conforming to the configuration of the mold is obtained.

0015The molded article of this invention is used in a variety of applications including cushioning, packaging, thermal insulating, dew-preventing and building materials, automotive parts, and sundries.

0016As stated above, the present invention provides a foamed molded article which can find a wide range of applications because of its excellent heat resistance, moderate flexibility, moderate compression hardness, excellent cushioning property, high mechanical strength and low compression set. In particular, when the molded article of the invention is used as a cushioning material, it exhibits ideal properties; namely, it is not too hard nor too soft and has high stiffness. Hence, it is beneficial in practical applications.

0017The following non-limitative examples illustrate the present invention specifically.

Examples

0018A closed vessel was charged with 100 parts by weight of particles of each of the polypropylene resins shown in Table 1, a predetermined amount of dichlorodifluoromethane (volatile blowing agent), 0.5 part by weight of aluminum oxide (dispersing agent) and 250 parts by weight of water. While the resin particles were dispersed in water by stirring, the temperature of the contents was raised to each of the points shown in Table 1 and the contents were maintained at this temperature for 0.5 hour. While maintaining the pressure of the inside of the vessel at about 30 kg/cm^2.G, one end of the vessel was opened, and the resin particles and water were simultaneously released into the atmosphere. The resin particles were dried to obtain preliminarily-foamed particles having the densities shown in Table 1.

0019The resulting preliminarily-foamed particles were left to stand at room temperature and atmospheric pressure for 50 hours, pressurized with air under 2 kg/cm .G at a temperature of 20 °C for 50 hours, then filled in a mold, and molded under a steam pressure of 2 to 4 kg/cm²·G. The properties of the molded articles are shown in Table 2.

0020A foamed molded article was produced by the same method as described above except that particles of crosslinked polyethylene were used instead of the polypropylene resin particles (Comparison 7). Its properties are also shown in Table 2.

0021Table 2 also gives the properties of a commercial polystyrene molded article (Comparison 6) for information. <tables id="tabl0001" num="0001"><img file="EP0071981A1_D0001.tif" /></tables><tables id="tabl0002" num="0002"><img file="EP0071981A1_D0002.tif" /></tables><tables id="tabl0003" num="0003"><img file="EP0071981A1_D0003.tif" /></tables>