Polymer compatible heat fused retroreflective bead
AssigneeTundra Composites, LLC
InventorsKurt Heikkila, John Kroll
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A polymer compatible retroreflective bead. The bead can be used in typical retroreflective uses such as paints tapes and films in highway marking and signs having high retroreflectivity both when initially installed and over the bead lifetime, allowing vehicle drivers to see highway marking lines at night and in adverse conditions during nighttime. When installed the retroreflective beads essentially retroreflect the base color of the highway marking material in which the retroreflective beads are embedded.
Claims12
A retroreflective bead object comprising coated and sintered central and peripheral component free of any adhesive component comprising:
- (i) a central glass bead component;
- and
- (ii) a plurality of peripheral glass microsphere components, wherein the plurality of the peripheral glass components forms an array on the surface of glass central component forming the retroreflective bead object;
- wherein the central and peripheral components are bonded, and volatile components are removed, leaving a substantially complete coating of a residue of an interfacial modifier.
A method of making a retroreflective bead object free of any adhesive component comprising making a bead comprising:
- a. Coating a plurality of glass bead central components with an interfacial modifier;
- b. Mixing a plurality of peripheral glass microsphere components with the interfacially modified coated central component to form an initial array of peripheral components on the larger component;
- c. Heat bonding the glass central component to the peripheral glass members to make the retroreflective object wherein the central and peripheral components are bonded, and volatile components are removed, leaving a substantially complete coating of residue of an interfacial modifier;
- and
- d. Combining it with a polymer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.