PROCESS FOR PREPARING TWO-PLY FOAM MOLDED ARTICLES

Abstract: A two-ply foam molded article, suitable for interior automotive trim and upholstery, is prepared by (i) heating a foamable polyolefin sheet to form a foamed polyolefin layer, and (ii) integrally laminating a fabric on a side of the resulting foamed polyolefin layer which is still in a melted and softened state to form a laminate whilst simultaneously draw forming the resulting laminate to shape the laminate.

Description: This invention relates to a process for preparing polyolefin based two-ply foam molded articles for use as materials for interior automotive trim and upholstery. Two-ply foam molded articles comprising a fabric such as a nonwoven fabric of polyester or nylon and a foamed polyolefin layer such as foamed polyproplylene layer provided on the back of said fabric are widely used in automobile as materials for trunk room, pillar, door trim, floor mat and rear package tray. Such two-ply foam molded articles have heretofore been prepared by integral lamination of a fabric such as a nonwoven fabric and a foamed sheet using an adhesive to obtain a foambacked fabric which is then subjected to draw molding while the foamed sheet is softened by heating. When two-ply foam molded articles are prepared in this manner, however, the draw forming property of the foambacked fabric becomes poor if the heating temperature employed is low, and particularly it is difficult to form the two-ply foam molded article to shape as desired optionally by deep drawing the foambacked fabric having a thicker or thinner portion. On the other hand, if the heating temperature employed is excessively high, it is not possible to obtain two-ply foam molded articles of good quality as foam collapse occurs, though the draw forming of the foambacked fabric can be performed sufficiently. When two-ply foam molded articles of various shapes are prepared by using a foamed sheet and a fabric such as a nonwoven fabric in the manner mentioned above, it was necessary to minutely control the heating temperature to be employed, involving the difficulty in draw forming the foambacked fabric to shape. Further, in preparing two-ply foam molded articles according to the above-mentioned procedure, the fabric used, such as nonwoven fabric, is also heated directly when the foambacked fabric is subjected to draw forming. On that account, the nap of the fabric often fell down adversely to affect the appearance of the resulting two-ply foam molded articles. Furthermore, in preparing two-ply foam molded articles by the above-mentioned procedure, there was also such a problem that adhesives must be used for close lamination of the foamed sheet and the fabric such as nonwoven fabric. FR-A-2373387 discloses a process for molding and laminating a material with a foamed thermoplastic sheet which comprises heating an already foamed thermoplastic sheet to melt its surface and folding the sheet before introducing it into a mold. US-A-3175936 discloses depositing a mixture of polyurethane-foaming reactants and a low boiling blowing agent onto a surface of a fabric, vaporizing the blowing agent to form a partially expanded polyurethane foam which penetrates into the surface of the fabric and placing the fabric and partially expanded polyurethane in a mold in which the polyurethane is fully expanded and the laminate is shaped. US-A-3243485 discloses a process for fabrication of foamed thermoplastic resinous articles by mechanically shaping a sheet of fully expanded foam of the resinous material while it is still hot and thermoplastic following extrusion. The present invention seeks to solve problems associated with the prior art and provides a process for preparing two-ply foam molded articles wherein a foambacked fabric is readily draw formed by deep drawing to various shapes as desired. Accordingly the invention provides a process for preparing a two-ply foam molded articles, characterized by (i) heating a foamable polyolefin sheet to form a foamed polyolefin layer and (ii) applying a fabric to a side of the resulting foamed polyolefin layer which is still in a melted and softened state to form a laminate whilst simultaneously draw forming the resulting laminate to shape the laminate. According to the process of the invention, because the polyolefin sheet is integrally laminated with the fabric immediately after it has been foamed and simultaneously therewith, the resulting foambacked fabric is draw formed to shape, the foambacked fabric, even when it has a thicker or thinner portion, is easily draw formed, for example by deep drawing, to shape. Moreover, the fabric and the foamed polyolefin layer can be integrally laminated to each other without using adhesives and the appearance of the resulting two-ply foam molded articles is not adversely affected by a falling-down of the nap of the fabric. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a two-ply foam molded article produced in accordance with the present invention. Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 5 individually illustrate in sequence the steps involved in the process of the present invention. The process for preparing two-ply foam molded articles of the present invention is illustrated below in detail. As shown in the cross-sectional view of Fig. 1, the two-ply foam molded article 1 which is prepared in the present invention comprises a fabric 2 such as a nonwoven fabric and a foamed polyolefin layer 3 provided on the back of the fabric 2. Useful materials as the fabric 2 usually include nonwoven fabrics of polyester, nylon, polyacrylic ester or polypropylene, by way of illustration but not of limitation. Any materials may be widely used as the fabric 2 so long as they are those which have conventionally been used as surface materials of two-ply foam molded articles. The foamed polyolefin layer 3 as a backing material is prepared by heating a foamable polyolefin sheet. Such a foamable polyolefin layer 3 may be prepared by molding into the form of sheet a foamable polyolefin composition comprising (A) polyolefin, (B) a crosslinking agent, (C) a foaming agent and (D) an organic peroxide at a temperature at which neither the foaming agent (C) nor organic peroxide (D) decomposes. As the polyolefin (A) there is used mainly polyethylene or polypropylene. (i) Useful polyethylene includes a low density polyethylene LDPE (for example: MFR = 7.2 g/10 min, D = 0.917 g/cm³) having a melt flow rate (MFR) of 0.5-50 g/10 min, and a high density polyethylene HDPE (for example: MFR = 1.2 g/10 min, D = 0.9555 g/cm³). Under certain circumstances, there may also be used ethylene/vinyl acetate copolymers containing a small amount, e.g. less than 30 % by weight, of vinyl acetate based on the composition, or ethylene/propylene/non-conjugated diene copolymers containing small amounts of propylene and non-conjugated diene. (ii) Useful polypropylene includes a homopolymer of propylene and copolymers of propylene and less than 15 mol% of other α-olefin such as ethylene, 1-butene, 4-methyl-1-pentene, 1-hexene, 1-octene or 1-decene, both having a melt flow rate (MFR: ASTM D 1238, L) of 0.1-50 g/10 min, preferably 0.5-20 g/10 min. Furthermore, there may also be used the above-mentioned polypropylene in combination with an α-olefin resin selected from 1-butene polymers having a 1-butene content of at least 70 mol% and random copolymers of propylene and α-olefin of 4 to 20 carbon atoms, said random copolymers having a propylene content of 55-85 mol%. The crosslinking agent (B) for crosslinking polyethylene as the polyolefin mentioned above is preferably used, but is not always necessary. Useful crosslinking agent (B) includes unsaturated compounds, oxime compounds, nitroso compounds or maleimide compounds, which have one or two or more double bonds. This crosslinking agent (B) has such a function that by virtue of reacting it with a polymer radical, prior to the cleavage reaction of the polymer radical, said polymer radical being formed by hydrogen withdrawal from the aforesaid polyolefin (A) due to the presence of the aforesaid organic peroxide (D), the crosslinking agent (B) stablizes the polymer radical and, at the same time, enhances a crosslinking efficiency. Concrete examples of the crosslinking agent (B) include triallyl cyanurate, triallyl isocyanurate, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate, pentaerythritol triacrylate, neopentyl glycol diacrylate, 1,6-hexanediol dimethacrylate, oxime compounds such as quinone dioxime and benzoquinone dioxime, paranitroso phenol and N,N-metaphenylene bismaleimide, or mixtures of two or more compounds mentioned above. Of these compounds exemplified above, preferred are neopentyl glycol diacrylate, 1,6-hexanediol dimethacrylate or mixtures thereof. This crosslinking agent (B) is preferably present in an amount of 0.1-1 part by weigh based on 100 parts by weight of the aforesaid polyolefin (A). The foaming agent (C) used in the foamable composition is a chemical substance which is a liquid or solid at ordinary room temperature and which decomposes on heating to vapor. No particular limitation is placed on such chemical substances as mentioned above so long as they have a decomposition temperature higher than a melting point of the aforesaid polyolefin (A). Such foaming agent (C) as mentioned above includes azodicarbonamide, barium azodicarboxylate, N,N′-dinitrosopentamethylene tetramine, 4,4-oxybis (benzenesulfonylhydrazide), diphenylsulfone-3,3-disulfonyl hydrazide, p-toluenesulfonyl semicarbazide, trihydrazinotriazine, biurea and zinc carbonate. Of these compounds exemplified above, particularly preferred are azodicarbonamide, N,N-dinitrosopentamethylene tetramine and trihydrazinotriazine, in the point of view that it evolves the gas in high yield and the termination temperature of the gas evolution is sufficiently lower than that where a heat deterioration of the polyolefin (A) starts. The foaming agent (C) is preferably present in an amount of 5-20 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the aforesaid polyolefin (A). The organic peroxide (D) used for crosslinking the foamable composition includes mainly organic peroxides and organic peroxy esters. A decomposition temperature employed for obtaining a half-life of one minute of this organic peroxide (D) is preferably higher than a melting point of the aforesaid polyolefin (A). Concrete examples of the organic peroxide (D) mentioned above include 3,3,5-trimethylhexanoyl peroxide (1), octanoyl peroxide (2), decanoyl peroxide (3), lauroyl peroxide (4), succinic acid peroxide (5), acetyl peroxide (6), tertiary-butylperoxy(2-ethylhexanoate) (7), metatoluoyl peroxide (8), benzoyl peroxide (9), tertiary-butylperoxy isobutyrate (10), 1,1-bis(tertiary-butylperoxy)-3,5,5,-trimethylcyclohexane (11), 1,1-bis(tertiary-butylperoxy)cyclohexane (12), tertiary-butylperoxymaleic acid (13), tertiary-butylperoxylaurate (14), tertiary-butylperoxy-3,5,5-trimethycyclohexanoate (15), cyclohexanone peroxide (16), tertiary-butylperoxyisopropyl carbonate (17) 2,5-dimethyl-2,5-di(benzoylperoxy)hexane (18), tertiary-butylperoxyacetate (19), 2,2-bis(tertiary butylperoxy)butane (20), tertiary-butylperoxy-benzoate (21), n-butyl-4,4-bis(tertiary-butylperoxy)valerate (22), di-tertiary-butylperoxyisophthalate (23), methyl ethyl ketone peroxide (24), α,α'-bis(tertiary-butylperoxyisopropyl)benzene (25), dicumyl peroxide (26), 2,5-dimethyl-2,5-di(tertiary-butylperoxy)hexane (27), tertiary-butylcumyl peroxide (28), diisopropylbenzene hydroperoxide (29), di-tertiary-butyl peroxide (30), para-menthane hydroperoxide (31), 2,5-dimethyl-2,5-di(tertiary-butylperoxy)hexine-3 (32), 1,1,3,3-tetramethylbutyl hydroperoxide (33), 2,5-dimethylhexane-2,5-dihydroperoxide (34), cumene hydroperoxide (35), and tertiary-butyl hydroperoxide (36). Of the compounds exemplified above, particularly preferred are the compounds (12)-(36). This radical forming agent (C) is preferably present in an amount of 0.01-2.0 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the aforesaid polyolefin (A). The foamable composition may contain various additives in addition to the above-illustrated components. For instance, it is desirable to incorporate phenol type heat stabilizers of at least 30 carbon atoms into the foamable composition when the components of said composition are kneaded. For forming the foamable polyolefin composition into a sheet, there may be employed a process in which the foamable polyolefin composition is kneaded with for example a Brabender mixer and then formed into a sheet with a calendar roll; a process for forming said composition into a sheet with a press molding machine; and a process in which said composition is kneaded with an extruder and then formed into a sheet through a T-die or circular die. The last process is preferred because the energy consumption is small and the time required is short, and also the resulting sheet is excellent in flatness as well as in texture after extrusion. When the foamable polyolefin composition is subjected to sheet forming, it is necessary to employ a sheet forming temperature at which the foaming agent (C) will not decompose, as mentioned previously. Concretely speaking, however, when polyethylene is used as polyolefin and azodicarbonamide is used as a foaming agent, it is desirable that the foamable polyethylene composition is subjected to sheet forming at a temperature of 110-160 °C, preferably about 120-160 °C. Furthermore, when polypropylene is used as polyolefin and azodicarbonamide is used as a foaming agent, it is desirable that the foamable polypropylene composition is subjected to sheet forming at a temperature of 150-190 °C, preferably 160-180 °C. The foamable polyolefin sheet as prepared preferably has a thickness of about 0.5-5 mm. Subsequently, the foamable polyolefin sheet 4 thus obtained while it is not foamed yet is allowed to foam by heating with a ceramic heater 5 or the like of a vacuum molding machine to form a foamed polyolefin layer 3 as shown in Fig. 2, and as shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5, a fabric 2 such as a nonwoven fabric is integrally laminated on one side of the foamed polyolefin layer 3 while it is still melt and softened to obtain a foambacked fabric and simultaneously therewith the foambacked fabric is drawn by means of a matched male and female press molds 6a and 6b of press molding machine to prepare a two-ply foam molded article 1 of the desired shape. The heating temperature employed at the time when the foamable polyolefin sheet 4 which is not foamed yet is allowed to foam must be higher than a decomposition temperature of the foaming agent (C). Concretely speaking, however, it is desirable that the heating temperature to be employed is above 200 °C when azodicarbonamide is used as a foaming agent. Furthermore, it is desirable that at the time when the foamed polyolefin sheet 4 is subjected to press molding, the press molds are maintained at a cooled state without heating and the resulting molded foamed polyolefin sheet 4 is cooled to solidify. In that case, the pressing time employed is about 0.1-3 minutes and the resulting two-ply foam molded article is preferably cooled by means of, for example, an air spray. In the two-ply foam molded article obtained by the present invention, the foamed polyolefin layer 3 has a thickness of 1-50 mm, and the foaming ratio is preferably 2-40 times. When the foamed polyolefin layer comprises foamed polypropylene, the foamed layer has a density of 0.1-0.5 g/cm³, and a two-ply foam molded article which is light in weight and stiff is obtained. When the foamed polyolefin layer comprises foamed polyethylene, the foamed layer has a gravity of 0.02-0.5 g/cm³, and a two-ply foam molded article therewith which is light in weight and soft is obtained. In the process for preparing two-ply foam molded articles of the present invention as illustrated above, because the fabric 2 such as a nonwoven fabric is superposed on one side of the foamed polyolefin layer 3 which is still melt and softened, followed by press molding, the fabric 2 such as a nonwoven fabric is impregnated with the surface layer of the foamed polyolefin layer 3 and thus the foamed polyolefin layer 3 and the fabric 2 can be integrally joined together without using adhesives and, moreover, the foambacked fabric thus obtained is easily deep drawn to various shapes, particularly the draw-moulding of the foambacked fabric is easily performed even when said foambacked fabric has a thicker or thinner portion. Furthermore, in the process for preparing two-ply foam molded articles of the present invention, because the fabric 2 such as a nonwoven fabric and the foamed polyolefin layer 3 can integrally be laminated to each other without exposing the fabric 2 directly to heat, the fabric 2 such as nonwoven fabric of the resulting two-ply foam molded article will not have its appearance adversely affected by a falling-down of its nap. The present invention is illustrated below with reference to examples. Example 1 A foamable polypropylene composition having the following formulation was thoroughly mixed with a Henschel mixer and granulated by means of an extruder of 65 ⊘mm to prepare pellets. The resin temperature employed at that time was 170 °C. Polypropylene resin (density 0.91 g/cm³, MFR 2.0 g/10 min) 80 parts by weight Polybutene-1 resin (density 0.915 g/cm³, MFR 0.03 g/10 min) 20 parts by weight Crosslinking agent (triallylisocyanurate) 1.0 part by weight Foaming agent (azodicarbonamide) 3 parts by weight Organic peroxide (dicumyl peroxide) 0.1 part by weight The pellet thus obtained were fed to a sheet forming machine (a 65 ⊘mm extruder with a die width of 550 mm and a lip opening of 2.0 mm) and processed to prepare a sheet like foamable polypropylene sheet. The sheet forming temperature employed was 170 °C, and no foaming of the resins was observed at that time. The sheet thus obtained had a thickness of 1.5 mm. The foamable polypropylene sheet obtained above was heated for about 2 minutes by means of a ceramic heater of vacuum molding machine to form a foamed polypropylene layer. In that case, the present temperature of the ceramic heater 2 was 400 °C, and the surface temperature of the foamable polypropylene sheet was 210 °C. Simultaneously with formation of the foamed polypropylene layer, a nonwoven fabric was applied to one surface of said foamed polypropylene layer. The foamed polypropylene layer to which the nonwoven fabric had been applied was press molded to shape by means of a matched male and female press mold. At that time when the press molding was effected, the press mold was used at ordinary temperature without being preheated. The pressing time was about 1 minute, and after the completion of the press molding, a two-ply foam molded article was released from the mold and cooled for about 30 seconds by means of an air spray. The foamed polypropylene layer of the two-ply foam molded articles thus obtained had a thickness of about 6 mm, a density of 0.2 g/cm³, and a foaming ratio of about 4 times. Example 2 Polyolefin Polypropylene 80 parts by weight amorphous polymer consisting essentially 70 mol % of propylene and 30 mol % of 1-butene having MFR(230°C) = 6 g/10min and D = 0.89 g/cm³ 20 parts by weight Crosslinking agent trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate 0.5 pbw Foaming agent azodicarbonamide 2 pbw Organic peroxide 2.5-dimethyl -2.5-di(tertiarybutylperoxy) hexane 0.05pbw The ingredients aforementioned were fed into a mixer of the type of Henschel, then mixed at the ambient temperature to form a composition. The composition was fed into a ventilated sheet forming machine at a temperature of resin of 70°C described in the Example 1 to prepare a foamable sheet. The sheet was about 1.2 mm thick in the state of not foamed. This sheet heated for about 90 seconds by means of a ceramic heater of vacuum molding machine to form a foamed polypropylene layer in a thickness of about 5 mm, whose foaming ratio was about 4 times, The residual operations and conditions were similar to those in the Example 1.

Claims: A process for preparing a two-ply foam molded article (1), characterized by (i) heating a foamable polyolefin sheet (4) to form a foamed polyolefin layer (3) and (ii) applying a fabric (2) to a side of the resulting foamed polyolefin layer (3) which is still in a melted and softened state to form a laminate whilst simultaneously draw forming the resulting laminate to shape the laminate. A process according to claim 1 wherein the foamable polyolefin sheet (4) is formed from a composition comprising (A) a polyolefin, (B) a crosslinking agent, (C) a foaming agent and (D) an organic peroxide. A process according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the polyolefin is polyethylene or polypropylene. A process according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the fabric (2) is a nonwoven fabric.

Inventors: KANEKO, KATSUTOSHI, KOBAYASHI, TOSHIO, WATARI, MITSURU
Applicants: MITSUI PETROCHEMICAL INDUSTRIES, LTD.
Application year: 1988
Main classification: B29C51
IPC codes: B32B27, B29C44, B32B5, B29C51, B29C69, B29L9, B29K23, B29K105