Polymeric foam powder processing techniques, foam powders products, and foams produced containing those foam powders
AssigneeMobius Technologies, Inc.
InventorsBryan Martel, Robert Villwock, Herman Stone
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
This relates variously to techniques for comminuting polymeric foams, to techniques for preparing polymeric foams containing that comminuted foam, and to the resulting comminuted foam powder and polymeric foams. The procedures may be used on foams containing production contaminants such as polyolefins, paper, and foam skins and on other foams containing consumer contaminants such as wood, metal, leather, etc. The comminuted foam powder, with or without contaminants, preferably is screened or sifted to obtain a foam powder having a particle size of about 2 mm or less.
Claims45
A method of preparing foam powder from polymeric foam, the method comprising:
- a) comminuting the foam in a crusher comprising at least two surfaces moving at different speeds, said comminuting comprising contacting at least a portion of the foam to said at least two surfaces, thereby preparing a crushed product comprising particles;
- b) quenching the crushed product exiting the crusher with a cooling medium, wherein a mass flow rate of the cooling medium has a value that is at least a certain percentage of a mass flow rate of the crushed product, wherein said value is at least a minimum value suitable for dilute phase pneumatic conveying of the crushed product and
- c) separating said particles from the crushed product, wherein substantially all of the crushed product exiting the crusher is scraped off said at least two surfaces of said crusher prior to separating said particles from the crushed product.
A method of preparing foam powder from polymeric foam, the method comprising:
- a) comminuting the foam in a crusher comprising at least two surfaces moving at different speeds, said comminuting comprising contacting at least a portion of the foam to said at least two surfaces, thereby preparing a crushed product comprising particles;
- b) quenching the crushed product exiting the crusher with a cooling medium, wherein a mass flow rate of the cooling medium has a value that is at least 3% of a mass flow rate of the crushed product, and
- c) separating said particles from the crushed product, wherein at least 10 volume percent of said particles have a particle size of about 150 microns or less.
A method of preparing foam powder from polymeric foam, the method comprising:
- a) comminuting the foam in a crusher comprising at least two surfaces moving at different speeds, said comminuting comprising contacting at least a portion of the foam to said at least two surfaces, thereby preparing a crushed product comprising particles;
- b) quenching the crushed product exiting the crusher with a cooling medium, wherein a mass flow rate of the cooling medium has a value that is at least 3% of a mass flow rate of the crushed product, and
- c) separating said particles from the crushed product, wherein at least 10 volume percent of said particles have a particle size of about 150 microns or less, and a majority of said particles are of such a size that, when viewed on a particle-by-particle basis, do not have elongated sections left from a foam structure jutting from a central junction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.