Retroreflective article having launderably durable bead-bond
Assignee3M Innovative Properties Company
InventorRobert J. Fleming
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A retroreflective article (10) has retroreflective elements (12) partially embedded in a binder layer (14) that contains a solid polyurethane. The polyurethane includes soft segments, hard segments, silicon moieties, and urethane moieties. The specific chemical identities and relative amounts of the segments and moieties are sufficient to impart desired high elongation and low modulus to the polymer. The inventive retroreflective article is capable of demonstrating extraordinary laundering durability under industrial wash conditions and tumble and tunnel drying.
Claims29
A retroreflective article adapted for use on clothing, which retroreflective article comprises:
- a layer of retroreflective elements partially embedded in a binder layer that comprises a solid polyurethane comprising a plurality of soft segments, a plurality of hard segments, and a plurality of silicon moieties, wherein the soft segments comprise polyester units and poly(alkoxy) units, and wherein the specific chemical identities and relative amounts of the segments and moieties are sufficient to impart an elongation at break of at least 500% and a Young's modulus of less than 10 MPa to the solid polyurethane.
A retroreflective article comprising a layer of retroreflective glass microspheres partially embedded in a binder layer comprising crosslinked, silicon-containing polyurethane polymer comprising a plurality of soft segments of ##STR6## where w is 4 and y is 7, a plurality of hard segments comprising diphenylene, a plurality of ##STR7## moieties, and a plurality of urethane moieties, the polymer having an elongation at break of at least 750 and a Young's modulus of less than 10 MPa, the article having a coefficient of retroreflectivity of at least 100 cd/lx.multidot.m.sup.2.
A method of making a retroreflective article comprising partially embedding retroreflective elements in a binder layer comprising a mixture of polyol comprising a plurality of soft segments of polyvalent polyester moieties and polyvalent poly(alkoxy) moieties, a carbocyclic polyisocyanate, ethoxylated bisphenol A diol, low molecular weight polyol, and mercaptosilane or isocyanatosilane, and exposing the resulting embedded binder layer to ambient air to form from the mixture a silicon-containing crosslinker polyurethane, the specific chemical identities and relative amounts of the polyol, polyisocyanate, and silane being sufficient to impart an elongation at break of at least 500% and a Young's modulus of less than 10 MPa to the polyurethane.
A method of making a polyurethane, which method comprises.
- mixing together a combination that comprises (i) a prepolymer that is an isocyanate-terminated urethane polyol that comprises a plurality of soft segments of polyvalent polyester moieties and polyvalent polyalkoxy moieties;
- (ii) ethoxylated bisphenol A diol;
- (iii) low molecular weight polyol;
- and (iv) mercaptosilane or isocyanatosilane;
- and
- polymerizing the resulting mixture to form from the mixture a polyurethane that has an elongation at break of at least 500% and a Young's modules of less than 10 MPa.
A method of making a polyurethane, which method comprises;
- mixing together a combination that comprises (i) carbocyclic polyisocyanate, (ii) polyol comprising a plurality of soft segments of polyvalent polyester moieties and polyvalent polyalkoxy moieties, (iii) ethoxylated bisphenol A diol, (iv) low molecular weight polyol, and (v) mercaptosilane or isocyanatosilane, and
- polymerizing the resulting mixture to form from the mixture a polyurethane, the specific chemical identities and relative amounts of the segments being sufficient to impart to the polyurethane an elongation at break of at least 500% and a modulus of less than 10 MPa.
A retroreflective article that is adapted for use on clothing, which article comprises:
- (a) retroreflective elements that include a layer of transparent microspheres and a metal reflective layer, the metal reflective layer being disposed relative to the microspheres such that light passing through the microspheres is reflected by the metal reflective layer;
- and
- (b) a binder layer that comprises a polyurthane polymer that contains soft segments, hard segments, and silicon moieties, wherein the soft segments comprise blocks of polyester units and blocks of poly(alkoxy) units, the transparent microspheres being partially embedded in the binder layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.