The present invention relates to articles comprising crosslinked polymer network comprising thioether crosslinks and process of making and using same. Such thiol-ene crosslinking reactions not only make the isocyanate crosslinking reaction unnecessary, but they also improve the article's strength due to chemical crosslinking between the article's resin layers, and reduce or eliminate post curing. Thus resulting in a sufficiently cured article in a much shorter time.

The present invention relates to articles comprising crosslinked polymer network comprising thioether crosslinks and process of making and using same. Such thiol-ene crosslinking reactions not only make the isocyanate crosslinking reaction unnecessary, but they also improve the article's strength due to chemical crosslinking between the article's resin layers, and reduce or eliminate post curing. Thus resulting in a sufficiently cured article in a much shorter time.

A vulcanized rubber is formed by a method comprising blending a halogenated unsaturated polymer into a rubber comprised of cis 1-4 polyisoprene to form a vulcanizable polymer blend, adding a vulcanization material to the vulcanizable polymer blend, and vulcanizing the vulcanizable polymer blend to form a homogeneous vulcanized rubber. The method may be used to form a vulcanized rubber comprised of polyisoprene uniformly crosslinked with a halogenated unsaturated polymer that is a reaction product of (i) an unsaturated polymer miscible with polyisoprene and having conjugated dienes that undergo a Diels Alder reaction and (ii) a polyhalogenated cyclopentadiene.

Provided are methods for surface-modifying a tubular object of a rubber vulcanizate or a thermoplastic elastomer. The methods allow these objects to have at least a lubricating inner surface layer chemically fixed thereon, instead of having a resin coating which has drawbacks such as reduction in lubricity due to e.g. separation or peeling of the coating during movement within a vessel or tract. Included is a method for surface-modifying a tubular object made of a rubber vulcanizate or a thermoplastic elastomer whose side wall may have an opening, the method including: step 1 of forming polymerization initiation points on at least the outer surface of the object; and step 2 of irradiating the outer surface of the object with ultraviolet light of 300-400 nm to radically polymerize a monomer using radicals generated from the polymerization initiation points to grow polymer chains on at least the inner surface of the object.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for producing a terminal-modified polybutadiene or terminal-modified hydrogenated polybutadiene that does not become colored or white and turbid, without using an organotin compound. The production method of the present invention includes reacting an acrylate or methacrylate represented by formula (I), a diisocyanate compound represented by formula (II), and a polybutadiene or hydrogenated polybutadiene having a hydroxyl group at a polymer terminal, represented by formula (III), in the presence of at least one selected from an organoaluminum compound and an organozinc compound (with the proviso that zinc naphthenate is excluded). ##STR00001##

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for producing a terminal-modified polybutadiene or terminal-modified hydrogenated polybutadiene that does not become colored or white and turbid, without using an organotin compound. The production method of the present invention includes reacting an acrylate or methacrylate represented by formula (I), a diisocyanate compound represented by formula (II), and a polybutadiene or hydrogenated polybutadiene having a hydroxyl group at a polymer terminal, represented by formula (III), in the presence of at least one selected from an organoaluminum compound and an organozinc compound (with the proviso that zinc naphthenate is excluded). ##STR00001##

The present invention is directed to the functionalization of butyl rubber ionomer and optionally the grafting of polyamide to halobutyl rubber ionomers. Specifically, disclosed are methods and products resulting therefrom for creating functionalized ionomers and grafting polyamide to halobutyl ionomers via reactive extrusion. The process comprises reacting a halobutyl polymer with at least one nitrogen and/or phosphorous based nucleophile to provide a halobutyl ionomer comprising conjugated diene units; grafting of an amine-reactive dienophile to said ionomer to form a functionalized ionomer; and optionally blending the resulting functionalized ionomer with polyamide.

The present invention is directed to the functionalization of butyl rubber ionomer and optionally the grafting of polyamide to halobutyl rubber ionomers. Specifically, disclosed are methods and products resulting therefrom for creating functionalized ionomers and grafting polyamide to halobutyl ionomers via reactive extrusion. The process comprises reacting a halobutyl polymer with at least one nitrogen and/or phosphorous based nucleophile to provide a halobutyl ionomer comprising conjugated diene units; grafting of an amine-reactive dienophile to said ionomer to form a functionalized ionomer; and optionally blending the resulting functionalized ionomer with polyamide.

The present invention relates to methods of forming star polymers having configurable architecture in which arms are synthesized by means of living anionic polymerization, with the arms being conjugated with a core, the core comprising m coupling groups, each coupling group having n methylene groups. The invention further relates to star polymers produced therefrom.

The invention relates to polymeric-inorganic nanoparticle compositions and preparation processes thereof. The invention also relates to an additive and lubricant compositions comprising these polymeric-inorganic nanoparticle compositions, as well as to the use of these polymeric-inorganic nanoparticle compositions in an oil lubricant formulation to improve tribological performance, in particular to improve extreme pressure performance and friction reduction on metal parts.