Curable silicone coated gasket

Abstract: A gasket of a nonwoven sheet material and a coating composition on at least one side of the nonwoven sheet material. The coating composition is a reaction product of a vinyl functional polydimethylsiloxane, a trimethylsiloxy silica terpolymer, a reactive diluent and a catalyst. The reactive diluent can be a methyl vinyl cyclic siloxane having the formula (MeViSiO) n wherein n is an integer of from three to five, Me is methyl and Vi is vinyl.

Description: This invention relates to a gasket material and, more particularly, to an automotive gasket of a paper base material bearing a coating of a silicone material. A gasket is a deformable layer of packing material that is designed to be firmly held between at least two contact surfaces having a joint intended to be sealed with the gasket in order to prevent leakage from the joint. The basic function of a gasket is to fill the space between two imperfect faces sought to be joined in a fluid tight relationship. The use of a gasket eliminates the need for costly finishing of the faces which would otherwise be necessitated. Gaskets are manufactured in many varied shapes and sizes but in general are flat thin materials which can be compressed. They can be constructed of natural or synthetic rubber, felt, cork, vegetable fiber, paper, asbestos, plastic and soft metallic materials such as lead and copper. The gasket may be employed in service in duties ranging from the prevention of leakage of liquids, to the rendering of certain joints to be gas tight such as high temperature engine exhaust manifolds. The ideal gasket is a resilient predictably compressible composition of one or more materials which conforms easily to joint surface irregularities and which can compensate for joint distortion during operation and thermal fluctuations. For most applications, the gasket material alone is not sufficient to form a seal due to the many voids and channels that exist in the material. It has therefore become common practice to incorporate additives and impregnants into the gasket material such as fillers, binders, sealants and saturants, of varied and complex description, in an attempt to compensate for these voids and channels, thereby rendering the gasket material to be more leak proof. For example, representative of additives and impregnants which have been used in the past are glue, grease, wax, rubber such as styrene-butadiene, plastics, phenolic resins, elastomers such as chloroprene, nitriles and fluoroelastomers and silicones. Thus, in U.S. Patent No. 2,956,908, issued October 18, 1960, there is described a gasket material specific to automotive vehicle application and wherein there is included as a coating thereon a mixture of a silicone fluid and castor oil. A mixture of chrysotile asbestos and a heat curable siloxane elastomer is taught in U.S. Patent No. 3,453,228, issued July 1, 1969, although the use of such material as a gasket is not specifically disclosed. However, a cylinder head gasket including a silicone rubber binder is shown in U.S. Patent No. 4,355,068, issued October 19, 1981. FR-A-1464314 describes a coating composition which can be coated on many articles, including medicaments, metal and paper. The coating composition comprises a mixture of a methylsilsesquioxane, a polydimethylsiloxane and a catalyst. Thus, it should be apparent that the use of silicone materials in gaskets is not new. What is new, however, and covered by the present invention, is a coating for a gasket material having improved water resistance. This invention relates to a nonwoven sheet material for use as a gasket having a coating composition on at least one side of the nonwoven sheet material. The coating composition is a mixture of a methoxy terminated polydimethylsiloxane polymer, a methylsilsesquioxane containing a monomethyl to dimethyl polysiloxane ratio of 3:1 and a catalyst. In some additional more specific embodiments of the present invention, there is provided the step of coating one or both sides of the nonwoven sheet material with the coating composition and the step of curing the coated nonwoven sheet material. The coated and cured nonwoven sheet material may then be heat aged for a predetermined period of time. Preferably, the coated, cured, nonwoven sheet material contains from about one to about fifteen percent by weight of the coating composition based on the total weight of the gasket nonwoven sheet material. It is, therefore, the object of the present invention to provide a nonwoven sheet material that can be used as a gasket for automotive vehicle applications and in which the gasket has been so treated in order to render the material more resistant to fluid leakage than has been heretofore possible with prior art treatment techniques. These and other features, objects and advantages, of the herein described present invention will become more apparent when considered in conjunction with the following detailed description thereof. In the present invention, there is provided a silicone saturant automotive gasket coating. A nonwoven base paper is employed to form the gasket and with the silicone composition of the present invention coated thereon and preferably cured. The thusly coated gasket possesses improved water resistance. Saturation of the nonwoven base paper with the heat curable silicone composition of the present invention also results in improved resistance of the gasket to oils, fuels and water-glycol materials including typical automotive antifreeze formulations. It has been found that prior art gasket coating materials do not penetrate sufficiently into the base material sheet of the finished gasket in order to completely fill the voids and channels that exist in the base sheet. Such prior art materials further have not provided a complete seal but allow wicking and bleeding of many materials such as antifreeze formulations, which result in migration of fluids from the joint sought to be sealed because of the defective coating employed during the manufacture of the gasket. This leakage of fluids not only tends to deplete necessary vehicle fluids, but the leaking fluids form a film on vehicle components which attract dirt and debris. The compositions of the present invention, however, have been found to penetrate the base material of the gasket to a greater degree than heretofore known in the prior art. This is due to the fact that in formulating the compositions used herein, a reactive diluent provides a product of lower viscosity and hence of better penetration capabilities. The compositions of the present invention exclude fluids to a greater degree both in the uncured and cured states of the compositions and with a lower viscosity penetrate the base material and fill the various voids and channels. The base material it has been found, should include from one to fifteen, preferably from three to six percent by weight of the composition of the present invention based on the total weight of the base material. Any type of gasket base sheet material may be employed in accordance with the concept of the present invention. However, the preferred gasket base sheet material is a nonwoven gasket paper which constitutes about ninety-two weight percent of a fiber mat and about eight weight percent of a nitrile rubber binder. The fiber mat may include polyester fibers, ceramic fibers, polyaramids, fiberglass, cellulosic fibers or mixtures and combinations thereof. The gasket base sheet material should be saturated with the coating of the present invention in order to insure against leakage and weeping of fluids through the joint being sealed. While described herein as being specific to automobile type usages, the gaskets prepared in accordance with the present invention can be used in any application where a fluid type seal is required such as in equipment, vehicles, aircraft or machinery. The following example illustrates the use of the compositions of the present invention. Example I A compressed automotive gasket material and a highly compressed automotive gasket material were selected for testing. The compressed material is referred to as "soft" in the following Tables whereas the highly compressed gasket material is referred to in the Tables as "hard". Both the soft and hard materials were standard nonwoven gasket paper sheet stock material containing a binder. A Control sheet stock material containing no coating of the composition of the present invention was employed in each instance. There was also included in the foregoing tests, in addition to the Control, a Formulation "D" which is a composition of an equilibriated blend of dimethyl cyclic siloxanes of the formula (Me₂SiO) n wherein Me is methyl and n is an integer from three to five and an alkoxy silane such as methyl trimethoxy silane or phenyl trimethoxy silane, catalyzed with a tetrabutyl titanate transition-type catalyst. Formulation D has a viscosity of the order of about sixty centipoise measured at 25°C. Formulation D was drawn down on a gasket sheet stock using a smooth steel Meyer rod. Some samples of the sheet stock of gasket material were coated on one side, while others were coated on both sides of the sheet stock. Each coated gasket was tested following the coating step and before the coating was cured, for weight added; water absorption at the end of twenty-four hours at temperatures of 23° and 60°C.; tensile strength; and percent elongation. These results are shown in Tables I-II. Each coated gasket was placed in an oven for five minutes and at a temperature of 150°C. in order to facilitate the cure of the coating in each instance. The cured gaskets were each again evaluated as previously and, in addition, were each further evaluated for the amount of weight loss occurring during the curing process. These results are shown in Tables III-VI. The coated gaskets in Tables III-VI additionally were soaked in the appropriate formulation for a period of ten minutes. Tables VII and VIII show the results of heat aging of the previously treated and cured gaskets. These coated and cured gaskets were maintained at a temperature of 150°C. for seven days and evaluated as previously indicated. This heat aging step was intended to assimilate actual conditions encountered during operation of a typical automobile engine. It can be seen from Tables I-VIII that the coated gaskets in the uncured, cured and thermally aged stages improve the water resistance of the gasket material. This is particularly apparent from a study of Tables II and Tables VI-VIII. Such improvement in water exclusion rendered by the compositions of the present invention occurs regardless of whether the coating is applied to only one side of the gasket or to both sides thereof. The Tables also clearly indicate that only slight amounts of material are lost during cure, as well as during the heat aging process. The following example illustrates the procedure for making Formulation D referred to above. Example II (Formulation D) A composition of this invention was prepared by mixing 100 parts of methoxy terminated, polydimethylsiloxane polymers with methyl silsesquioxanes containing a monomethyl to dimethyl polysiloxane ratio of 3:1 and containing 21.1 weight percent methoxy with 3 parts of tetrabutyltitanate catalyst. It will be apparent from the foregoing that many other variations and modifications may be made in the structures, compounds, compositions, articles of manufacture and methods described herein without departing from the essential features of the present invention.

Claims: A nonwoven sheet material for use as a gasket having a coating composition on at least one side of said nonwoven sheet material, the coating composition being a mixture of a methoxy terminated polydimethylsiloxane polymer, and a methyl silsesquioxane containing a monomethyl to dimethyl polysiloxane ratio of 3:1 and a catalyst. A nonwoven sheet material according to claim 1 wherein both sides of the nonwoven sheet material are coated with the coating composition. A nonwoven sheet material according to claim 2 wherein the coated nonwoven sheet material is cured. A gasket comprising the coated nonwoven sheet material of any of claims 1 to 3. A method of rendering a gasket leak resistant comprising forming a gasket from a nonwoven sheet material, applying to at least one side of the nonwoven sheet material a coating composition, the coating composition being a mixture of a methoxy terminated polydimethylsiloxane polymer and a methyl silsesquioxane containing a monomethyl to dimethyl polysiloxane ratio of 3:1 and a catalyst. A method according to claim 5 including the step of coating both sides of the nonwoven sheet material with the coating composition.

Inventors: BLIZZARD JOHN DONALD, BLIZZARD, JOHN DONALD
Applicants: DOW CORNING, DOW CORNING CORPORATION
Application year: 1989
Main classification: D06N7
IPC codes: F16J15, C09K3, D06M13, D06N3, D06M15