Gulf Research & Development Company

Joseph Calvin Davis

Robert W Hill

Francis Ross Galiano

Robert William Hill

Francis R Galiano

A process for producing a mass of entangled solvent swollen polymer filaments which can be converted into paper-making fibrils by subsequent refining. An olefin polymer such as polyethylene having an inherent viscosity of at least 3.5 is dissolved in a hot solvent. The hot polymer solution is subjected to timed sequential steps in which the polymer solution first is sheared and attenuated into fine polymer streams. The hot polymer streams then are cooled to precipitate the polymer which is recovered as a mass of entangled solvent swollen filaments. These filaments can be beaten in a non-solvent liquid such as isopropanol to prepare fibrils having diameters on the order of about 5 to 30 microns and lengths of about 1 to 15 millimeters.

Fibrils and processes for the manufacture thereof

An improvement in the fibril formation process which includes dissolving at an elevated temperature an olefin polymer having an inherent viscosity of at least 3.5 in a hot hydrocarbon solvent, shearing the hot polyolefin solution to thereby orient the polymer molecules therein, passing the sheared solution through a cooling zone maintained at a temperature well below the precipitation temperature of the solution while maintaining the orientation of the polymer molecules within the solution to thereby precipitate by thermal means the polymer solute of the solution in the form of a solvent swollen fibrous strand, separating a substantial portion of the polymer solvent from the fibrous strand, chopping and then beating the chopped fibrous strand in a liquid which is a nonsolvent for the polymer and which is soluble in the polymer solvent for a time sufficient to break down the fibrous strand into a plurality of fibrils, and separating the fibrils from the nonsolvent liquid. The improvement consists of homogenizing the hot polyolefin/hydrocarbon solvent solution by passing same through a device, such as a gear pump, which imposes a high shear on the solution to thereby remove any small, invisible globules of partially dissolved polyolefin that may be present in the solution prior to the fibril formation steps of the process whereby paper sheets fabricated from the resultant fibrils are free of small knots and lumps and possess a completely smooth surface.

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DeSoto, KS, United States of America

Joseph Calvin Davis