CYCLIC OLEFIN POLYMER CONCENTRATE FOR POLYESTER-BASED MATERIALS

Abstract

The invention discloses a concentrate comprising cyclic olefin polymer and titanium dioxide, a compound formulation, a process for preparing coloured polyester, a process for preparing polyester-based containers, and a container product. The concentrate of the invention comprises 10-90% by total weight of the concentrate of cyclic olefin polymer, and 20-80% by total weight of the concentrate of titanium dioxide.

Claims

1. A concentrate comprising 10-90% by total weight of the concentrate of cyclic olefin polymer, and 20-80% by total weight of the concentrate of titanium dioxide.

2. The concentrate of claim 1, wherein the cyclic olefin polymer comprises one or more cyclic olefin copolymers.

3. The concentrate of claim 1, wherein the cyclic olefin comprises one or more cyclic olefin homopolymers.

4. The concentrate of claim 1, wherein cyclic olefin polymer comprises one or more selected from the group consisting of ethylene-norbornene copolymer, ethylene-phenyl norbornene copolymer, ethylene-tetracyclododecene norbornene copolymer, ethylene-dicyclopentadiene copolymer, norbornene homopolymer, phenyl norbornene homopolymer, tetracyclododecene norbornene homopolymer, and dicyclopentadiene homopolymer.

5. The concentrate of claim 1, further comprising one or more selected from the group consisting of polyester, aliphatic polymer and aromatic polymer.

6. The concentrate of claim 5, wherein the polyester comprises one or more selected from the group consisting of aliphatic homopolymer polyesters, aliphatic copolymer polyesters, semi-aromatic copolymer polyesters, semi-aromatic homopolymer polyesters, aromatic copolymer polyesters, and aromatic homopolymer polyesters.

7. The concentrate of claim 5, wherein the aromatic polymer comprises one or more selected from the group consisting of polystyrene, polysulphone, polyphenylsulphone, and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene.

8. The concentrate of claim 5 wherein the aliphatic polymer comprises one or more selected from the group consisting of polyethylene and polypropylene.

9. The concentrate of claim 1, further comprising a light absorbing additive.

10. A compound formulation comprising titanium dioxide, cyclic olefin polymer, and polyester, wherein the amount of titanium dioxide is 20% by total weight of the compound formulation or less, and the amount of cyclic olefin polymer is 1-15% by total weight of the compound formulation.

11. A process for preparing coloured polyester, the process comprising producing coloured polyester by bringing polyester into contact with the concentrate of claim 1 and/or a compound formulation comprising titanium dioxide, cyclic olefin polymer, and polyester, wherein the amount of titanium dioxide is 20% by total weight of the compound formulation or less, and the amount of cyclic olefin polymer is 1 15% by total weight of the compound formulation.

12. The process of claim 11, wherein the coloured polyester is a polyester preform for bottles and other containers.

13. The process of claim 11, wherein the coloured polyester is a polyester bottle and/or other container.

14. The process of claim 11, wherein the coloured polyester comprises an amount of cyclic olefin polymer of 5% or less by total weight of the coloured polyester.

15. The process of claim 11, wherein the coloured polyester comprises an amount of titanium dioxide of 8% or less by total weight of the coloured polyester.

16. A process for preparing polyester-based containers suitable for storing solids and/or liquids and having 4% or less transmittance at 550 nm and 0.25-0.30 mm sample thickness, the process comprising producing a preform for the polyester-based containers from polyester and the concentrate of claim 1, and/or a compound formulation comprising titanium dioxide, cyclic olefin polymer, and polyester, wherein the amount of titanium dioxide is 20% by total weight of the compound formulation or less, and the amount of cyclic olefin polymer is 1 15% by total weight of the compound formulation, and moulding the preform into a container.

17. The process of claim 16, wherein the amount of concentrate is 3-8% by total weight of the polyester-based container.

18. A container product obtainable by the process of claim 16, wherein the amount of cyclic olefin polymer is 5% or less by total weight of the polyester-based container, and/or the amount of titanium dioxide is 8% or less by total weight of the polyester-based container.

Description

EXAMPLES

Example 1

[0091] PET bottles were prepared including 3 wt. % of selected polymers. These polymers were PP Hostalen XN112-I (random copolymer polypropylene from LyondellBasell Industries), PMMA PLEXIGLAS® 8N (polymethylmethacrylate from Evonik Industries), HDPE Purell GF4760 (high density polyethylene from LyondellBasell Industries), and COC (TOPAS Advanced Polymers). The polyester preforms (Invista T94N PET resin (IV=0.84 dl/g)), 25 g preform for 0.5 litre bottle with PCO neck finish) were made on an Arburg Allrounder 320 (extruder temperature profile, hot runner temperatures were set at 285° C.), equipped with a Piovan T200 dryer and DB-60 control unit (PET was dried to a dew point of −45° C.). Dosing of the polymer into the PET base resin was done using a Movacolor MCBalance. Preforms were blown on a Corpoplast LB01 using standard PET bottle blowing settings. The transmittance curves from 200 to 750 nm of the blown bottles (0.25 mm wall thickness) were collected using a Cary 5000 spectrometer equipped with an integrating sphere. The percent transmittance at 550 nm was determined from the transmittance curves and is shown in FIG. 1. As can be seen, the amount of light transmitted using cyclic olefin copolymer is significantly lower, at the critical wavelength of below 550 nm and below, than with the selected standards at the concentration of 3%.

Example 2

[0092] A mixture of 800 gram polymer and 1200 gram titanium dioxide was mixed and processed on a laboratory extruder (APV 19 mm twin screw) with a temperature profile between 270 and 240° C. at 300 rpm. The percentage of polymer by weight included in the concentrate is 40, the weight of titanium dioxide included in the concentrate is 60%.

[0093] Several concentrates were prepared as described above, with the selected carrier polymers from Example 1. The concentrates containing these polymers were used to prepare polyester preforms and bottles.

[0094] The colour concentrates were used to produce polyester (PET) preforms (Invista T94N resin (IV=0.84 dl/g)), 25 g preform for 0.5 litre bottle with PCO neck finish) on an Arburg Allrounder 320 (extruder temperature profile, hot runner temperatures were set at 285° C.), equipped with a Piovan T200 dryer and DB-60 control unit (PET was dried to a dew point of −45° C.). Dosing of the colour concentrates at 4.5 wt. % was done using a Movacolor MCBalance. Preforms were blown on a Corpoplast LB01 using standard PET bottle blowing settings. The transmittance curves from 200 to 750 nm of the blown bottles were collected using a Cary 5000 equipped with an integrating sphere. The percent transmittance at 550 nm was determined from the transmittance curves and is shown in FIG. 2. As can be seen, the amount of light transmitted using cyclic olefin copolymer results in transmittance values of below 3%, compared to comparative industrial carriers.

Example 3

[0095] From example 2, bottles with colour concentrates were further examined. The light transmittance of the bottle with COC as carrier was 2.4%. To match this transmittance, bottles were prepared with the concentrate having PET as carrier resin at different dosing levels. This was at a 6.2% dosing level of that concentrate. The titanium dioxide content was determined by performing an ash test on the bottles by heating the coloured polyester at 800° C. during 6 hours in a Carbolite Furnace (type CSF1100). As can be seen from FIG. 3, the amount of titanium dioxide in the bottle of the invention was remarkably lower.

[0096] The inventors found that the amount of titanium dioxide in the bottles to achieve a light transmittance at 550 nm of 0.2% in the bottles was remarkably lower for the claimed invention.