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Rubber modified styrenic copolymers and their use in disposable card applicationsRelated Patent Categories: Synthetic Resins Or Natural Rubbers -- Part Of The Class 520 Series, Natural Rubber Compositions Having Nonreactive Materials (dnrm) Other Than: Carbon, Silicon Dioxide, Glass Titanium Dioxide, Water, Hydrocarbon, Halohydrocarbon, Ethylenically Unsaturated Reactant Admixed With A Preformed Reaction Product Derived From: (a) At Least One Polycarboxylic Acid, Ester, Or Anhydride; (b) At Least One Polyhydroxy Compound; And (c) At Least One Fatty Acid Glycerol Ester, Or A Fatty Acid Or Salt Derived From A Naturally Occurring Glyceride, Tall Oil, Or A Tall Oil Fatty Acid, At Least One Solid Polymer Derived From Ethylenic Reactants Only, Mixing Of Solid Block Or Block-type Copolymer With Other Solid Polymer; Mixing Of Said Polymer Mixture With A Chemical Treating Agent; Mixing Of A Block Or Block-type Copolymer With Sicp Or With Spfi; Or Processes Of Forming Or Reacting; Or The Resultant Product Of Any Of The Above OperationsRubber modified styrenic copolymers and their use in disposable card applications description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070191543, Rubber modified styrenic copolymers and their use in disposable card applications. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention is directed to thermoplastic sheets containing rubber modified styrenic copolymers and the use of said sheets in making thermoplastic items. [0003] 2. Description of the Prior Art [0004] Plastic sheet laminates are commonly used in a variety of applications, including identification cards, credit cards, bank cards, key cards, gift cards and the like. Such laminates are generally comprised of a relatively thick core layer containing printed indicia on at least one side thereof, and a relatively thin, transparent layer laminated to each side of the core layer. For certain applications, particularly for credit cards, the laminate is embossed and the raised areas are typically printed or tipped with ink. [0005] These laminates are typically made of plastic sheets containing various thermoplastic blends including primarily polyvinyl chloride homopolymers or copolymers. Typical credit card laminates require properties such as stiffness, impact strength, resilience and flexural durability sufficient to provide about a one- to two-year service life. [0006] In some applications, the printing and/or printed indicia is applied on the protective or laminated layer and then reverse-laminated onto the core layer. [0007] As an example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,543,466 to Norman discloses laminates for use in credit card applications that have at least one core layer and at least one over layer on each side. The core layer composition includes polyvinyl chloride, a copolymer derived from vinyl chloride and vinyl ester monomers, at least one acrylic resin polymer, as well as a copolymer derived from ethylene and vinyl acetate monomers. The core layer is corona treated in order to improve ink adhesion thereto. The overlay composition is similar but generally is transparent. The laminated credit card can optionally contain a magnetic strip on the over layer or a microchip therein. [0008] A particular drawback to polyvinyl chloride based cards is their generally poor printability or ink acceptability. As indicated in the Norman patent, the core layer requires corona treatment in order to improve ink adhesion and is further totally laminated to protect the printed layer. The extra processing steps required for protective lamination add considerable cost to the final card. The elimination of these steps and their added cost is an ongoing objective in the art. [0009] U.S. Pat. No. 4,772,667 to Biletch et al. discloses a thermoplastic polymer that includes a styrenic monomer, an acrylate, a methacrylate and a block copolymer. [0010] U.S. Pat. No. 5,290,862 to Blasius discloses a polymer alloy that contains from 30 to 83 weight percent of a brittle polymer; from 3 to 50 weight percent of a rubbery polymer; and from 15 to 67 weight percent of a ductile polymer, provided that the ductile polymer and the rubbery polymer are at least compatible. [0011] U.S. Pat. No. 5,891,962 to Otsuzuki et al. discloses a transparent, rubber-modified styrene resin that contains 70 to 96 parts by weight of a copolymer formed of 20 to 70 wt. % of styrene monomer units and 30 to 80 wt. % of alkyl (meth)acrylate monomer units and 4 to 30 parts by weight of a rubbery polymer. The rubbery polymer is dispersed in the copolymer as particles and the copolymer and the rubbery polymer have substantially the same refractive index. [0012] Heretofore, the above described thermoplastic polymer compositions have not been used in sheet and/or disposable card applications because they do not provide the required stiffness, impact strength, resilience and flexural durability properties. [0013] It would be desirable to provide a low cost thermoplastic sheet material that can be used in disposable card applications that provides sufficient stiffness, resilience and flexural durability properties, while also having ink printability and ink acceptability properties such that a lamination layer is not required to protect the printed image. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0014] The present invention provides a thermoplastic sheet that includes a continuous phase and a dispersed phase, where: [0015] A) the continuous phase contains a polymer composition resulting from the polymerization of a monomer mixture including (i) from about 25 to 75 parts by weight of a styrenic monomer and (ii) from about 25 to 75 parts by weight of an alkyl (meth)acrylate monomer, wherein the alkyl group is a C.sub.1 to C.sub.12 linear, branched or cyclic alkyl group, in the presence of the dispersed phase; and [0016] B) the dispersed phase contains from about 2 to about 50 parts by weight of one or more block copolymers selected from diblock and triblock copolymers of styrene-butadiene, styrene-butadiene-styrene, styrene-isoprene, styrene-isoprene-styrene, partially hydrogenated styrene-isoprene-styrene, for a total of 100 parts by weight of the combination of A) and B). [0017] The present invention also provides a method of making a thermoplastic item, e.g. card. The method includes the steps of: [0018] extruding a thermoplastic composition to form the above-described thermoplastic sheet, [0019] cutting the sheet to form a thermoplastic item of desired dimensions; [0020] printing on a surface of the item; and [0021] optionally laminating the item. [0022] The present invention is additionally directed to thermoplastic items made according to the above-described method. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [0023] Other than in the operating examples or where otherwise indicated, all numbers or expressions referring to quantities of ingredients, reaction conditions, etc. used in the specification and claims are to be understood as modified in all instances by the term "about." Accordingly, unless indicated to the contrary, the numerical parameters set forth in the following specification and attached claims are approximations that may vary depending upon the desired properties, which the present invention desires to obtain. At the very least, and not as an attempt to limit the application of the doctrine of equivalents to the scope of the claims, each numerical parameter should at least be construed in light of the number of reported significant digits and by applying ordinary rounding techniques. [0024] Notwithstanding that the numerical ranges and parameters setting forth the broad scope of the invention are approximations, the numerical values set forth in the specific examples are reported as precisely as possible. Any numerical values, however, inherently contain certain errors necessarily resulting from the standard deviation found in their respective testing measurements. [0025] Also, it should be understood that any numerical range recited herein is intended to include all sub-ranges subsumed therein. For example, a range of "1 to 10" is intended to include all sub-ranges between and including the recited minimum value of 1 and the recited maximum value of 10; that is, having a minimum value equal to or greater than 1 and a maximum value of equal to or less than 10. Because the disclosed numerical ranges are continuous, they include every value between the minimum and maximum values. Unless expressly indicated otherwise, the various numerical ranges specified in this application are approximations. Continue reading about Rubber modified styrenic copolymers and their use in disposable card applications... Full patent description for Rubber modified styrenic copolymers and their use in disposable card applications Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Rubber modified styrenic copolymers and their use in disposable card applications patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. Start now! - Receive info on patent apps like Rubber modified styrenic copolymers and their use in disposable card applications or other areas of interest. ### Previous Patent Application: Modifier for resin and resin composition using the same and formed article Next Patent Application: Curable composition based on polyurethane-urea and on block copolymers, and transparent material obtained from said composition Industry Class: Synthetic resins or natural rubbers -- part of the class 520 series ### FreshPatents.com Support Thank you for viewing the Rubber modified styrenic copolymers and their use in disposable card applications patent info. IP-related news and info Results in 0.66355 seconds Other interesting Feshpatents.com categories: Canon USA , Celera Genomics , Cephalon, Inc. , Cingular Wireless , Clorox , Colgate-Palmolive , Corning , Cymer , 174 |
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