Gulf Oil Corporation

Champion International Corporation Limited

Robert E Boehme

Clarence R Murphy

The invention is directed to an apparatus useful for dissolving high molecular weight olefin polymers in a hot hydrocarbon solvent. The apparatus includes:

Apparatus and process for the manufacture of fibrils

Centrifugal spinning apparatus is provided for the manufacture of fibrils from hot viscous hydrocarbon solutions of olefin polymers having an intrinsic viscosity of at least 3.5. The apparatus consists of an impeller which rotates at high speed in a cylindrical cavity having a discharge port. The impeller has a plurality of blades whose narrow dimensions lie substantially in the plane of the impeller's rotation and whose tips come in close proximity to the inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical cavity. The blades are arranged in at least two substantially-identical sets. Within each set, the blades are offset substantially equidistant from one another, both in the rotational plane of the impeller and in the plane transverse thereto. Two inlet ports are provided in the peripheral surface of the cylindrical cavity to feed liquids to the cylindrical cavity, each of which port is narrow in a plane transverse to the plane of the impeller's rotation and extends over substantially the entire peripheral surface. The inlet ports are positioned near the discharge port of the cylindrical cavity and upstream thereof viewed with respect to the impeller's rotation, so that the bulk of the liquids entering the cavity from the inlet ports are swept away from the discharge port by the impeller's rotation.

Apparatus for the manufacture of fibrils

Process for the manufacture of fibrils

The invention is directed to a process of dissolving a high molecular weight olefin polymer having an inherent viscosity of at least 3.5 in a hot hydrocarbon solvent to form solutions which are totally free of undissolved polymer particles. Apparatus for carrying out the process also is described. The process includes stirring a slurry of fine particles of the polymer and the solvent in a chamber whose inlet and outlet are covered with screens. The outlet screen has a smaller mesh than the inlet screen. The solution is filtered through the outlet screen into a second chamber which is similar to the first one except that the second outlet screen is finer than the first outlet screen. The stirring and filtering through successively finer outlet screens is repeated in a series of chambers until a solution which is free of undissolved polymer particles is obtained. The solution is kept at least 190.degree. C throughout the process.

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Houston, TX, United States of America

Robert E Boehme