The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 14, 2004
Filed:
Mar. 07, 2002
Richard L. Watkins, Portland, OR (US);
Nike International, Ltd., Beaverton, OR (US);
Abstract
Scrap material having both a thermoplastic polyurethane and a copolymer of ethylene and vinyl alcohol is recycled by blending the scrap material into a thermoplastic polyurethane composition and preparing a barrier membrane from theblended material. The virgin thermoplastic polyurethane and the thermoplastic polyurethane of the scrap material are polymerized using at least about 60 percent by weight, based on the weight of the polyurethane produced, of a polyester diol having a weight average molecular weight of at least about 500 and having from four to five carbon atoms between substantially all of the ester [—O—C(═O)—] groups. The blend material containing the virgin thermoplastic urethane and the scrap material is formed into a layer of a barrier membrane. The resulting membrane has a haze of no more than about 12%.