Kanegafuchi Kagaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Kaneka Corporation

Kyocera Mita Corporation

Kyoichi Nakamura

Kenichi Senda

Hirofumi Maeda

Masao Ando

Tatehiko Nishida

Hisatoshi Fukui

Minoru Tada

Jun Azuma

Yukimasa Watanabe

Naruhiko Akamatsu

Ayako Yashima

Hisakazu Honma

Toshihiro Hatamoto

Hitoshi Shiiki

Kenji Mogami

Maki Uchida

Tsuyoshi Mihayashi

Kiyoshi Mori

Takashi Ueno

Tadayuki Ichimura

Hidekazu Oohara

Shinobu Ochikoshi

Toshiaki Yamamoto

Hideya Mizuike

Junichi Nakada

Hidehiro Yamaguchi

A water-containing polyolefin resin composition containing a polyolefin resin and a hydrophilic polymer and having a water content of 1 to 50% by weight which is suitable for use in preparation of polyolefin resin pre-expanded particles, and pre-expanded particles of a polyolefin resin prepared by pre-expanding the water-containing polyolefin resin composition the particles having a an apparent expansion ratio of 5 to 60, a closed cell ratio of 80 to 100% and an average cell diameter of 50 to 500 &mgr;m. The pre-expanded particles can be prepared without using a volatile blowing agent by dispersing resin particles made of a polyolefin resin composition containing a polyolefin resin and a hydrophilic polymer into an aqueous dispersion medium in a closed vessel to form a dispersion, heating to a temperature not lower than the softening point of the polyolefin resin to produce water-containing resin particles having a water content of 1 to 50% by weight, and releasing the aqueous dispersion from the closed vessel into a lower pressure than the inner pressure of the closed vessel, thereby expanding the water-containing resin particles. When the releasing of the dispersion from the vessel is conducted after raising the inner pressure to 25 to 75 kg/cm G by introducing nitrogen gas, air or an inorganic gas including them as a main component into the vessel, pre-expanded particles providing foams having good physical properties and a high expansion ratio are obtained.

Hydrous polyolefin resin composition, preexpanded particles produced therefrom, process for producing the same, and expanded molding

A single-layer type electrophotosensitive material comprising a conductive substrate and a photosensitive layer made of a binder resin containing at least an electric charge generating material and a hole transferring material and an electron transferring material as an electric charge transferring material, which is formed on the conductive substrate, characterized in that the binder resin contains a polycarbonate resin having a repeating structural unit represented by the general formula &lsqb;1&rsqb; and the solid content of the hole transferring material and the electron transferring material is not less than 30% by weight and not more than 50% by weight relative to the entire solid content, exhibits good wear resistance with respect to the photosensitive layer and is also superior in durability.

Single-layer type electrophotosensitive material

Foamable modified polystyrene resin particles (E) comprising a particle of a modified polystyrene resin (C) containing a blowing agent (D), wherein the modified polystyrene resin (C) comprises conjugated diene polymer rubber particles (B) dispersed uniformly throughout a polystyrene resin (A) and when the foamable modified polystyrene resin particle (E) is expanded, there is substantially no deformation of the rubber particles (B) before and after the expansion. A foamed article of a modified polystyrene resin which has a cell membrane of the modified polystyrene resin comprising a polystyrene resin and conjugated diene polymer rubber particles dispersed uniformly throughout the polystyrene resin and has a fusion rate of not less than 50%, wherein the rubber particles maintain substantially spherical form in the cell membrane. According to the present invention, the foamed article of the modified polystyrene resin having break resistance and fusion rate which are equal to those of a high impact polystyrene foamed article can be provided at low cost.

Expandable polystyrene resin beads, process for the preparation of them, and foam made by using the same

A pre-expanded particle made of a blend of 10 to 90% by weight of a polypropylene resin having a melt index of 6 to 10 g/10 minutes and 90 to 10% by weight of a polypropylene resin having a melt index of 0.5 to 3 g/10 minutes. The melt index of the blend being within the range of 2 to 5 g/10 minutes. The pre-expanded particles can be molded by an in-mold foaming method in a short time without causing sink to give polypropylene resin cellular molded articles having good surface property and good melt adhesion of the particles.

Pre-expanded particles of polypropylene resin, process for producing the

Method for post-treatment of polyolefin resin pre-expanded particles

The present invention provides polypropylene resin pre-expanded beads formed by shrinking polypropylene resin pre-expanded beads originally having a bulk density of not higher than 0.0930 g/cc to give them a bulk volume ratio of 10-75% at normal temperature and normal pressure, a manufacturing method thereof and an expansion-molding method with the aforementioned pre-expanded beads. According to this invention, it is possible to greatly reduce storing and transporting costs per unit weight of pre-expanded beads.

Polypropylene resin pre-expanded beads, manufacturing method thereof and

This invention provides a process for coloring expandable beads of polystyrene resins which comprises suspending expandable beads of a polystyrene resin and a dye in water in a closed vessel and heating this aqueous suspension at a temperature above the softening point of the expandable beads, wherein the closed vessel is filled up almost completely with the aqueous suspension and heating is conducted without further addition of any blowing agent, whereby the expandable beads are impregnated uniformly with the dye. According to this process, uniformly colored expandable beads of polystyrene resins are obtained at a high efficiency of dye impregnation without using any impregnation aid or the like, the expandable beads being capable of forming beautiful molded foams of uniform color.

Process for coloring expandable polystyrene beads

The present invention provides polypropylene resin pre-expanded beads formed by shrinking polypropylene resin pre-expanded beads originally having a bulk density of not higher than 0.0930 g/cc to give then a bulk volume ratio of 10-75% at the normal temperature and the normal pressure, a manufacturing method thereof and an expansion-molding method with the aforementioned pre-expanded beads. According to this invention, it is possible to greatly reduce storing and transporting costs per unit weight of pre-expanded beads.

In a process for pre-expanding thermoplastic resin particles which comprises releasing into a low pressure zone a mixture of water and thermoplastic resin particles containing a volatile blowing agent, the mixture being maintained at an elevated temperature under pressure in a pressure vessel, the improvement which comprises releasing the mixture through a plurality of orifice plates in series in the direction of release of the mixture. According to the process of the present invention, the average cell diameter of the obtained pre-expanded particles is larger than that of the pre-expanded particles obtained by means of conventional methods. Therefore, the molded articles prepared from the pre-expanded particles according to the present invention are small in shrinkage and excellent in surface appearance, and are utilizable for use as shock absorbing, wrapping materials or structural materials such as impact-absorbing materials for cars (for example, a car bumper), which require excellent dimensional precision and heat insulating building materials.

Process for pre-expanding thermoplastic resin particles

A pre-expanded particle of a propylene resin having two melting temperatures as determined by DSC, the heat of fusion for the peak based on the higher melting temperature being 0.5 to 2.3 cal/g. By using the pre-expanded particles of the propylene resin of the invention, foamed articles having excellent surface appearance, small dimentional shrinkage can be easily obtained without the procedure for giving the internal pressure.

Pre-expanded particles of propylene resin

In a process for preparing pre-expanded particles of a thermoplastic resin which comprises releasing into a low pressure zone an aqueous dispersion of thermoplastic resin particles containing a volatile blowing agent, the dispersion being maintained at an elevated temperature under pressure in a pressure vessel, the improvement which comprises releasing the dispersion through an orifice having a ratio of the length to the average diameter of 4 to 100. According to the present invention, the pre-expanded particles having cells which are uniform in diameter and have an average dimeter of not less than 200 .mu.m can be obtained, and therefore the articles molded in a mold from the pre-expanded particles are small in the shrinkage and strain, are excellent in the appearance, and are increased in the productivity. Accordingly, the molded articles are utilizable for use of shock absorbing, wrapping materials or structural material such as impact-absorbing materials for cars which requires excellent dimensional precision and heat insulating building materials.

Process for preparing pre-expanded particles of thermoplastic resin

A process and apparatus for preparing pre-expanded particles of a thermoplastic resin which comprises; heating under an elevated pressure an aqueous dispersion comprising thermoplastic resin particles containing a volatile foaming agent and an aqueous medium in a pressure vessel; releasing the dispersion from the pressure vessel into a space within a sealed low-pressure vessel wherein the pressure is lower than that in the pressure vessel, whereby expanding the thermoplastic resin particles to give pre-expanded particles; and simultaneously recovering the foaming agent volatilized from the thermoplastic resin particles by discharging the foaming agent out of the space in the low-pressure vessel with controlling the pressure in the low-pressure vessel to substantially a given pressure. According to the process, the release of the volatile foaming agent into the air is prevented.

Apparatus for preparing pre-expanded thermoplastic resins

A process and apparatus for preparing pre-expanded particles of a thermoplastic resin which comprises; heating under an elevated pressure an aqueous dispersion comprising thermoplastic resin particles containing a volatile foaming agent and an aqueous medium in a pressure vessel; releasing the dispersion from the pressure vessel into a space within a sealed low-pressure vessel wherein the pressure is lower than that in the pressure vessel and the space is sealed with an aqueous medium which exists in the lower portion of the vessel and communicates with the outside of the vessel, whereby expanding the thermoplastic resin particles to give pre-expanded particles; and sinking the resulting pre-expanded particles under the aqueous medium by means of a rotary impeller provided in the pressure vessel so that the pre-expanded particles are taken out of the low-pressure vessel through the aqueous medium towards the outside of the vessel, while recovering the foaming agent volatilized from the thermoplastic resin particles by discharging the foaming agent out of the space in the low-pressure vessel with controlling the pressure in the low-pressure vessel to substantially a given pressure. According to the process, the release of the volatile foaming agent in the air is prevented, the productivity is increased and extraneous matters on the pre-expanded particles are removed.

Growing community of inventors

Osaka, Japan

Kyoichi Nakamura