Process for refrigerator construction
AssigneeMonsanto Company
InventorsA. Russell Hoge, Robert A. Myers
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed herein is an improvement in the process for manufacturing thermal insulation panels, especially those panels used in refrigerator cabinets. The panels are composite structures which comprise a layer of a gas filled cellular insulation material combined with a layer of impact resistant thermoplastic sheet material, wherein a film of a rubber modified high nitrile polymer containing at least 45% by weight of nitrile monomer units (calculated as acrylonitrile) is interposed between the gas filled cellular material and the thermoplastic sheet. The rubber modified high nitrile polymer film presents an effective barrier to the gas in the cellular material and provides improved impact strength in the composite while retaining good rigidity of the composite structure.
Claims10
In a process for preparing a refrigerator cabinet comprising an exterior surface, a sheet of ABS which forms the interior surface of the refrigerator, and a layer of a gas filled cellular insulation material which is interposed between the exterior surface and the ABS sheet, said process comprising (1) placing the member which forms the exterior surface and the ABS sheet in a spaced apart relationship;
- (2) introducing a foamable resin composition containing a halogenated apliphatic or cycloaliphatic hydrocarbon between the exterior surface and the ABS sheet;
- and (3) foaming the foamable resin composition to form a cellular insulation material wherein a major amount of the cells in the insulation material are filled with a halogenated aliphatic or cycloaliphatic hydrocarbon, the improvement which comprises using an ABS sheet which has bonded thereto a coextensive sheet of a rubber-modified high nitrile polymer wherein the rubber-modified high nitrile polymer is facing the exterior surface and is in laminated contact with the foam in the refrigerator cabinet wherein the rubber-modified high nitrile polymer contains from 45 to 85 percent by weight, based on the total polymer weight of a nitrile monomer unit and from 5 to 30 percent by weight of a synthetic or natural rubber component.
In the process for preparing a refrigerator cabinet comprising an exterior surface, a sheet of ABS which forms the interior surface of the refrigerator, and a layer of gas filled polyurethane foam which is interposed between the exterior surface of the ABS sheet, said process comprising (1) placing the member which forms the exterior surface and the ABS sheet in a spaced apart relationship;
- (2) introducing a foamable polyurethane composition containing a halogenated aliphatic or cycloaliphatic hydrocarbon between the exterior surface and the ABS sheet;
- and (3) foaming the foamable composition to form a polyurethane foam wherein a major amount of the cells in the polyurethane foam are filled with a halogenated aliphatic or cycloaliphatic hydrocarbon, the improvement which comprises using an ABS sheet which has laminated thereto a coextensive sheet of a rubber-modified high nitrile polymer wherein the rubber-modified high nitrile polymer is facing the exterior surface and is in laminated contact with the foam in the refrigerator cabinet wherein the rubber-modified high nitrile polymer is the graft polymerization product of:
- A. from 60 to 83 percent by weight of acrylonitrile and from 17 to 40 percent by weight of at least one comonomer selected from the group consisting of monovinylidene aromatic hydrocarbons, lower alphaolefins containing from 2 to 6 carbon atoms, alkyl acrylates and alkyl methacrylates, wherein the alkyl group contains from 1 to b 4 carbon atoms, vinyl esters and vinyl ethers, wherein the alkyl group contains from 1 to 4 carbon atoms, and
- B. from 5 to 30 percent by weight of a synthetic rubber component having a second order transition temperature of less than -20.degree. C.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.