Patent ID: 8487019

Claim:
A method of making a filled resin, comprising: providing a feedstock comprising (i) untreated nanoparticles, (ii) a surface treatment agent reactive with the nanoparticles, and (iii) solvent; directing the feedstock through a continuous reactor maintained at a temperature sufficient to react the nanoparticles with the surface treatment agent to provide functionalized nanoparticles in less than about 4 hours; and combining and homogeneously mixing the product of the reactor comprising functionalized nanoparticles and solvent with an organic polymer matrix in a vacuum kneader comprising an apparatus capable of mixing polymers and fillers under vacuum selected from apparatus comprising: a twin screw mixing apparatus; two intermeshing kneading blades; or a shaft in a cylindrical housing the shaft having disk elements thereon, said disk elements having attached peripheral bars, and the cylindrical housing having bars mounted on the inside designed to clean the shaft and disk elements as the shaft rotates, under conditions of temperature and vacuum sufficient to evaporate solvent and to provide the filled resin, the functionalized nanoparticles comprising at least about 40% by weight of the filled resin and comprising nanoparticles selected from (a) inorganic materials selected from the group consisting of metals, inorganic oxides, inorganic sulfides, inorganic antimonides, inorganic salts, inorganic nitrides, inorganic pigments, metal coated particles, indium phosphide, aluminum phosphide, boron carbide, calcium carbide, calcium hydroxide, copper (II) hydroxide, lithium hydroxide, magnesium hydroxide, aluminum hydroxide, aluminum sulfate, calcium sulfate, cobalt(II) carbonate, copper(II) carbonate, copper(II) nitrate, copper(II) sulfate, lithium carbonate, lithium nitrate, lithium sulfate, magnesium carbonate, magnesium phosphate, magnesium sulfate, manganese(II) sulfate monohydrate, manganese(II) phosphate, nickel(II) carbonate, nickel(II) hydroxide, nickel(II) nitrate, zinc carbonate, zinc sulfate and combinations of two or more of the foregoing, and (b) organic materials selected from the group consisting of carbon black, organic pigments and combinations thereof, the nanoparticles being functionalized with a surface treatment agent selected from organosilanes, organotitanates, organozirconates, organoacids, organoamines, organothiols, phosphinic acids and combinations thereof; and the polymer matrix comprising a crosslinkable polymer selected from crosslinkable, ethylenically unsaturated polyesters, vinyl esters, acrylates, epoxy resins, curable imide resins, polycyanate ester and N,N′-bismaleimide resins.