Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company

3m Innovative Properties Company

Jon R Pieper

Richard M Olson

Eric G Larson

Gary L Holmes

Robert V Heiti

Thomas E Boettcher

Michael V Mucci

Scott R Culler

Michael John Annen

Scott J Buchanan

James W Schutz

Gregory A Berg

Jeffrey D Sheely

Stacee L Royce

Donald C Heinn

The present invention provides a flexible abrasive product comprised of an open cell foam backing, a foraminous barrier coating and a shaped foraminous abrasive coating. The flexible abrasive article of the invention is made by applying a curable barrier coating over an open cell foam backing, curing the curable barrier coating to provide a foraminous barrier coating having openings therethrough corresponding to openings in the open cell foam, applying a coating composition comprising a curable binder and abrasive particles over the foraminous barrier coating, imparting a textured surface to the coating composition with a production tool which has a textured surface which is the inverse of the textured surface of the abrasive coating and to which production tool textured surface any coating composition coated over an opening of the first major surface may adhere, at least partially curing the binder, and separating the production tool from the textured surface to provide the shaped foraminous abrasive coating.

Flexible abrasive product and method of making and using the same

Endless coated abrasive articles having a splice. In general, the coated abrasive articles comprise a backing having abrasive grains bonded thereto by one or more layers of binder. This invention also provides a method of making the splice by using radiation curable adhesives, e.g., acrylated urethanes, and radiation energy to cure the adhesives. The radiation curable splice adhesive essentially solvent-free. Consequently, the time required for the solvent to flash off is eliminated and solvent removal is no longer an environmental concern. By utilizing a source of radiation energy, the splice adhesive can be solidified in less than one minute. Because the splice adhesive is fully solidified, coated abrasive belts can be packaged immediately after the splice is formed.

Endless coated abrasive article

An abrasive article is presented which includes a backing having a front and back surface, and an abrasive coating bonded to the front surface of the backing. The abrasive coating comprises a homogeneous mixture of a plurality of abrasive particles, a binder and a grinding aid. The binder serves to bond the abrasive coating to the backing and the grinding aid comprises at least 1% by weight of the abrasive coating, but not more than 50% by weight. It is preferred that the abrasive coating consists essentially of a plurality of precisely shaped abrasive composites. Methods of making and using the abrasive articles are also presented.

Abrasive articles and methods of making and using same

A coated abrasive article comprising a backing bearing on at least one major surface thereof abrasive composites comprising a plurality of abrasive grains dispersed in a binder. The binder serves as a medium for dispersing abrasive grains, and it may also bond the abrasive composites to the backing. The abrasive composites have a predetermined shape, e.g., pyramidal. The dimensions of a given shape can be made substantially uniform. Furthermore, the composites are disposed in a predetermined array. The predetermined array can exhibit some degree of repetitiveness. The repeating pattern of a predetermined array can be in linear form or in the form of a matrix. The coated abrasive article can be prepared by a method comprising the steps of: (1) introducing a slurry containing a mixture of a binder and a plurality of abrasive grains onto a production tool; (2) introducing a backing to the outer surface of the production tool such that the slurry wets one major surface of the backing to form an intermediate article; (3) at least partially curing or gelling the binder before the intermediate article departs from the outer surface of the production tool to form a coated abrasive article; and (4) removing said coated abrasive article from the production tool.

Structured abrasive article

An abrasive product comprising abrasive grains bonded to at least one major surface of a backing sheet by a binder formed from a blend comprising radiation curable monomer and a thermally curable resinous material. The radiation curable monomer can be selected from the group consisting of isocyanurate derivatives having at least one terminal or pendant acrylate group, isocyanate derivatives having at least one terminal or pendant acrylate group, and multifunctional acrylate monomers. The thermally curable resinous material is preferably a member selected from the group consisting of phenolic resins, urea-formaldehyde resins, melamine-formaldehyde resins, and epoxy resins. The binder can be used to form the make coat, size coat, both make and size coats, or as a backing treatment for a coated abrasive product. The binder can also be used in fibrous nonwoven abrasive products. The binder can also be used in embodiments where only a single-coat binder is employed.

Binder for coated abrasives

Growing community of inventors

Lindstrom, MN, United States of America

Jon R Pieper