COATING COMPOSITION

Abstract: A method of preparing a novel electromagnetic wave attenuating composition comprising forming a curable film forming coating composition and thereafter dispersing an effective amount of an electrically conductive additive in said curable film forming composition under low shear con­ ditions to form said electromagnetic wave blocking com­ position.

Description: Coating Composition Electromagnetic wave interference (EMI) or radio frequency interference (RFI) results from the operation of various electronic devices. Many devices such as electronic memories are extremely sensitive to EMI or RFI pollution which can deprogram memories and has the potential for ruining the circuitry and thus rendering the device useless. Historically this was not a problem to industry because of metallic housing that acted as a shield and the fact that sensitive electronic devices were not in wide use. The use of plastics in place of metal for the manufacture of housings for electronic devices results in a structure that allows electromagnetic waves to flow virtually unimpeded through the device. The Federal Communications Commission has established regulations to limit the amount of electromagnetic radiation that may be emitted by an electronic device (FCC Docket No. 20780). This regulation divides computing devices into two broad categories of those intended for business (Class A) and those for home use (Class B). The limits are defined by an electromagnetic wave having a given field strength or less at a given distance throughout a given frequency range. The industry has met the standard imposed by the FCC regulations by using vacuum metalizing or silver filled paints which are quite costly. Other industry standards for these products are VDE German standard 0871/6.78; the propo ed SAE AIR 1499; and U.S. Department of Health MDS-201-004. Many solvent based coatings have benn used for this reason and they have included electricWlly conductive additives such as nickel, copper and silver. The term plastic is used to refer to those polymeric materials commonly used for housing for electronic apparatus such as polyphenylene ethers, polycarbonates, polyacrylates, polysulfones, polystyrenes, flame retardant polystyrenes, epoxy resins and the like. The applicant has discovered a method for making a coating composition containing electrically conductive flakes that result in a coating composition that adheres to plastic substrates and is capable of shielding sensitive electronic components from electromagnetic radiation, Thus, the primary oject of the present invention is to provide a composition that is capable of blocking electromagnetic radiation and also a coating composition that adheres to plastic substrates. The invention provides a method of preparing a novel electromagnetic wave attenuating composition. The method is characterized by: forming a curable film forming coating composition; and thereafter dispersing an effective amount of an electrically conductive additive in said curable film forming composition under low shear conditions to form said electromagnetic wave blocking composition. The nature of the curable film forming composition is not critical, although it is necessary, to select materials which are capable of fully wetting the conductive flake composition so that an adherent coating having fully dispersed conductive flake is obtained. Water based systems are preferred. In this regard, it is preferred to utilize an amount of a suitable wetting agent which may be an anionic surfactant as an additive to the composition, Suitable curable film forming coating compositions include aqueous dispersions of acryllic and urethane resins. These aqueous compositions may include surface active agents to insure that the conductive flakes are completely "wetted". The acryllic based curable film forming composition may include carboxylated acryllic resins such as styrene-acryllic copolymers (Neocryl A-621 from Polyvinyl Chemical Co. of Wilmington, Mass.) or other commercially available acryllics such as Rhoplex WL-91 (Rohm & Haas, Philadelphia, Pa) Ucar 4431 (Union Carbide Co., New York, NY) or Stacryl 200 (Stanley Chemicals, Co.). The urethane resins include the aqueous aliphatic urethane that may be prepared using procedures that are described in the Encyclopedia of Polymer Science and Technology, Vol. II, pp. 555-558. Briefly these materials are prepared by reaction of a diisocyanate with a polyol or water. Suitable diisocyanates are of the formula OCN-R-NCO when R is an organic radical. Suitable R groups include (CH )n, wherein n is an integer of from 1 2 to 8. Specific examples of the diisocyanates include hexamethylene diisocyanates; methylcyclohexene diisocyanate; lysine diisocyanates; bis (2-isocyanatoethyl) fumarate and bis ( 2-isocyanatoethyl) carbonate. A preferred aliphatic urethane is Neorez R-960 which is available from Polyvinyl Chemical Industries, 730 Main Street, Wilmington, Massachusetts 01887. If an anionic surfactant is employed, the particular anionic surfactant is not critical to the invention and various materials such as sodium lauryl sulfate, sodium alkyl sulfonates, alkyl aryl sulfonates, sodium 2,2-dinaphthyl-methane-6,6'-disulfonate and the like may be used. Other anionic surfactants are listed in McCutcheon's Detergents and Emulsifiers; 1979 Edition which is incorporated by reference. To impart resistance to polar solvents such as methanol, an additive to the urethane base composition may be utilized which is a trifunc tional aziridine compound, which is a derivative of ethyleneimine, having the formula EMI4.1 This is available from Cordoba Chemical Co. Sacramento, California under the tradename XAMA-7. The electrically conductive additive may include nickel, copper, iron, silver, chromium tin, aluminum, zinc or carbon materials which possess the morphology which permits the formation of an electrically conductive layer when from 10-60 volume percent of the additive is dispersed in a curable film forming coating composition The preferred additive is nickel in the form of flakes. The term electrically conductive is used to define a film surface resistivity of less than about 75 ohms/square according to a test that is described hereinafter. The preferred ranges of electrical conductivity are between 50 and 0,05 ohms/square and especially preferred are conductivities 0,1 to 0,7 ohms/square. The electrical conductivity may be correlated with the surface characteristics that are necessary to block electromagnetic radiation and it is a useful test to determine the suitability of a given composition useful for electromagnetic wave attenuation. The compositions of the invention preferably include from about 40 to 80 parts by weight of a 20-40% by weight dispersion of the curable film forming composition from about 20 to 60 parts by weight of the electrical conductive additive. The trifunctional aziridine may be added at from 0,5 to 5 parts by weight of composition, if desired and if a surfactant is present, it may comprise from 10-20 parts by weight of a 20-50% solids aqueous dispersion of the surfactant. The manner in which the compositions of the invention are prepared as well as the morphology of the electrically conductive additive are very important to the production of a coating which can be successfully attenuate electromagnetic radiation. The use of a high shear mixing apparatus should be avoided when the electrically conductive additive is dispersed in the curable film forming composition. The use of a high shear apparatus tends to break down the particle size of electrically conductive additives thus reducing the degree of overlap and tangential contact between particles of the additive and the additive and the resultant loss of electrical conductivity. The use of a low shear mixing procedure avoids the breakdown of the electrically conductive particles and the proper type of a low shear mixing step can be selected based on the degree of shear which produces a coating having the proper degree of electrical conductivity and electromagnetic attenuation. The curing conditions for the composition will depend on the nature of the curable film forming compositions. The preferred compositions are aqueous based materials that may be dried at ambient conditions. If desired, heat e.g. of 22-650C (72-1500F) may be used to accelerate the cure of these film forming compositions. The term ohm/square is a unitless term that is based on a test which measures the resistance between two silver clad dimes that are placed apart on the test surface at a distance equal to the diameter of a dime. A Simpson meter is then used to determine the resistance. Example 1 A composition was prepared from 16.23 parts by weight of 21% by weight solids of an aqueous dispersion anionin surfactant derived from an ammonium salt of a polycarboxylic acid; 24.35 parts by weight 2 of a 60% by weight aqueous dispersion of a styrene acrylic copolymer having an acid number of 30. The styrene acrylic copolymer dispersion and the water were added all together and agitation was provided by a laboratory Hockmeyer using a 76.2 mm (3") bore blade at 2000 rpm. The anionic surfactant was added slowly (one minute) to avoid shocking the styrene acrylic copolymer out of the aqueous dispersion. Mix ing was then continued for about 60 minutes. The composition was removed from the Hockmeyer'placed under low shear agitation using a standard laboratory impeller to create surface movement. Thereafter 3 51.61 parts by weight of nickel flake (33:1 flake morphology ratio; 13 glco density; 1.2 micron average flake thickness) were added and were blended into the film forming base with low shear agitation for 15-20 minutes. Preparation of the compsition in this manner provides for a minimal destruction of the nickel flake morphology. The composition was coated onto various surfaces that were tested for adhesion, surface resistivity and attenuation of electromagnetic radiation. The results are reported in Table 1. 1 Tamol 165 Rohm and Haas, Philadelphia, PA 2 Neocryl A-621 Polyvinyl Chemical Co. 3 Ni-HCA-l Novamet, Wyckoff, N.J. TABLE 1 Polyphenylene Polyphenylene oxide-rubber oxide-rubber modified modified polystyreneÚ Polycarbonateê polystyreneÚ (foamed) (foamed) Polycarbonateê Adhesion 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% Initial 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 56 days at 82 C (180 F) 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 56 days at 90% rel hum & 35 C (95 f) 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% @@ Surface Resistivity4 Initial 0.3 ohm/sq 0.2 ohm/sq 0.3 ohm/sq 0.1 ohm/sq 0.5 ohm/sq 30 days at 82 C (180 F) 0.7 ohm/sq 0.5 ohm/sq 0.3 ohm/sq 0.1 ohm/sq 0.9 ohm/sq 3month at RT 0.5 ohm/sq 0.6 ohm/sq 0.3 ohm/sq 0.1 ohm/sq 0.5 ohm/sq Attentuation5 Panel Preparation - VM & Naphta wipe Application - Conventional Spray Equipment Flash - 30 min. at R.T. Fare - 30 min. at 65 C (150 F) or 12 hours at R.T. Film Build - 30.5-45.7 microns (1.2-1.8 mils) 1 Noryl 2 Lexan 3 Crosshatch 4 Run with 3 dimes with center one removed and resistivity run with Simpson meter Measure drop in decibels of a 110 dB signal from 1 kiloHertz to 1 GigaHertz on FN-215. Result is not substrate dependent and can be translated to any substrate where adhesion and film resistivity are comparable Example 2 A composition was prepared from 16.6 parts by weight of a 20% by weight dolids of an aqueous dispersion of the anionic surfactant of Example 1; 83.4 parts by weight of a 38X by weight aqueous dispersion of an aliphatic polyurethane and 50.83 parts by weight of the nickel flake of example 1. The composition was prepared using the same procedure of Example 1 and the cured film had excellent adhesion on foamed and unfoamed polycarbonate compositions as well as on foamed polyphenylene oxide rubber modified high impact styrene compositions. The resistivity was less than 1 ohm/square Example 3 The composition of Example 2 was modified by the inclusion of a 3% .2 by weight of a trifunctional aziridine compound to give the compo- sition improved resistance to polar solvents such as methanol. This composition was cured into a film having a resistivity of less than 1 ohm/square. Example 4 This example compares the results of the applicant's process with a high shear process The composition of Example 1 was blended with 3 varying amounts of artificial graphite . The resistivities of cured films were determined and are reported in Table 2. 1 NeoRez 960 Polyvinyl Chemical Corp, 2 XAMA-7; Cordoba Chemical Company 3 Asbury Graphite Mills, Asbury, N.J. TABLE 2 1 2 Artificial Graphite High Shear Low Shear (wt%) (ohm/sq) (ohm/sq) 35 1000 62 40 120 18 60 35 5 This data demonstrates the profound effect that the mixing procedure of the invention has on the resistivity of the cured films. 1 Cowles at about 2000 rpm 2 Procedure of Example 1 Obviously, other modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in the light of the above teachings. It is, therefore, to be understood that chages may be made in the particular 'embodiment of the invention described which are within the full intended scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims: Claims 1. A method for forming an electromagnetic wave attenuating composition characterized by: forming a curable film forming coating composition; and thereafter dispersing an effective amount of an electrically conductive additive in said film forming composition under low shear conditions to form said electromagnetic wave blocking composition. 2. A method as defined in Claim 1 characterized in that the curable film forming composition is an aqueous dispersion of the film forming composition. 3. A method as defined in claim 2 characterized in that the electrically conductive additive is flaked nickel. 4. A method as defined in claim 3 characterized in that the curable film forming composition is based on an acrylic resin. 5. A method as defined in claim 3 characterized in that the curable film forming composition is based on an aliphatic urethane resin. 6. A method as defined in claim 4 or 5 characterized in that the curable film forming agent includes an anionic surface agent. 7. An aqueous composition for forming a electromagnetic wave barrier on a plastic surface, characterized in that said aqueous composition comprises a curable film forming coating composition in which an electrically conductive additive has been dispersed under low shear conditions. 8. A composition as defined in claim 7 characterized in that the coating composition includes an acrylic resin and flaked nickel. 9. A composition as defined in claim 7 characterized in that the coating composition includes an aliphatic urethane resin and flaked nickel. 10. A composition as defined in claim 8 or 9 characterized in that the composition contains an anionic surfactant. 11. A plastic substrate that has beery coated with the cured composition of claim 7.

Inventors: WATCHKO, GEORGE RUSSEL
Applicants: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
Application year: 1983
Main classification: H05K9
IPC codes: H05K9, C09D5