NOVEL MONOFILAMENTS, PROCESS FOR THE PREPARATION THEREOF AND FABRICS THEREOF

Abstract: A blend of two resins forming a novel monofilament comprises from about 50 to 95 parts by weight of a linear polyphenylene sulfide and, from about 5 to 50 parts by weight of a melt extrudable copolymer consisting essentially of an olefin and a halogenated monomer. The monofilament is prepared by extruding a mixture of the linear poly phenylene sulfide and the melt extrudable copolymer to form a monofilament and thereafter drawing the monofilament to a ration of from about 3.5:1 to 6.0:1. The filament can be employed for the manufacture of fabric.

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention is directed toward a blend of two resins forming a novel monofilament, one resin being polyphenylene sulfide. A process for the single step extrusion of such monofilament is also provided. Industrial fabrics manufactured from these monofilaments have utility, particularly as belts on paper forming machines, and are also provided. Polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) monofilament has been prepared using standard extrusion techniques. It has outstanding chemical and thermal resistance and thus has many potential applications as an industrial filament. In particular PPS has potential for making fabrics for use with paper forming machines. Because of the harsh chemical and thermal environment in which these fabrics are used, fabrics of PPS have extended life and better overall performance than fabrics composed of conventional materials. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Due to the high level of crystallinity of PPS, monofilaments thereof tend to be brittle and are difficult to work with. In particular, the knot strength and loop strength of PPS monofilament are low and result in problems during the processing of the monofilaments, especially when the monofilament is woven into fabrics. When the monofilament is removed from the quill during weaving, twists and loops form which, when tightened, kink and result in filament breaks. Mixtures of PPS with various thermoplastic materials have been prepared heretofore, in an effort to reduce the brittleness. In general, the mixtures are not directly extrudable and have not provided the improvement desired. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,421,588, PPS is blended with polyetheretherketone using diphenylsulphone as a mutual solvent. The resulting mixture, used for bearing material, has high fatigue strength and improved thermal stability but can be formed only by molding. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,455,410, PPS is mixed with a polyetherimide for the purpose of obtaining a material with good flexural strength and better mechanical properties than PPS alone. The PPS used in the example was Ryton P-4, a powder grade resin, available from Phillips Chemical Co. and which is suitable for molding rather than extruding. The final products described in the patent were produced by extruding a mixture of the components and then molding the mixtures, i.e. , a two step process. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,493,917, PPS (Ryton P-4, molding grade material) is mixed with fluoropolymers in order to improve the properties of the fluoropolymer which in turn is reflected in a modification of the mechanical properties of the components of electrochemical reactors that are made from fluoropolymers, viz. , to reduce the high temperature creep and reduce the high thermal coefficient of expansion of the fluoropolymers. The fluoropolymers specified were fully fluorinated homopolymers or perfluoroalkoxy resins. The process of preparing the components required two steps: preparing the blend by extrusion and then producing the final object by molding. U.S. Pat. No. 3,487,454 describes the addition of polyfluorocarbon polymers, more particularly polytetrafluoroethylene, to PPS to improve the molding and extrusion characteristics of the latter. The amount of polyfluorocarbon added is from 0.5 to 10, preferably 1 to 3, weight percent. The polymer blend is stated to have utility for the extrusion of sheets, wire coverings, and the molding of shaped articles, such as nose cones of spaceships, valve seats, heat resistant metal coatings, and insulators. There is no reference to the formation of filaments from such polymer blends. Previous efforts in the art to produce PPS monofilaments having improved brittleness properties have centered on preparing blends of PPS with various thermoplastic resins. While such blends have resulted in reduced monofilament brittleness, that is better loop and knot strength, other properties, such as tensile strength and abrasion resistance, were degraded. We have now found that PPS monofilament brittleness can be reduced without degrading such other properties, by the addition to PPS of melt extrudable copolymers comprising up to 50 parts by weight of olefin -derived units and up to 90 parts by weight of halogenated monomer-derived units. According to the present invention, there is provided a monofilament formed of a blend of two resins comprising: from 50 to 95 parts by weight of a linear polyphenylene sulfide, and from 50 to 5 parts by weight of a melt extrudable copolymer comprising from 10 to 50 parts by weight of units derived from an olefin and 90 to 50 parts by weight of units derived from a halogenated monomer. The present invention also comprises a process for making a monofilament according to the invention, which comprises: extruding a mixture of from 50 to 95 parts by weight of a linear polyphenylene sulfide and from 50 to 5 parts by weight of a melt extrudable copolymer comprising from 10 to 50 parts by weight of units derived from an olefin and 90 to 50 parts by weight of units derived from a halogenated monomer, to form a monofilament, and drawing the monofilament to a ratio of from 3.5:1 to 6.0:1. The present invention further comprises a fabric, at least partially or wholly consisting of monofilaments according to the invention. The PPS material used in the monofilament of the present invention must be melt extrudable and thus will have a melt index of from 100 to 300 and preferably from 150 to 200. One particularly suitable PPS material is commercially available as Ryton GRO2 in pellet form from Phillips Chemical Co., Ryton being a registered trademark. The second resin forming the monofilament comprises a melt extrudable copolymer which consists essentially of an olefin and a halogenated monomer. Suitable olefins include hydrocarbons such as ethylene, propylene, and butylene. Suitable halogenated monomers for use in the copolymers are well known to those skilled in the art and include monomers with fluorine functionality with and without chlorine functionality such as tetrafluoroethylene, fluorinated ethylene-propylene, chlorotrifluoroethylene, vinylidene fluoride, hexafluoropropylene and the like. It is to be understood that practice of the present invention is not dependent upon the selection of a particular halogenated monomer and therefore should not be so limited. Also, as a convenience, the term halogenated monomer has been employed in a rather limited sense herein to refer to monomers which, in turn, are understood to include chlorine as well as fluorine. As noted hereinabove, the term melt extrudable copolymer encompasses copolymers of olefins and halogenated monomers to the exclusion of other known halogenated monomers such as vinyl chloride, vinyl fluoride, trifluorostyrene, and the like which normally are not copolymerized with the olefins. One particularly suitable melt extrudable copolymer is polyethylene-tetrafluoroethylene, or ETFE fluoropolymer, marketed by DuPont under the trademark Tefzel and which was employed in the work reported hereinbelow. With respect to the extrusion process, the monofilament is produced by extruding the two resins together. The two resins, which have been mechanically mixed, are loaded into the extruder hopper and from there fed into a single screw extruder. The melting and intimate blending of the resin mixture takes place in the extruder at a temperature of about 270° C as the screw conveys the resin mixture forward. The molten and thoroughly blended resin is fed into a metering pump which forces the molten resin through a die to form molten filaments. The extrusion temperature is suitably from 285° to 325° C with 294° to 310° C being preferred. The monofilament is quenched in air or a waterbath so that solid filaments are formed. The solid filaments are drawn at room or elevated temperatures up to about 100° C between a set of draw rolls to a ratio of from about 3.5:1 to 6.0:1 and the drawn filaments are allowed to relax about 2% by passing them through the relaxing stage. The finished filaments are then wound onto spools. Unlike existing processes, which require the blend to be formed first and thereafter chopped, melted and extruded or otherwise molded, the process of the present invention goes from the resin mixture directly to the monofilament. In order to produce a quality monofilament, it is necessary that the blend of resins after extrusion be homogeneous. In contrast to the blend described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,493,917, whereby the extrusion produced a network of interconnected and interpenetrating fibers of filler within the matrix, the blend of resins in the present invention is uniform and homogeneous. Such a uniform blend is necessary in order to produce monofilaments with uniform properties and uniform diameters. A monofilament described by the present invention was produced according to the foregoing process and has been set forth hereinbelow as Example No. 1. Example No. 1 A monofilament blend was produced by mixing and extruding in a single step polyphenylene sulfide (Ryton GRO2) pellets and ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer (Tefzel 210) pellets in a 6.3 cm single screw extruder. A uniform mixture of the two resins (70% Ryton, 30% Tefzel) was placed in the extruder hopper and extruded in a normal fashion. The extrusion conditions, which are not to be considered limiting, were as follows: First heater zone 299° C Second heater zone 305° C Third heater zone 310° C Fourth heater zone 310° C Fifth heater zone 299° C Extruder neck 294° C Extruder head 294° C Extruder die 294° C The extruder die had ten 1.397 mm holes. The extruder output was 7.66 kilograms per hour and the final monofilament size was 15.7 mils (399 µm). The monofilament was quenched in a waterbath at a temperature of 66° C and was 7.62 cm below the extruder die. The quenched monofilament was drawn in a hot air oven at a temperature of about 100° C with a draw ratio of 4.18 and then allowed to relax 1.6 percent at a temperature of 127° C. The finished monofilament was placed on spools for testing. For comparative purposes, polyphenylene sulfide (Ryton GRO2) was extruded into monofilament as Example No. 2 using the conditions outlined hereinabove. The two materials, Examples No. 1 and 2, were tested to evaluate their physical properties. The results of the testing are presented in Table I. Monofilament vs. Monofilament Blend Properties Example No. 2 Example No. 1 Property Ryton Ryton/Tefzel (70/30) Tensile strength 4.13 kg 3.86 kg Tensile elongation 31.06% 34.9% Knot strength 2.69 kg 2.85 kg Knot elongation 18.98% 24.9% Loop strength 2.73 kg 4.04 kg Loop elongation 2.4% 10.0% Abrasion 28,200 cycles 60,000 cycles Example Nos. 3-5 Polyphenylene sulfide (Ryton GRO2) and poly ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene (Tefzel 210) were blended and extruded as described in Example No. 1. The weight proportions were as follows: Components Example No. 3 Example No. 4 Example No. 5 Polyphenylene sulfide 95 90 80 Polyethylene-tetrafluoroethylene 5 10 20 Physical property testing as in Table I provided the results reported shown in Table II. Monofilament Blend Properties Having Varying Compositions Property Example No. 3 Example No. 4 Example No. 5 Tensile strength 4.09 kg 4.09 kg 4.04 kg Tensile elongation 32.9% 35.3% 34.4% Knot strength 2.63 kg 2.68 kg 2.73 kg Knot elongation 21.1% 20.3% 33.4% Loop strength 3.02 kg 2.9 kg 3.54 kg Loop elongation 7.0% 4.0% 7.8% Abrasion 47,500 30,900 46,900 The monofilament blends described herein could be readily woven into a fabric which would be suitable for industrial purposes such as dryer belts utilized in paper making processes. The fabric referred to herein is formed by weaving two filament systems, i.e. , lengthwise yarn (warp) and crosswise yarn (fill), at least one of which is a monofilament system, in a repeated pattern. Possible patterns include the plain weave in which the filling yarn passes alternately over and under each warp yarn, the twill weave which is formed by interlacing warp and fill so that the filling yarn passes alternately over and under two or more warp yarns, and the satin weave which is formed so that there are more filling yarns on the face than on the inside of the fabric. Variations of these patterns are possible which include combinations of the basic patterns. In addition to these one layer fabrics, fabrics can be woven having two or more layers. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, fabrics can be woven flat and then seamed to form an endless belt or can be woven as an endless belt so that no seam is necessary. It is to be understood that the monofilament of this invention can be used for part or all of the filaments in any of the fabrics described hereinabove. One suggested use for the fabrics of the present invention is in the paper industry where fabrics were originally made from metal wires. Metal wire fabrics have been largely replaced by fabrics made from synthetic materials such as polyester and nylon because the synthetic materials result in longer life-times for the belts. In some environments, i.e. , where high temperatures and corrosive chemicals are present, the ordinary synthetics are not suitable. For this reason materials such as Ryton, which have good chemical and temperature resistance, have been used with success in hostile environments. However, as discussed above, Ryton alone is difficult to work with because it is very brittle. Fabrics prepared from the blends discussed herein have been constructed with no difficulty and have, therefore, substantially eliminated the problems encountered with Ryton. The known fabrics described hereinabove have been used for the most part on paper forming machines. In these instances, the fabrics are formed into endless belts which are in continuous motion on the paper machine as the paper is formed. It is to be understood that such fabrics also have applications for filter media in situations where the fabric is stationary. The fabrics described in the present invention are prepared from filaments with diameters ranging from 10 mils to 30 mils (254 to 762 µm) and have dimensions ranging from 100 to 400 inches wide (254 to 1016 cm) and from 100 to 300 feet long (30.5 to 91.5 m). As indicated above, part of the fabric can comprise the novel monofilament, as warp or fill, or the fabric can be totally manufactured from the novel monofilament (warp and fill). Fabrics of this invention can be utilized on paper forming machines, as filter media and other applications. In conclusion, it should be clear from the foregoing examples and specification disclosure that the monofilaments of the present invention exhibit improved physical properties as compared to polyphenylene sulfide monofilaments, particularly in the reduction of brittleness without sacrifice of other important properties. The reduction of brittleness is manifested especially by the increase in loop strength of the monofilament of the present invention. Compared to the unblended Ryton monofilament, the monofilament of the present invention exhibits a nearly 50% increase in loop strength. As a practical matter, because of the reduced brittleness, monofilament of the present invention can be readily woven into fabrics without excessive breaking of filaments as is the case of monofilament consisting of unblended Ryton. It is to be understood that the use of melt extrudable copolymers is not limited to the ETFE fluoropolymer exemplified herein or by the disclosure of typical fluorocarbon polymers provided herein, the examples having been provided merely to demonstrate practice of the subject invention. Those skilled in the art may readily select other melt extrudable copolymers according to the disclosure made hereinabove. Similarly, practice of the process of the present invention should not be limited to a particular extruder, extrusion temperatures, quench temperature, draw ratio or relaxation ratio from the exemplification it being understood by those skilled in the art that accommodations can be made within the spirit of the invention for difference in equipment as well as in the desired composition and physical properties of the monofilament. Lastly, it should be appreciated that the monofilaments described herein shall have utility in woven fabric as well as in end-products made therefrom such as paper making belts. Both fabric and related end-products shall have improved physical properties such as temperature and chemical resistance over conventional fabrics composed of nylon and polyester filaments that have been utilized heretofore in similar embodiments.

Claims: A monofilament formed of a blend of two resins comprising: from 50 to 95 parts by weight of a linear polyphenylene sulfide, and from 50 to 5 parts by weight of a melt extrudable copolymer comprising from 10 to 50 parts by weight of units derived from an olefin and 90 to 50 parts by weight of units derived from a halogenated monomer. A monofilament according to claim 1, in which the melt extrudable copolymer is polyethylene - tetrafluoroethylene. A monofilament according to claim 1 or 2, having a diameter of from 254 to 762 µm (10 to 30 mils) and a loop strength approximately 50 percent greater than that of a polyphenylene sulfide monofilament. A process for making a monofilament according to any of claims 1 to 3, which comprises: extruding a mixture of from 50 to 95 parts by weight of a linear polyphenylene sulfide and from 50 to 5 parts by weight of a melt extrudable copolymer comprising from 10 to 50 parts by weight of units derived from an olefin and 90 to 50 parts by weight of units derived from a halogenated monomer, to form a monofilament, and drawing the monofilament to a ratio of from 3.5:1 to 6.0:1. A process according to claim 4, in which the resins forming said mixture are mixed and melted in the extruder. A process according to claim 4, in which the resins forming said mixture are mechanically mixed and the mixture obtained is fed to the extruder. A process according to any of claims 4 to 6, in which the extruded monofilament is quenched prior to drawing. A process according to any of claims 4 to 7, in which the monofilament is relaxed by approximately 2 percent following the drawing step. A fabric, at least partially consisting of monofilaments according to any of claims 1 to 3. A fabric according to claim 9 which consists entirely of monofilaments according to any of claims 1 to 3. A belt for a paper-making machine which comprises a fabric according to claim 9 or 10.

Inventors: BALLARD, LARRY
Applicants: SHAKESPEARE COMPANY
Application year: 1986
Main classification: D01F6
IPC codes: D01F6