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US 6,777,480 B2Granted
Networked polymer/clay alloy
AssigneeAlberta Research Council
InventorsJohn Donald Payzant, Zhihong Zhou
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A networked polymer/clay alloy is produced from a monomer/clay mixture comprising a monomer, a cross-linking agent and clay particles. An initiator means is used to initiate polymerization of the monomer/clay mixture. The clay is chemically integrated with the polymer such that, on exposure to water, the networked polymer/clay alloy swells with substantially no clay separating from the alloy.
Claims22
A process for producing a networked polymer/clay alloy, comprising the steps of:
- (a) preparing a monomer/clay mixture slurry by mixing at least a monomer, clay particles, a cross-linking agent, and a mixing fluid in a vessel;
- (b) exposing the monomer/clay mixture slurry to a thermal initiator means comprising at least one thermal initiator and thermal energy, wherein exposing the monomer/clay mixture slurry to the thermal initiator means comprises:
- (i) mixing, in any order, the at least one thermal initiator with at least the monomer, clay particles, the cross-linking agent and the mixing fluid so that the monomer/clay mixture slurry is exposed to the thermal initiator;
- (ii) exposing the monomer/day mixture slurry to a thermal energy source at a temperature in a range from about 400° C. to about 95° C.;
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- (c) polymerizing the monomer/clay mixture slurry so that a networked polymer/clay alloy is formed.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.