Polymeric articles having dye sublimation printed images and method to form them
OwnerPaul Palmer, Anastasia Freitas +1inventors
InventorsPaul Palmer, Anastasia Freitas, Stephan Lerman
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Abstract
An article is comprised of a thermoset polymer having a dye sublimation image in a layer attached or integral to a surface of the thermoset polymer, wherein at least a portion of the thermoset polymer is a foam. The foam article may be made by pretreating a thermoset organic polymer foam to a temperature of 100° C. to about 250° C. for a time sufficient to stabilize the thermoset polymer and dye sublimating an image into a layer of the pretreated thermoset foam. The foam article having the dye sublimation image may be used for applications having aesthetic or structural requirements such as railing, decking or fences.
Claims13
An article comprised of a rigid thermoset polymer foam comprised of a thermoset polymer having a uniform and consistent dye sublimation image in an image accepting layer that is at least partially directly attached or integral to a surface of the rigid thermoset foam, wherein the thermoset foam has a porosity that is essentially the same before and after dye sublimating to form the image accepting layer and the rigid thermoset polymer foam, wherein at least 50% of the article by weight is the rigid thermoset polymer foam, wherein the rigid thermoset foam has an elastic modulus of at least 5000-psi before and after dye sublimation is performed while the image accepting layer is directly attached or integral with the rigid thermoset polymer foam, and wherein the rigid thermoset polymer foam has a degradation temperature that is within about 10 degrees Celsius where the dye sublimation was performed.
An article comprised of a rigid thermoset polymer foam having a uniform and consistent dye sublimation image in an image accepting layer directly attached or integral to a surface of the rigid thermoset polymer foam, wherein the thermoset foam has a porosity that is essentially the same before and after dye sublimating to form the image accepting layer and the rigid thermoset polymer foam, wherein the rigid thermoset polymer foam has an elastic modulus of 10,000 pounds per square inch or more before and after dye sublimation is performed while the image accepting layer is directly attached or integral with the rigid thermoset polymer foam, wherein about 50 percent or more by weight based on the total weight of the article is the rigid thermoset polymer foam, and wherein the rigid thermoset polymer foam has a degradation temperature that is within about 10 degrees Celsius where the dye sublimation was performed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.