JPH07246646A - Method for producing composite multi-profile extrudate mainly composed of thermoplastic elastomer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To contrive so that circumferential environment is not contaminated, by a method wherein a compound possessing a thermoplastic elastomer as a main raw material is filled into an extruding machine, heated at a fixed temperature, water as a foaming agent is injected into an extruding machine in the direction of a cylinder under pressurization, and a foam extruded product of a thermoplastic elastomer is manufactured. CONSTITUTION:A fixed quantity of Novamid ST145 is loaded into an extruding machine 2 and this extruded product is cooled in a cooling water tank 3. A compound for manufacturing a thermoplastic elastomer(TPE) solid extruded product is loaded into the extruding machine 4 arranged in the direction meeting at right angles with an extruding direction of the extruded product and the Novamid ST145 is extruded so that the Novamid ST145 is coated with the compound. Then a compound compounded for TPE water foaming is loaded into an extruding machine 1 wherein a mouth piece is fitted to the surface opposite to an opening part of the extruded product, a TPE foam extruded product is allowed to join to the surface opposite to the opening part of the extruded product with the built-in Novamid ST145 extruded product at a ratio of about 51kg/Hr while casting water to the TPE at a ratio of about 0.4% and the whole is integrated. Consequently, circumferential environment is prevented from being contaminated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method for producing extrudates. More specifically, the present invention relates to a thermoplastic elastomer and a method for producing a composite multi-profile extrudate made of the same or different materials as the thermoplastic elastomer. The composite multi-profile extrudate of the present invention is used for filling the gaps of various structures such as vehicles, buildings, and light electric vehicles.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The extrudate to be produced by the present invention will be described below. Typical extrudates are weather strips and gaskets. Since the weather strip is mounted on the vehicle body and the window glass of an automobile, the cross-sectional shape, dimensions, material form, etc. of the parts change intricately depending on the vehicle type. NR or SBR solid cores can be CR or EPD with only major weatherstrips made with conventional materials and molding methods.
Gasket type coated with a solid skin layer of M,
Door seal, EPDM solid base with CR or EPDM sponge lip attached, EPDM
CR in the solid or PVC body with built-in core
Alternatively, there is a trunk lid to which an EPDM sponge lip is attached, an EPDM or a PVC body with a cored bar to which an EPDM sponge lip is attached and flocked side windows, etc., and their cross-sectional shapes cannot be expressed except with drawings. Most of them are of a complicated shape. Some of these are laminated, but most of them are integrally molded with a pair of bases.

Further, there are gaskets which are sealing materials for civil engineering and construction, and their cross-sectional shapes are U-shaped, H-shaped, Y-shaped, combinations of these, and other complicated ones. Further, as a string (tape) -shaped sealing material, there is a sealing material having a rectangular shape, a circular shape, or other complicated cross-sectional shape. The representative extrudates described above are composed of so-called multiple layers or complicated combinations of a plurality of different-shaped portions so that segments having the same cross-sectional shape are laminated or faced or covered by using the same or different materials in a composite manner. Integrally molded,
It is a so-called inventor's composite multi-profile extrusion product.

Each of the above-mentioned extrudates uses rubber as a main raw material. The rubber processing process requires a kneading process, a molding process, and a vulcanization process, and each process has basic unit operations according to various requests, conditions, etc., and the processing process is not always simple. I can't say. It has been a long time since a so-called thermoplastic elastomer (hereinafter sometimes abbreviated as TPE), which can be molded by the same processing method as a thermoplastic resin without a vulcanization step, has been developed instead of a rubber requiring a vulcanization step, Recently, TPE has been attracting attention not only as an alternative material for rubber but also for environmental problems such as the possibility of scrap recovery and recycling.

The present inventors have studied a method of manufacturing a foamed elastic sealing material using TPE. The most important thing I paid attention to in the development was environmental issues. The reason is that even if scraps can be collected and recycled, they cannot truly solve environmental problems unless they can positively contribute to environmental improvement.

Therefore, first, a foaming agent was formulated. Conventionally, in order to foam TPE, a chemical foaming agent, a low boiling point hydrocarbon or chlorofluorocarbon has been used as a foaming agent. In particular, chlorofluorocarbon is widely used in terms of efficiency. However, chlorofluorocarbon destroys the ozone layer and is not preferable in terms of environmental problems. As a result of extensive literature research, the present inventors have examined US Pat. No. 5,070,111.

US Pat. No. 5,070,111 discloses an epoch-making technique for foaming TPE in an extruder by using water as a foaming agent without using chlorofluorocarbon. The inventors traced the US patent invention in accordance with the disclosure of the US patent.
That is, when water was injected as a foaming agent at a pressure about 4 times the pressure of the die head of the extruder and a predetermined operation was performed, T
It was found that PE foams at once upon opening from the die to the atmosphere.

Therefore, in the case of producing an extruded product of TPE using water as a foaming agent, that is, in the case of so-called single extrusion,
It was found that it can be manufactured with a single die, but in the case of the composite multiple profile extrusion described above, it cannot be manufactured in the same manner as rubber.

[0009]

The problem to be solved by the invention is to use water as a foaming agent for TPE and TPE.
To provide a method for producing a composite multi-profile extrudate composed of the same or different materials.

[0010]

[Means for Solving the Problems] Means for solving the problems are a die for extruding a mixture containing TPE as a main raw material,
It is characterized in that a die for extruding a mixture of the same or different materials as TPE is provided separately.

The present invention which solves the problems provides a method for producing a thermoplastic elastomer and a composite multiple-profile extrudate made of the same or different material as the thermoplastic elastomer; and an extruder equipped with a predetermined die, Filling a mixture containing a thermoplastic elastomer as a main raw material, heating it to a predetermined temperature, and pressurizing water as a foaming agent in a cylinder direction of an extruder under pressure to produce a foamed extrudate of a thermoplastic elastomer. Step; compounding of an extruder having a die in the same direction as the conveying direction of the foamed extruded product of the thermoplastic elastomer, in the opposite direction, or in the direction with an angle, made of the same or different material as the thermoplastic elastomer. Of the thermoplastic elastomer by filling the product and producing an extrudate under predetermined conditions; From a method for producing a composite multiple-profile extrudate whose main raw material is a foamed extrudate and an extrudate made of the same kind or different kind of material as the thermoplastic elastomer are coated, or laminated or bonded to each other and integrated. Become.

A feature of the present invention is that TPE is used as a material for the foamed composite multi-profile extrudate in place of conventional rubber, and water is used as a foaming agent in place of a conventional chemical foaming agent, and the desired composite is used. It is to use a plurality of extruders corresponding to a multi-profile extrusion product. Hereinafter, these features will be described. TP usable in the present invention
E is a mixture of 10 to 90 parts by weight of the crystalline polyrefin resin and 90 to 10 parts by weight of at least one rubber. The rubber compounded is preferably completely crosslinked, but may be partially crosslinked or uncrosslinked EPR or EPDM. Typical of these TPEs are U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,104,210, 4,1.
No. 30, 534, No. 4, 130, 535, No. 4, 79
9, 931, 4, 311, 628, 3, 80
6, 558, 3, 862, 056 and the like. And as a commercially available product that can be easily obtained, one of the present inventors, Advanced Elastomer Systems L.P. (Advanced Elastom)
er Systems, L.H. P. ) From "TREFSI
N ”,“ SANTOPRENE ”,“ GEOLAS ”
Some are manufactured and sold under the registered trademark names of "T", "VYRAM", and "TPR".
In order to select an appropriate material from E, it must be done in consideration of the physical properties required for the extrudate to be produced. For example, in order to produce an extrudate which is soft and rich in rubber elasticity, it suffices to compound it in a rubber-rich manner within the above-mentioned compounding ratio range.

In order to foam TPE with water in the present invention, first, TPE must be heated to a temperature above the melting point of the thermoplastic resin which is the matrix component of TPE to bring the TPE into a molten state. Therefore, although the heating temperature varies depending on the thermoplastic resin of the matrix component of TPE, it is usually 10
It is in the range of 0 ° C to 250 ° C. Water as a foaming agent
It is pressed into the molten TPE. This series of steps is performed as a continuous operation by the extruder. The extruder used may be a conventional single screw extruder. However, the screw portion is normally divided into three zones, a feed zone, a melt compression zone, and a metering zone, but in the present invention, it is necessary to divide into 5 to 7 zones and finely control the temperature. For example, the feed zone is divided into 60 zones, the melt compression zone is divided into 5 zones within the range of 190 to 220 degrees Celsius, and the measurement zone is set to 200 degrees Celsius. However, the zone division and temperature control of the screw part depends on the TPE, T
It must be set depending on the type of thermoplastic resin that is the matrix component of PE, the physical properties of the extrudate to be produced, and other variables. Water as a blowing agent is injected into the melt compression zone of the screw section into a zone where the filled TPE is completely melted, that is, a zone immediately before the metering zone.

In the present invention, TP used in combination with TPE
E and different materials are polypropylene, polyethylene,
It is a thermoplastic resin such as polyvinyl chloride. Furthermore, by using a material that is compatible with TPE and is recyclable, instead of the core metal of the weatherstrip with core metal, the used weather strip can be directly and easily recycled. As such a core metal substitute material, for example, a polyamide polymer alloy composed of a graft body of maleic anhydride and ethylene propylene rubber, a nylon resin, and polypropylene is exemplified.
As an example of this polymer alloy, a commercially available product under the trade name of "Novamid ST145" is available from Mitsubishi Kasei.

[0015]

EXAMPLES Examples will be described below. In the following example, TP
As E, "Santoprene 101-64" manufactured by AES Japan Co., Ltd., and as polypropylene, "Sumitomo Noblen W531" manufactured by Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd.
, And as a core metal substitute material, the "Novamid ST
145 ″ was used.

Example 1 Example 1 is an example of manufacturing a weather strip with a core material for a trunk lid. FIG. 1 shows the first embodiment.
It is a conceptual diagram which shows the principal part of the apparatus used by. Example 1
The apparatus used in 1. mainly comprises an extruder 1 for TPE water foaming, an extruder 2 for polyamide polymer alloys, a cooling water tank 3, an extruder 4 for TPE solids, and a take-up machine 5. The specifications of the extruder 1 for TPE water foaming, the extruder 4 for TPE solid, and the extruder 2 for polyamide polymer alloy are as follows. Specifications of extruder for TPE water foaming and solids Screw diameter of extruder: 90 mm L / D of extruder: 30 Screw rotation speed: 30 rpm Specifications of extruder for polyamide polymer alloy Screw diameter of extruder: 90 mm Extrusion L / D of the machine: 20 Screw rotation speed: 60 rpm The cylinder part of the extruder 2 is divided into four zones, each of which is set in the range of 230 ° C to 250 ° C, and the head part and the die part respectively have 245 ℃ and 240 ℃ was set.

A predetermined amount of Novamid T145 compounded so as to have the physical properties required to hold an automobile panel was put into an extruder 2 equipped with a U-shaped die, and about 70
kg / Hr. The extrusion rate was On the other hand, Novamid S
The TPE solid extrudate extrusion extruder 4 was arranged in the direction perpendicular to the extruding direction of the extruded product after the cooling hail for cooling the T145 extruded product. The compound compounded for producing the TPE solid extrudate was put into the extruder 4 for TPE solid extrusion, and extruded so as to cover the Novamid ST145 extrudate to produce an extrudate containing the Novamid ST145 extrudate. Then, the compound blended for TPE water foaming is put into the TPE water foaming extruder 1 having a mouthpiece attached to the surface opposite to the opening of the extrudate containing Novamid ST145 extrudate, Approximately 51 kg from the rear of the cylinder, that is, from the hopper side, at a position of approximately 12D while injecting water at a ratio of approximately 0.4% with respect to TPE.
/ Hr. The TP foam extrudate is joined to the surface opposite to the opening of the extrudate containing Novamid ST145 extrudate, and the whole is integrated into a U-shape made of Novamid ST15 as shown in FIG. A solid strip 7 of TPE was incorporated in the core material 8, and a weather strip containing a core material was produced in which the TPE foam extrudate 6 was joined and integrated on the top surface of the TPE solid extrudate 7.

[0017]

[Embodiment 2] FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing the main part of the apparatus used in Embodiment 2. The apparatus different from that of Example 1 was that the polypropylene extruder 9 was used and that the TPE solid extruder was not used. An extruder for polypropylene (PP) has the following specifications. Specifications of extruder for PP Screw diameter of extruder: 90 mm L / D of extruder: 27 Screw rotation speed: 50 rpm The cylinder of the extruder for PP of 9 is divided into 6 zones, each of which is 185 ° C to 190 ° C. The temperature of the head part and the die part were set to 180 ° C. and 190 ° C., respectively. On the other hand, the cylinder part of the 1 TPE water foaming extruder is divided into four zones, each of which is 170 ° C to 175 ° C.
Set the temperature to, and set the head and die parts to 18
Set to 5 ° C and 183 ° C.

First, a compound having a predetermined composition for producing a PP solid extrudate was mixed with an extruder of 9 to about 14
2 kg / Hr. The extrusion rate was On the other hand, the compound compounded for TPE water foaming is put into one extruder,
From the rear of the cylinder, that is, from the hopper side, at a position of about 12D, while injecting water at a ratio of about 0.4% with respect to TPE, about 51 kg / Hr. Of the TPE extrudate, and the two are fusion-bonded and integrated, as shown in FIG.
An extruded product in which the TPE foamed extruded product 6 was laminated and integrated on the solid extruded product 13 was manufactured.

[0019]

[Embodiment 3] FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing a main part of an apparatus for carrying out Embodiment 3. First, the compound compounded for the production of TPE water foam was put into one extruder, and at the position of about 12D from the cylinder rear part, that is, the hopper side, at the position of TP,
About 51% while injecting water at a ratio of about 0.4% to E
kg / Hr. The TPE foam extrudate 10 was extruded at a ratio of. On the other hand, a compound having a predetermined composition for producing a PP solid extrudate is charged into a PP solid extrusion extruder 9 arranged in a direction perpendicular to the extrusion direction of the extrudate 10, and the TPE foam extrudate 10 is obtained. Extrusion was performed so as to cover the two, and the two were fused and integrated to produce an extrudate in which the TPE foam extrudate 6 as shown in FIG. 6 is covered with the PP solid extrudate 7.

[0020]

[Embodiment 4] FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram showing a main part of an apparatus used in Embodiment 4. The apparatus used in Example 4 is the same as the apparatus used in Example 2, and only their arrangement positions are different. First, a compound having a predetermined composition for producing a PP solid extrudate was mixed with an extruder of 9 to about 142 kg / Hr. The extrusion rate was On the other hand, TPE
The compound compounded for water foaming was put into the extruder 1 arranged in a direction perpendicular to the extrusion direction of the PP solid extrudate 11, and about 12D from the cylinder rear part, that is, the hopper side.
At a position of about 51 kg / Hr., While injecting water at a ratio of about 0.4% with respect to TPE. In the ratio of, the solid extrudate 11 is extruded so as to cover it, and both are fused and integrated.
As shown in FIG. 8, the PP solid extrudate 13 was
An extrudate coated with foamed extrudate 6 was produced.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained; Without using a chemical foaming agent, it is possible to produce a composite multi-profile extrudate composed of the same or different materials as the thermoplastic elastomer and the thermoplastic elastomer, so that the surrounding environment is not polluted. B.
According to the present invention, when a weather strip for automobiles is manufactured, if a polyamide polymer alloy is used as a core material, it can be recycled as it is without any complicated pre-treatment after use, and the effect of the above a It can contribute greatly to environmental problems.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of the main part of the apparatus used in Example 1.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of an extrudate produced in Example 1.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of a main part of the apparatus used in Example 2.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of an extrudate manufactured in Example 2.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram of the main part of the apparatus used in Example 3.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of an extrudate manufactured in Example 3.

FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram of the main part of the apparatus used in Example 4.

8 is a cross-sectional view of the extrudate produced in Example 4. FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Extruder for Thermoplastic Elastomer Water Foaming 2 Extruder for Polyamide-Based Polymer Alloy 3 Cooling Water Tank 4 Extruder for Thermoplastic Elastomer Solid 5 Drawer 6 Thermoplastic Elastomer Foam Extruder 7 Thermoplastic Elastomer Solid Extruder 8 Polyamide-based Polymer Alloy Extrudate Core 9 Extruder for polypropylene 10 Extrudate 11 Extrudate 12 Extrudate 13 Polypropylene solid extrudate

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued Front Page (72) Inventor Hiroshi Tanaka 5-3-8 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (72) Inventor Yuji Yamamoto 2-2-11, Matsuhama-cho, Fukuyama-shi, Hiroshima Hiroshima Kasei Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Fumihiko Sato 2-21-11 Matsuhama-cho, Fukuyama-shi, Hiroshima Hiroshima Kasei Co. (72) Inventor Masatoshi Akami 2-1 Anzen-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A method for producing a composite multiple-profile extrudate comprising a thermoplastic elastomer and a material which is the same as or different from the thermoplastic elastomer; the thermoplastic elastomer is used as a main raw material in an extruder equipped with a predetermined die. To prepare a foamed extruded product of a thermoplastic elastomer by filling water with a compound as a foaming agent under pressure and injecting water as a foaming agent in the cylinder direction of the extruder under pressure; An extruder equipped with a die in the same direction as the foam extruded product carrying direction, or in the opposite direction or at an angled direction, is filled with a mixture of the same or different materials as the thermoplastic elastomer, A step of producing an extruded product under predetermined conditions; a foamed extruded product of the thermoplastic elastomer, and a thermoplastic extruded product obtained by carrying out the respective steps simultaneously or successively. For producing a composite multi-profile extrudate containing a thermoplastic elastomer as a main material, which is formed by coating, laminating or joining extrudates made of the same kind or different kinds of materials as the thermoplastic elastomer 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the material different from the thermoplastic elastomer is polypropylene. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the material different from the thermoplastic elastomer is a polyamide-based polymer alloy. 4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the polyamide-based polymer alloy is incorporated in an extruded product of a thermoplastic elastomer as a core material for holding an automobile panel of an automobile weather strip. 5. A polyamide polymer alloy is a graft polymer of maleic anhydride and ethylene propylene rubber,
A method according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that it consists of nylon and polypropylene.