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US 2010/0144971 A1Published application
Impact Modified Polylactide Resins
AssigneeNatureWorks LLC
InventorsLaura Mae Babcock, David E. Henton, Fasil A. Tadesse
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Polylactide resins are blended with core-shell rubber particles to improve impact strength. A good balance of impact strength and transparency is achieved when the rubber particles are distributed within the polymer matrix such that most of them exist as single particles or agglomerates having a diameter of 150 nanometers or more, and the number average size of the particles and agglomerates is not more than 210 nanometers.
Claims17
An impact modified polylactide resin comprising a continuous polymer matrix having impact modifier particles dispersed therein, wherein
- a) at least 90% by weight of the continuous polymer matrix is one or more polylactides,
- b) the impact modifier is distributed within the polylactide resin as larger particles or agglomerates or both having a diameter of at least 150 nanometers and smaller particles or agglomerates having a diameter of from 10 to 150 nanometers, such that upon imaging a planar surface of the blend using transmission electron spectroscopy, 1) the imaged area of the larger particles and agglomerates constitute from 60 to 95% of the total area of the imaged particles and 2) the number average particle size of all particles and agglomerates is no greater than 210 nanometers;
- and further wherein
- c) the impact modifier is a core-shell rubber characterized by having
- (1) a crosslinked rubbery core having a Tg of less than −10° C.;
- (2) a shell of a polymer having a Tg of at least 50° C.;
- and
- (3) a refractive index in the range of from 1.430 to 1.485.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.